By Seyifunmi Odunuga
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State and ex-gubernatorial aspirant, Engineer Oyedele Hakeem Alao (Allow Alao), has described the recent decision of Governor Seyi Makinde, to provide healthcare insurance to 10,000 primary school pupils out of over half a million pupils in public primary schools in the state as uncharitable.
Alao in a statement by his media office, wondered why the government would decide to provide healthcare insurance to 10,000 primary school pupils while the state has more than half a million pupils in public primary schools.
According to him, “Information at our disposal indicates that the number of students in public primary schools in Oyo State, as of 2020, was 490,410, with 14,060 classrooms at the time. 
“The study further projected that the average number of students in public primary schools in Oyo State would be 479,944 in 2022, 495,542 in 2023, and 511,647 in 2024.
“Now that the state govt announced through the Executive Secretary of the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYHIA), Dr. Sola Akande, that it would provide healthcare insurance to 10,000 primary school pupils, what will now happen to other pupils? Ten thousand is approximately 1.95 per cent of 511,647.
“We don’t even know if pupils from private primary schools in the state would be among the 10,000 beneficiaries of the healthcare insurance. Today, Oyo State has 971 registered private nursery and primary schools approximately.
“More worrisome is the number of out-of-school children in the state. We currently have 682,589 out-of-school children in Oyo State, representing about 20.1 per cent of the school-age population. This figure shows our state as having the highest number of out-of-school children in Southwestern Nigeria.”
Speaking further, Alao added that it is the responsibility of the government to provide basic healthcare for the citizenry.
“It is very unfortunate that despite increased budgetary allocation to health in the state, the sector is still performing very badly. Oyo State has a total of 351 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) distributed across the state.
“Today, most of these healthcare centres are facing significant challenges despite recent investments of more than N12 billion for upgrades. Many primary healthcare centres (PHCs) suffer from staff shortages, inadequate equipment, and poor infrastructure.
“What we have seen so far are few renovations but essential services are still lacking. This has forced residents to patronize quacks which unfortunately has led to bigger health problems and even untimely deaths in some cases.”
Alao, while calling for a probe into how more than N12 billion of taxpayers’ money was expended for the upgrade of health centers across the state without any tangible results, urged Governor Makinde to introduce basic healthcare insurance for less privileged individuals in the state.
“The governor must among other things recruit more healthcare professionals and provide training to enhance service delivery at Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).
“The people do not need only painted structures but want all PHCs in the state to be fully equipped with essential medical supplies and facilities that will address the current shortages that hinder effective healthcare delivery”, he stated.
