Ogun community urges LG to equip new health centre

Residents of the Igbokofi community in Ogun State have appealed to the leadership of Yewa North Local Government to equip the primary healthcare centre built for them following a PidomNigeria report.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the facility took place in March after PidomNigeria Healthwise published a report highlighting the community’s lack of a functional health facility, a situation that had contributed to the deaths of women in the community in May 2025.

Following the report, the community donated two plots of land in November 2025 in response to the local government’s commitment to building the facility.

However, residents are now calling on the local government to equip the building so that it can begin providing healthcare services to the community.

Speaking exclusively with PidomNigeria Online, a resident, Olanrewaju Faleru, thanked the government for constructing the building but said the community had expected it to become operational in May, adding that they had experienced delays.

“We are grateful to our local government chairman and the governor for doing this great work for us. We were all glad when construction started, but it appears the facility has not yet been equipped. We were told it would become operational in May, but it has not started operating. We hope the government will complete it soon,” he said.

A heavily pregnant resident, Juliana Ololade, said the heavy rains had made it difficult for her to travel to Ijoun, a neighbouring community, for antenatal visits.

She added that residents could no longer rely on healthcare services in the neighbouring Republic of Benin because Nigerians were no longer readily accepted there.

“We were the ones who fetched water for the workers that built this health centre, so we thought it would be fully ready by now. Look at me, I am heavily pregnant. I can’t go to Ijoun anymore because the roads are bad, and we also can’t go to the Republic of Benin because they don’t want us there anymore. We appeal to our government to equip this new building soon so that we can receive medical care,” she said.

Another resident, Tutu Ayeni, said the community had hoped the days of paying exorbitant medical bills in the Republic of Benin were over. However, she noted that residents still had to seek medical care there because the new health centre had yet to be equipped and made functional.

“We hope they equip this place soon. We thought we would no longer have to pay huge medical bills in the Republic of Benin after they completed this building, but it has remained unused for a while now. We plead with the government to complete the remaining work as soon as possible,” she said.

Responding, a source in Yewa North Local Government, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said the remaining work would be completed soon.

“We promised to build the facility and commenced work in the middle of March. By June, we had completed the construction. All that remains is to equip the building and deploy personnel, which will be done shortly.

“We made a promise to the community, and we are almost done fulfilling it,” the source said.