Residents lament as Gwarinpa Hospital remains under construction

Musa Adamu, on a late afternoon in November 2019, was all sweaty, alongside his coworkers, swinging their sledgehammers in determination to bring down the concrete wall of an old building. A massive hit was all it took for the building to collapse, and it came crashing down on Mr Adamu, burying him under the rubble.

He was lucky to survive.

The 35-year-old construction worker, who relocated to Abuja in 2008, was rushed to Kuje General Hospital but was immediately transferred to the National Hospital in Garki due to the severity of his case. The hospital is about 37 km from his workplace and 19 km from his home.

Mr Adamu spent five months at the National Hospital, receiving care from different medical personnel. He now lives with an impaired lower body and a catheter due to a spinal cord injury he sustained, leaving his dependent family of six to live off the generosity of community members with the little they earn.

The burden made him exhaust his savings, but equally concerning was the distance he had to cover each time he needed to visit the hospital.

Sharing a fence with the Rugan Fulani community where Musa resides is the uncompleted Gwarinpa General Hospital, where he would have gotten medical care closer to home.

The history of the uncompleted structure dates to 2010. With the growing population of residents of Gwarinpa, it was becoming more challenging for the general hospital in Gwarinpa, located in Lifecamp, to satiate the medical needs of the residents. Hence, the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, in 2012, approved the construction of a 220-bed capacity hospital to cater to the medical needs of the residents and even neighbouring areas.

When UDEME paid a visit to the construction site, we saw an unfenced skeletal building with local huts of the Rugan Fulani community surrounding the right side of the building. The administrative building was roofed and plastered, while the main building was unplastered with only a roof frame attached. Neglected construction equipment and materials were seen on the site.

Kabiru Muhammad, who used to work at the site, informed UDEME that they last worked there in October 2023.

Musa Umar, the chairman of Miyati Allah Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) who is also considered the head of the Rugan Fulani community, expressed his dissatisfaction with the state of the project

“When we have sick people in the community, we take them elsewhere. We have since lost hope in the hospital. It seems like a mission impossible,” he said.

Salamatu Abubakar, a resident nursing mother, explained that inadequate hospital facilities had forced residents to seek care at other health facilities.

“We mainly go to the Gwarinpa General Hospital in Lifecamp for antenatal care, but you can spend up to 5 hours before getting it done. The staff usually close early, and because of that, my neighbour had to be rushed to a private hospital for her delivery, where her husband could barely afford the medical fees charged. Sometimes, the nurses and health practitioners in the neighbourhood come together to help with child delivery,” she said.

According to the approved budgets of 2019, 2021, and 2022, the project was earmarked N500 million N519 million and N400 million, respectively. The project’s timeline was set for nine years, according to Eyemark, a government accountability platform, and the first phase ought to have been completed in 2022. UDEME could, however, not ascertain how much was released for the project as officials refused to disclose details.

The project is under the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and supervised by the Health and Human Services Secretariat. After two visits to the secretariat, we sent a letter seeking details of the project to the FCTA. We have yet to get a response.

A family feast?

The contract for the construction of the hospital was given to Mabelt Construction Co. Limited.

Due diligence conducted by an independent lawyer contracted by UDEME shows that the Port Harcourt-based company belongs to Aseminaso Nyingierefaka, a brother to former first lady Patience Jonathan, who was Nigeria’s first lady when the project was awarded in 2013.

The lawyer’s report indicated that there is no record of contracts awarded to the company in its file at the CAC. This is odd, given the company was awarded such a lucrative contract.

The company, incorporated in 2006 in River State, has three other directors: Ibiye Nyingierefaka, Patience Nyigerefaka, and Mary-jane Nyingierefaka. In 2015, following a company resolution, Ibiye Nyingierefaka, who is the son of Aseminaso Nyingierefaka, was replaced by Goodluck Nyingierefaka. The second director, Patience, is believed to be the wife of the owner, Aseminaso Nyingierefaka.

In July 2010, two months after Mr Jonathan assumed office as president, the Health Human Services Secretariat of the FCT announced a tender invitation for a contract bidding for the application of the prequalification of the contract. In 2012, the contract was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the construction of the hospital.

Olajumoke Akinjide, who was the Minister of State for the FCT, told journalists that the construction of the health facility had been awarded at the sum of N3.8 billion.

Mabelt Construction is one of the companies that sources at the anti-graft agency, EFCC, alleged was used by the former first lady, Mrs Jonathan, to secure government contracts.

Mrs Jonathan, who has had a series of scandals, was forced to forfeit $8.4 million and $9.4 million in 2019 after a long two-year legal battle with the EFCC.

Efforts to contact Mabelt Construction via messages and email were unsuccessful. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request was sent to the contractor’s email, but there was no response. When we tried to visit the registered office address, UDEME could not locate the company’s address.

Amina Miango, a lawyer and project manager for Law, Democracy, and Journalism, said that while the award of the contract is not illegal, from a moral standpoint, the wife of the then president should not be influencing contracts to favour anyone, including her family members.

“Unless you have concrete proof that she is part and parcel of the company, the best argument is actually just a moral one,” she said.

A procurement specialist, Luckman Raji, agrees.

“If no fraud is proven as to the quality and expected outcome of the project, the former first lady has no questions to answer as she is not a state worker, meaning she can be involved in a contract just like any other person,” he added.

However, another lawyer, Christiana Longe, believes that the contract award was unethical.

Ms Longe cited Section 57(12) of the Public Procurement Act 2007, which focuses on the conflict of interest in procurement processes. The section emphasised the need for ethical practice in the procurement process and avoiding any direct or indirect interest in or relationship with a bidder, supplier, contractor or service provider.

We reached out to Patience Jonathan’s aide, Ibarapakaye George. We have yet to get a response

Possible reason for the delay

A worker on the site, who asked not to be named, told UDEME that the project is still under evaluation before the contractors can receive payment.

“There were several issues associated with the project, from settling the indigenes, the issue of redesigning, which took them almost three years, the delay of payment, the review of the cost of the project, and the price of materials and equipment, which have since skyrocketed and are still on the rise since the project was awarded in 2013.”

He claimed that about 80 per cent of the construction for Phase 1 had been completed, but he could not provide us with financial details of the project.

“My superiors have all the financial details of the project information. I cannot tell you more, and I cannot provide you with the contact information of my colleagues,” he said angrily.

Residents of the Gwarinpa community are, however, still hopeful that the hospital will be completed.

Aisha Sulieman, a resident, said life would be easier for her family and other community members if they had a nearby medical facility.

The story was supported with funding from the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).