The Niger State Government has announced plans to revoke and re-award the contract for the proposed Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) Teaching Hospital, following delays and disagreements that have stalled the project.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Murtala Bagana, disclosed this during the ministry’s quarterly media briefing in Minna, saying the government had reached an amicable resolution to terminate the existing arrangement and engage a new contractor to complete the project.
He said the government had lost time due to disagreements surrounding the project but had now reached a point where the contract would be re-awarded to another vendor.
Bagana said the proposed hospital could take between 18 months and two years to complete, but the state government had approved interim measures to be implemented within six months, and that the government would not wait for the hospital’s completion before addressing medical students’ immediate infrastructure needs.
He said the government had begun rehabilitating the General Hospital, Minna, to serve as a temporary clinical site for the teaching hospital, and was working with a contractor to establish a modern laboratory medicine facility at IBB Specialist Hospital as part of the teaching hospital’s infrastructure.
The IBB Guest House has also been approved to serve as accommodation for medical students, a measure Bagana said had already received the governor’s approval.
He said the interim reforms were intended to ensure medical students were not forced to wait for the hospital’s completion before receiving the facilities required for their training, adding that the longer-term development of the hospital would proceed once the new contractor takes over.
Bagana said the government also planned to improve wider healthcare infrastructure in the state, including maintenance of existing hospitals and the provision of better facilities for healthcare delivery.