Kogi announced N7bn upgrade of PHCs, won’t provide details while clinics remain uncompleted, understaffed

OAU Primary Health Centre, Ojoku, during PREMIUM TIMES’ return visit on 6 May 2026. The exterior had been painted and the roof, doors and windows were in place, but no clinical services were being provided.

From a distance, the OAU Primary Health Centre in Ojoku, Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, appeared newly built when PREMIUM TIMES returned to the facility on 6 May 2026.

Its blue-and-white exterior had been painted, the roof was in place, and doors and windows had been fitted.

But a closer inspection revealed signs of unfinished work. The clinic was locked, with no health workers or patients in sight. No clinical services were being provided.

PREMIUM TIMES had first visited the facility in December 2025 and found that it was not providing clinical services.

Aminu Nuhu, head of the Department of Health Services, Ankpa Local Government Council, identified OAU PHC Ojoku as one of six facilities selected for revitalisation in the council area.

He said the council was still searching for health workers to deploy to some of the revitalised facilities.

“Those that have been revitalised, we are looking for staff to put in those facilities,” he said.

However, the absence of personnel was not the only problem.

Mr Nuhu said a borehole had been drilled at the facility but could not supply water because there was no electricity or solar installation to power the pump.

“They have completed it, but we are expecting them to put it into operation,” he said.

Nearly five months after the first visit, PREMIUM TIMES returned to the facility and found that clinical services had still not commenced.

A security guard at the facility said there was no medical equipment inside.

“There is nothing inside,” he said. “It’s just the building.”

The situation at OAU PHC Ojoku was among the problems uncovered during a months-long PREMIUM TIMES investigation into the Kogi State government’s multibillion-naira primary healthcare revitalisation programme.

The investigation examined whether the government’s investment had translated into functional health facilities capable of delivering essential services to residents.

It found unfinished rehabilitation work, inadequate staffing, lack of basic infrastructure and health workers operating from temporary accommodation, despite the government’s announcement that dozens of facilities had been revitalised and commissioned.

In January 2025, the Kogi State government announced that it had committed over N7 billion, with support from the World Bank, to upgrade 88 PHCs across the state’s 21 LGAs.

The announcement was made during the formal handover of project sites to contractors at the Model PHC in Felele, Lokoja.

Governor Ahmed Ododo, represented by the Commissioner for Health, Abdulazeez Adams, said the intervention would contribute to the upgrading of more than 150 PHCs into functional Level 2 facilities.

The contractors were directed to complete the projects within four months.

On 7 November 2025, the state government announced the commissioning of 80 revitalised PHCs.

Muazu Musa, executive director of the Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, said the facilities had been transformed from Level 1 to Level 2.

Under the federal government’s 2025 HOPE-PHC Programme Operations Manual, functional Level 2 PHCs are expected to provide 24-hour health services, including basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care.

The programme’s verification framework also covers the availability of skilled birth attendants, reliable electricity or backup solar power, functional toilets with water and access to clean water.

These requirements are intended to ensure that upgraded facilities can provide essential healthcare services beyond improvements to their physical structures.

However, the Kogi State Government did not provide PREMIUM TIMES with the complete list of the 80 facilities it announced as commissioned.

As a result, the newspaper could not independently establish whether the facilities inspected during the investigation were among those officially commissioned.

A review of Kogi State procurement disclosures revealed four infrastructure contracts covering 88 PHCs.

The contracts had a combined value of N6.1 billion and were awarded to Multi Purpose Errand Mens Services Ltd, QSA Nigeria Ltd, Inknuel Ltd and Base-SAN Ventures Nigeria Ltd.

The records showed that N5.5 billion, representing approximately 90.6 per cent of the combined contract value, had been recorded as paid to the four contractors.

PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify the payments against bank statements or government treasury records. The figures are therefore described as amounts recorded ‘as paid’ in the procurement disclosure.

The procurement records also revealed a discrepancy in the geographical coverage of the contracts.

Although the state government said the intervention covered all 21 LGAs, the descriptions of the four contract lots identified only 20 distinct LGAs.

Kogi LGA, whose headquarters is Koton-Karfe, was not listed in any of the four lots.

This does not necessarily mean the LGA was excluded from the intervention. However, without the complete list of the 88 beneficiary facilities, PREMIUM TIMES could not determine whether the omission occurred in the procurement summary or reflected the actual distribution of the projects.

The combined contract value of N6.1 billion was also lower than the government’s announced commitment of over N7 billion.

The available records did not explain what additional activities or expenditures accounted for the difference.

Separately, the state’s 2025 fourth-quarter Budget Implementation Report recorded a final budget of N8.205 billion for the broader Immunisation Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Transforming Services (IMPACT) programme.

The report showed year-to-date expenditure of approximately N7.818 billion.

However, the IMPACT programme covers activities beyond the four infrastructure contracts. Its expenditure cannot therefore be treated as the amount spent specifically on the 88 PHC rehabilitation projects.

The records available to PREMIUM TIMES did not reconcile these figures.

One of the contracts, identified as Lot D, was awarded to Base-SAN Ventures Nigeria Ltd for work covering 23 PHCs across Ankpa, Olamaboro, Omala, Ofu, Dekina, Ibaji and Bassa LGAs.

The procurement disclosure recorded approximately N1.069 billion as paid under the contract.

During a follow-up visit to PHC Ankpa, PREMIUM TIMES found a project signboard identifying “BASESAN VENTURE NIG LTD” as the contractor responsible for upgrading the facility.

The variation between the company name on the signboard and the name in the procurement disclosure raised questions about the contractor’s precise legal identity.

Separately, publicly available corporate information reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES identified BASESAN Ventures Limited, with registration number RC 822294, and listed a person named “Sanni Eggidi A” as a person with significant control.

The newspaper could not independently establish whether BASESAN Ventures Limited, Base-SAN Ventures Nigeria Ltd and the company named on the project signboard were the same legal entity or related companies.

PREMIUM TIMES subsequently contacted Sanni Abdulraheem, the member representing Ajaokuta Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, seeking clarification on whether he had any connection to BASESAN Ventures Limited.

The similarity between the name in the corporate information and that of the lawmaker does not establish that they refer to the same individual.

The newspaper also sought clarification on the relationship between the companies and requested records relating to the 23 PHCs covered by Lot D, including their approved scopes of work, completion status and inspection and certification documents.

The lawmaker’s response has not been received as of publication.

Beyond the discrepancies in contract values and geographical coverage, the procurement disclosure did not identify all 88 PHCs individually.

It also did not specify the approved scope of work, contract value or payment status for each facility.

The state government did not provide PREMIUM TIMES with the complete list of the 80 PHCs announced as commissioned in November 2025.

Without these documents, it was impossible to match the facilities covered by the contracts with those announced as completed and commissioned.

The absence of facility-level inspection reports and completion certificates also prevented independent verification of what was approved, delivered, and certified at individual project sites.

These gaps do not, on their own, establish diversion of funds or failure to execute the contracts. They do, however, limit public scrutiny of the government’s claims about the intervention.

Between December 2025 and September 2026, PREMIUM TIMES inspected and revisited health facilities across Ankpa, Lokoja and Ajaokuta LGAs.

The newspaper interviewed health workers, residents, and government officials; examined project signboards; and reviewed procurement and budget documents.

The findings concern facilities that local officials or site-level evidence linked to the state intervention.

At the Primary Health Care Centre in Ankpa (PHCC Ankpa), clinical services were ongoing when PREMIUM TIMES first visited.

The facility provided antenatal care, routine immunisation, family planning, outpatient consultations and delivery services.

Momo Oneshona, the officer-in-charge, said the centre could receive as many as 70 patients on Mondays for immunisation, antenatal care and general consultations.

However, the facility faced significant operational challenges.

Health workers said there was no running water, grid electricity or solar power for general operations.

The available solar installation served the vaccine refrigerators.

“We don’t have solar, we don’t have water here, we don’t have light,” Mrs Oneshona said.

She explained that workers sterilised reusable instruments by boiling them over gas or ordinary stoves.

During the initial inspection, the laboratory was padlocked and appeared dusty.

The facility also faced staff shortages.

“We have a shortage of staff,” Mrs Oneshona said. “They retire; no replacement.”

She estimated that about seven workers were actively providing services, including three Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) and two Junior CHEWS.

According to Mrs Oneshona, the shortage of personnel and absence of a security guard meant the facility could not operate overnight.

This fell short of the 24-hour service expectations for functional Level 2 PHCs.

Beyond the operational challenges, PREMIUM TIMES observed an unfinished building undergoing rehabilitation within the facility’s compound.

Doors and window frames had been removed and piled inside, while openings in the walls and roof remained exposed.

“They scattered our place and went away,” Mrs Oneshona said. “We only saw them working, then they departed.”

Mr Nuhu, the Ankpa LGA health official, confirmed that PHCC Ankpa was among six facilities selected for revitalisation.

He said construction workers left the project between December 2025 and January 2026 and had not returned by the time of the newspaper’s initial inspection.

Of the six facilities, he identified PHC Emekutu as the only one he considered fully completed at the time of his interview.

Mr Nuhu also described broader staffing challenges across Ankpa LGA.

He estimated that the council had 68 functioning PHCs but only about 50 to 55 per cent of the personnel required to operate them effectively.

According to him, 12 facilities relied entirely on volunteers, while six or seven retired health workers had been retained to keep services running.

When PREMIUM TIMES returned to PHCC Ankpa on 28 September 2026, the laboratory was accessible.

Rain had fallen shortly before the visit.

Water was visible on sections of the laboratory floor, while damp and discoloured patches appeared on parts of the walls.

A project signboard at the facility identified the work as the “Upgrading of Primary Health Care Centre Ankpa – Ankpa LGA”.

It named Kogi State IMPACT Project 2024 as the client and listed “BASESAN VENTURE NIG LTD” as the contractor.

The procurement disclosure separately identified Base-SAN Ventures Nigeria Ltd as the contractor for Lot D, covering 23 PHCs across seven LGAs.

Although the signboard linked PHCC Ankpa to the IMPACT project, PREMIUM TIMES could not obtain the facility’s approved scope of work, valuation, payment records or completion certificate.

At PHC Lokongoma, in Lokoja, local health officials linked the facility to the state’s revitalisation programme.

When PREMIUM TIMES visited on 13 May 2026, the centre had a new perimeter fence, a paved compound, freshly painted walls and red roofing.

However, the gate was locked when the reporter arrived at approximately 5:45 p.m.

A nearby shop owner said health workers generally left between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

According to the resident, the clinic provided antenatal care, deliveries, routine immunisation and treatment for minor illnesses when open.

PREMIUM TIMES did not obtain the facility’s duty roster to independently verify its operating hours.

The resident also said the clinic had been renovated less than a year earlier.

Subsequent images showed that construction activities continued after the May inspection.

Images dated 9 July 2026 showed work on sections of the red roof, additional structures and paving.

By 20 July, further images showed blue roofing, more structures and additional paving.

The images establish that further work took place after the May visit.

However, PREMIUM TIMES could not determine whether services continued during construction or whether the successive works formed part of the same project.

The available records also did not establish what each round of construction covered, who financed it or whether the work had been inspected and certified.

At Ganaja, in Ajaokuta LGA, health workers were still providing healthcare services from two borrowed classrooms inside UBE Standard College when PREMIUM TIMES visited.

Local health officials linked the facility to the state’s revitalisation programme.

Health workers said flooding had forced them to abandon their original building nearly eight years earlier.

Since then, they had been operating from the temporary accommodation.

“We were on the other side before, but flood covered that place,” the Officer-in-Charge, identified as Ms Aminu, said. “We are just managing this place as a temporary site.”

Across the road from the school, the former PHC showed signs of prolonged abandonment.

Vegetation had overtaken parts of the compound, while refuse had accumulated around the deteriorating building.

Inside the school, one classroom served as an office and consultation room.

Medical supplies, vaccine carriers, desks, chairs and patient records occupied the limited space.

The arrangement constrained the services health workers could provide.

Ms Aminu said the classrooms could not accommodate patient admissions or maternity services.

She estimated that approximately 10 workers were attached to the facility but said there was no midwife.

As a result, pregnant women requiring delivery services were referred elsewhere.

Ms Aminu said a replacement PHC was being constructed elsewhere in Ganaja.

She estimated that the project was about 70 per cent complete.

However, PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify the estimate because the reporter could not locate and inspect the construction site.

Ms Aminu could not provide sufficiently precise directions, and no one was available to accompany the reporter.

She also could not provide a completion date or indicate when health workers would relocate.

When PREMIUM TIMES returned in September 2026, the clinic was still operating from the school classrooms.

Nearly eight years after flooding displaced the original facility, health workers and patients were still waiting for a permanent building.

The situation also raised questions about whether the replacement project had adequately considered the flooding that forced the relocation.

PREMIUM TIMES did not establish the cause of the original flooding or attribute it specifically to climate change.

The documents reviewed did not include a flood-risk, environmental or climate-vulnerability assessment showing what safeguards had been incorporated into the replacement project.

The Kogi State government’s November 2025 announcement that 80 PHCs had been commissioned suggested substantial progress in its healthcare revitalisation programme.

However, findings from facilities inspected by PREMIUM TIMES revealed gaps between infrastructure development and the delivery of functional healthcare services.

At OAU PHC Ojoku, a newly painted building remained without clinical services during follow-up visits.

At PHCC Ankpa, patients continued receiving care despite unfinished rehabilitation work, staffing shortages and inadequate water and electricity supply.

At Lokongoma, additional construction was documented months after an earlier renovation.

At Ganaja, health workers continued operating from school classrooms while awaiting a permanent facility.

Local officials or site-level evidence linked these facilities to the state’s intervention.

However, because the complete commissioning list was unavailable, PREMIUM TIMES could not establish whether any of the four facilities was among the 80 announced as commissioned.

The newspaper also could not obtain facility-level inspection reports or completion certificates showing what had been assessed and certified before commissioning.

These gaps leave important questions unanswered about the criteria used to declare facilities ready, the work completed at individual sites and whether the upgrades translated into the services expected of Level 2 PHCs.

PREMIUM TIMES sought explanations and supporting documents from the Kogi State government before completing the investigation.

On 15 May 2026, the newspaper submitted written requests under Nigeria’s Freedom of Information Act 2011 to the Kogi State Ministry of Health and the Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency.

The requests sought an inventory of PHCs; details of revitalisation and infrastructure projects; the identities of beneficiary facilities and contractors; contract sums; project status; Basic Health Care Provision Fund disbursements; staffing information; and facility operational records.

The newspaper followed up through telephone calls and WhatsApp messages with the Commissioner for Health and Aisha Mohammed, who identified herself as secretary and personal assistant to the executive director of the State’s primary healthcare agency.

When the requests did not produce substantive responses, PREMIUM TIMES contacted the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo.

The newspaper informed him of the outstanding requests and asked him to respond on behalf of the government or help obtain answers from the relevant agencies.

Calls, WhatsApp messages and a text message were sent to Mr Fanwo, including a reminder that the report was being finalised and that the government’s response could still be included.

By publication time, the state government had not provided the complete schedule of the 88 facilities, the list of 80 commissioned PHCs, facility-level scopes of work, inspection reports or completion certificates.