*As Lagos privatises Isolo Gen Hospital morgue

LAGOS—The state Governor, Babatunde Fashola who just returned from an official trip abroad, will today inspect the level of damage caused by the release of water from Ogun-Osun River Basin which has flooded and rendered several residents homeless in many parts of the state, especially at Ajegunle area of Ikorodu Local Government.

However, members of the Lagos State House of Assembly promised to ensure that the flood does not recur.
Meanwhile, worried by the stench that usually emanates from the Isolo General Hospital’s mortuary, Lagos State Government has concluded plans to engage the services of a private company, Farewell Funeral Homes Ltd., to build, equip, operate and ultimately transfer a new mortuary to government on a Public Private Partnership, PPP, basis.

Reasons for privatisation

Speaking on the privatisation of the mortuary at the formal handing over of the project site within the premise of the hospital to the firm, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, noted that government’s decision was informed by the functional depreciation suffered by the mortuary.

He pointed out that the concession was for an initial period of 10 years including a two-year moratorium commencing from the start of operations which would be no later than 15 months from the start off date.
Idris said: “Government has been worried by the problem of dilapidated mortuaries and proper burial sites especially of abandoned unclaimed bodies in the past few years.

“Government, therefore, in recognising Public Private Partnership as a tool for development, decided to upgrade/reconstruct and operate the mortuaries as joint partnership with the private sector hence we are starting with the mortuary at the Isolo General Hospital.”

He said his ministry placed adverts for expression of interests from the private sector which Farewell Funeral Homes Ltd. responded to.

Process, agreements

According to him, “after reviews with the Public Private Partnership office and the Ministry of Health, Messrs Farewell Funeral Homes Limited was officially approved by government to build, equip, operate and transfer the mortuary on a Public Private Partnership basis.”

He explained that the initial concession period may be renewed for a further two terms just as a dedicated account is to be set up by the concessionaire for the project with the concessionaire expected to pay 20 percent of its gross revenue collected to the state government.

“The site for the project which is now handed over to the concessionaire, Farewell Funeral Homes Limited for the purpose of implementing the project is a piece of unutilised land inside the premises of the General Hospital and the implementation phase of the project is estimated to take nine months,” Idris added.

Lawmakers on flood

Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has promised the residents of Kosofe affected by flood that the House would work with the Executive to prevent a reccurrence and find lasting solution to the perennial problem of flood in the area.

He made the promise when he and other members of the House visited the affected areas in Ajegunle, weekend.
According to him, “this is very sad and this is my first time of witnessing this kind of occurrence. I am not an expert in this but we have become aware that Oyan Dam in Ogun was left open resulting to this.”

Mr. Adeyemi decried the situation whereby residents had to resort to boats to get to their houses and shops, adding that he, as a matter of urgency, would talk to the Governor to find solution to it.

The Speaker also condemned those people who had built houses on the canal, which contributed to the overflow of water in the area and disrupted the flow of traffic on the road.

He said: “The residents must cooperate with the government to arrest the situation. I will talk to the governor to find a lasting solution to it.

“Most of our people who built on the river did not ask for the approval of government before constructing their houses. It might lead to relocating the residents but I don’t want to pre-empt the governor. That is left for him and his crew to decide.”

Victims cry out

One of the residents, Mr. Yaya Hassan, lamented that the residents had no place to go since the incident started.
He said: “We the residents of Ajewole and others are calling on government to save our lives before flood claims the lives of people.”

Others who spoke with journalists maintained that the flood was a yearly occurrence, adding that flood had claimed their properties.

Meanwhile, the resultant traffic grid-lock contributed to hike in fares making passengers to spend hours on the road even with motorcycles.