CSO Tasks Nigerians On Demanding Accountability On Public Projects

• Visits Osun Communities, PHCs

The need for Nigerians to demand transparency and accountability in the execution of public projects has been re-emphasised.

This formed the basis of discussions between members of the Community of Practice (COP) under the Project Trust Initiative of a nongovernmental organisation, Connected Development (CODE), during a preliminary visit to the Amulegbaro community and the Akede Iyaloja Primary Health Centres in Osun State.

OSUN DEFENDER reports that earlier in the year, Connected Development, a social accountability nonprofit organisation, through its Project Trust initiative, set up a Community of Practice comprised of journalists, researchers, activists, and People Living with Disabilities (PWD) to track public projects in Osun State.

Addressing the residents of the two communities, Adetunji Ajala, a member of COP, noted that the team is concerned with the tracking of the Primary Healthcare Centre project executed by the Osun State Government, so as to hold the government accountable.

Ajala maintained that it is important for citizens, especially community leaders, to show interest in how public funds are utilised and urged them to collaborate with relevant stakeholders, particularly nonprofit organisations, to demand better from the authorities. 

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A resident of the Amulegbaro community, Mr. Abdullahi Adetunji, noted that there is a lack of drugs in the PHC, making patients purchase drugs outside despite their economic challenges. 

The Head of Nursing at the Akede Iyaloja PHC, Mrs. Agnes Arowolo, who enumerated some of the challenges faced at the centre including frequent disconnection of the PHC by the electricity distribution company due to outstanding bills, inadequate personnel leading to double shifts and stress for existing staff, limited funding, insufficient drugs, and many more, said the situation requires urgent government attention as the facility cares for almost 400 patients every month.

In his remark, the community head of Amulegbaro community, Baale Abdulrauf Raheem, expressed his commitment to ensuring that the state government pays attention to the needs of the residents. 

He informed the COP members that the communities had written to the government requesting additional public health centres because the PHC was insufficient for the 20 communities making use of this PHC. 

The community leaders and other residents were taught how to use the NORMTRAC tool to track government projects and nominate projects for their community.