Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Tracka service delivery platform reported that the Obite Primary Health Centre in Etche LGA, which serves a population of more than 5,000 residents, is in a poor state with no functional equipment, and called on Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), and the Federal Ministry of Health to urgently renovate and equip the facility. Tracka, a civic technology platform under the BudgIT Foundation that enables citizens to track and give feedback on public projects, published the alert on its official X handle on Wednesday, 3 June 2026, posting photographs of the decrepit health centre alongside a plea for government intervention. The platform noted that women and children in the catchment communities are unable to get even simple diagnoses or treatment done because the facility lacks basic medical equipment and its structure has become hazardous.
The Obite Primary Health Centre, established on 2 March 1996, is a licensed public facility that operates on a 24‑hour basis. It is meant to offer antenatal care, immunisation services, family planning, communicable disease treatment, and health education. However, community feedback documented by Tracka paints a picture of a centre that has been abandoned to decay. A community monitor, Mr. Emmanuel Nwankwo, who contributed to the Tracka report, described the interior of the facility. “The ceilings have collapsed in several rooms, leaving exposed rafters and debris on the floor. Some windows are missing their louvres; others have frames that are completely rusted. There is no functional equipment – not even a basic blood pressure monitor or a stethoscope that is in working order,” Nwankwo said. According to him, pregnant women who require antenatal care are forced to travel to private clinics in neighbouring towns, which many families simply cannot afford. Nursing mothers who need immunisation for their infants sometimes miss appointments because the facility is not safe to enter. “The overgrown weeds around the building are not just an eyesore; they are breeding grounds for snakes and rodents. Staff have been bitten in the past, and some community health workers have simply refused to report for duty,” he added.
Tracka’s plea was published less than 48 hours after the Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board (RSPHCMB) commissioned a newly upgraded Primary Healthcare Centre in Edeoha, Ahoada East Local Government Area, and announced staff quarters at the Oyigba PHC in Ahoada West LGA as part of a second phase of a statewide revitalisation programme. The governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has repeatedly pledged commitment to improving healthcare delivery in the state. On 24 February 2026, he declared that his administration had approved the remodelling of 153 primary healthcare centres across the state to restore functionality and improve service delivery, and had employed over 2,000 health workers. He also announced the introduction of mental health services at the primary healthcare level and the revamping of the Intensive Care Unit of the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital. However, Tracka’s findings suggest that the revitalisation programme has not yet reached Obite, leaving a gap between the government’s promises and the lived reality of rural residents.
Obite is one of the communities in Etche LGA, which was administered by the Rivers State Government under the stewardship of former caretaker chairman Dr. Onyemachi S. Nwankwor, and more recently under elected council chairman Mr. Chima Njoku, who has been credited with lighting up over 40 communities that had been without electricity for a decade. In February 2026, Aba Power began supplying electricity to Etche communities, raising hopes for local economic and social development. Yet, despite these gains, the health centre in Obite has not benefited from the visible infrastructure improvements that have touched other parts of the LGA. The state government has not issued a formal statement acknowledging the specific condition of Obite PHC, and the Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board could not be reached for immediate comment as of the time of this report. Mrs. Gloria Phillips, the Rivers State Coordinator of the NPHCDA, had earlier this year lamented that some health facilities have been left unkempt and overgrown with weeds due to a lack of community involvement, but her statement did not address the underlying responsibility of government to provide basic maintenance and equipment.
A review of the NPHCDA’s PHC indicator dashboard, published in May 2026, revealed that Rivers State has 205 inactive primary healthcare centres, part of a national total of 3,715 non‑operational PHCs across 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Experts say that while some of these facilities are located in difficult riverine terrains, many have been abandoned due to lack of funding, poor maintenance culture and weak oversight. “When a PHC has collapsed ceilings and weeds growing inside the consulting rooms, it is not a community failure; it is a governance failure,” a Port Harcourt‑based health policy analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Stone Reporters News. “Communities can volunteer, they can sweep, they can paint. They cannot replace a roof or rewire an electrical system.”
Tracka’s call to action was addressed directly to Governor Siminalayi Fubara (@SimFubaraKSC), the NPHCDA (@NphcdaNG), and the Federal Ministry of Health (@Fmohnigeria). The platform urged them to facilitate the renovation and equipping of the Obite PHC, and to ensure that the over 5,000 residents who depend on it are no longer forced to go without essential healthcare. A community leader, who asked not to be named because he feared retaliation from local officials, told reporters that the residents of Obite and its neighbouring villages have been complaining about the facility for years. “We have written letters, we have made phone calls. Nobody listens. The government talks about 153 remodelled PHCs, but we look at our clinic and we see nothing but collapsed ceilings and broken windows,” the leader said. “We are not asking for a palace. We are asking for a place where our children can be treated for malaria and our wives can deliver their babies safely.”
Efforts by this publication to reach the media aide to Governor Fubara were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. The Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Oreh, could not be reached for comment. However, a senior official in the Ministry of Health, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the state government is aware of the poor condition of some rural PHCs but said funding constraints and the prioritisation of model centres have slowed down the pace of repairs. “We cannot fix every facility at once,” the official said. “But that does not mean we will not fix them. The Obite PHC will be looked into.” For the thousands of residents of Obite and its surrounding communities who have already waited for years, that assurance has not yet translated into a working clinic.
The Tracka report has drawn a flood of reactions on social media, with many users expressing outrage that a health centre serving more than 5,000 people remains in such a deplorable state. Some have called for a full audit of the 153 remodelled PHCs that Governor Fubara has cited, to determine which communities actually benefitted. Others have questioned how the Etche LGA chairman, Mr. Chima Njoku, who has been praised for his electricity restoration efforts, has allowed such a key public facility to fester in his domain. Mr. Njoku did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment. As the debate intensifies, the people of Obite continue to live with the reality that the nearest functional health facility is miles away, and that for many of them, even a simple diagnosis remains out of reach.
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