Revisited: Ekoro Health Center and saga of Hyginus Okorie of Okpanku Aninri
Earlier July in 2022, a very disturbing news of gross misappropriation going on in Aninri healthcare system emerged. Particularly, the case in Ekoro Health Center in Okpanku was the worst.
After media investigation exposed the architect of the decay, one Mr Hyginus Okorie, Bennett Ajah’s administration swung to action.
More facts came to light. For years, Mr Okorie had stolen the supplies of drugs and medical equipments meant for the health facility, according to reports from the chairman’s office. He stole one big generator the government supplied, and another that the good people of Okpanku donated. A big GP tank, meant for the center, was found under his care. Then, approximately ₦13 million naira, fund the state government sent regularly for maintenance of the hospital, was squandered and there was no trace of expenses records.
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At first, Bennett Ajah took the matter seriously but was stopped by the defacto chairman, Gabriel Ukpabi, his Secretary to the Local Government, according to sources familiar with the development.
It’s true that officials from the Local Government Service Commission came down to Aninri to see for themselves. And that was all: they saw for themselves. But nothing happened.
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“What the chairman [Prince Ugochukwu Nwanjoku] should do is check various persons he entrusted with various duties in the council for accountability,” Benson Nnaji, a PhD student of political science at Enugu State University of Science and Technology said.
“Chairman cannot do everything, that’s why he has assistants in vital areas. But the chairman is to blame if anything goes wrong. Nobody knows about the assistant, and that’s why he has to make each appointee do his or her work very well,” Nnaji concluded.
There is only but a minor change in Aninri healthcare system today. And those, like Hyginus Okorie, who actively wrecked the system, are still walking freely among his Okpanku brothers whom his actions brought immeasurable shame, pain and so many unwarranted deaths.
Like before, most of the health workers still live and do businesses in Enugu city; they are paying some quack nurses to “sign for me”; they don’t go to work. While the poor, sick rural dwellers suffer and die of preventable diseases, the health workers receive their full “ransoms” for the losses in the name of regular salaries.
Yet, there is a supervisor for health in the council today.
