By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
The Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Dr. James Enimi Omietimi, has raised concerns over the non-release of the Centre’s 2025 capital allocation, saying the delay has stalled ongoing projects and created operational challenges.
Omietimi spoke when a team from the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), led by the Head of its Strategic Communication Directorate, Mr. Bede Ogueri Anyanwu, visited the medical centre to physically verify selected Federal Government projects.
The Medical Director said the delay in releasing the capital funds had made it difficult for the Centre to sustain work on its ongoing projects and provide the expected level of healthcare services to residents of Bayelsa State and neighbouring communities.
“We should not pretend because things have not been too good lately,” Omietimi said, noting that the realities of managing a tertiary healthcare institution were sometimes different from what was portrayed in the media.
He appealed to the Federal Government to urgently release the Centre’s capital allocation to enable it complete ongoing projects and improve healthcare delivery.
Omietimi also expressed concern over what he described as a growing preference among some residents for traditional medicine, saying some patients only return to the hospital after their conditions have deteriorated and require advanced medical intervention.
Earlier, Anyanwu said the FRC verification exercise was aimed at determining the extent to which appropriated and released funds for Federal Government projects had been utilized and whether the projects were delivering value to Nigerians.
He said the exercise was part of the Commission’s statutory responsibility to promote transparency, accountability and prudent management of public funds in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.
According to Anyanwu, the exercise was not intended to witch-hunt the management of FMC Yenagoa or any government institution, but to establish the actual status of the projects and identify challenges affecting their implementation.
“Our mission is to promote transparency, accountability and prudent management of public funds as contained in the mandate of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007,” he said.
The FRC team inspected the renovation and expansion of the Mother and Child Group Complexes; purification and renovation of pipe-borne water facilities; continued construction of the House Officers/Interns Block, comprising a two-storey building with 36 flats; and the construction of a two-storey Resident Doctors’ Quarters.
The team included Mrs. Anthonia Danjuma of the Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate, Miss Into-Sam Audu of the Investigation Unit, Mr. Cyril Longpam of the Secretariat and Mr. George Nwari, representing the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors.
The verification is expected to enable the Commission to compare the physical level of work on the projects with funds appropriated and released, while identifying factors responsible for delays and other implementation challenges.
The exercise forms part of the FRC’s broader mandate to ensure that public resources are utilized efficiently and transparently and that government investments deliver value for money and improved services to Nigerians.
