Edo PDP dares Oshiomhole… Releases probe panel report on collapsed Benin hospital

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State on Wednesday made public copies of a panel report that indicted the state government for a shoddy job that triggered the collapse of parts of the Benin Central Hospital.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole had last week re-awarded a contract to rebuild collapsed parts of the 200-ward block and Accident and Emergency Complex of the hospital.

The building collapsed two years ago during construction.

In a press briefing on Sunday PDP leaked parts of the government-instituted panel which recommended that the entire structure be demolished.

The state government responded by challenging PDP to publicize the report.

State PDP chairman Chief Dan Orbih, Wednesday displayed copies of the panel report.

He held that Edo state government “erred by awarding a contract worth over N3 billion to a company that has no qualified structural engineer and architect.”

Orbih lauded the state government for appointing qualified professionals, including those from the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA), Council of Registered Builders and the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors, into the probe panel.

He, however, blamed the state government for refusing to implement the report.

Part of the executive summary of the report stated, “there was project management failure that led to the lapses which resulted to the building collapse.”

Continued the report, “Clearly, there was no proper project planning for this construction project. In this case, proper monitoring and quality control by government, ministries, and the consultants were conspicuously ignored.

“Ministry of Works failed to meet up with the challenge of overseeing the successful completion of the project,” it added.

The panel noted that lapses on the Edo State government and three other actors led to the collapse of the building.

The government, observed the panel, “could not provide the enabling environment for the consultants  to finish what they started by refusing to engage the architect and engineers in the post-contract services including implementation and supervision of the project…”

“…The main contractor (SCInt), was selected without any input from the project architects (TDC) and that the project architect, TomIkimi Design Co. erred in the design of the raft foundation of the project,” the panel added.

Reacting, Oshiomhole's Special Assistant, Media and Public Affairs, Prince Kassim Afegbua, dismissed the report presented by PDP as fake.

“Reports set up by the state government are not submitted at the market place or the PDP secretariat, they are submitted to Governor Adams Oshiomhole. The state government has not said that its document was missing, so the one they are brandishing might be that of their own probe panel,” said Afegbua.

“PDP cannot assume the role of alternate government in Edo State. If they have concurred their own report that they are brandishing to the unsuspecting public, good for them,” he added.