₦airaland Forum

Babajide Sanwo-Olu @jidesanwoolu

Today, we had the groundbreaking ceremony for the Lagos Medipark, an innovative healthcare project that represents a collaborative effort between our government and IASO Medipark Ltd.

This facility is set to be a transformative healthcare center for Africa. It will feature a 140-bed multi-specialist hospital, cutting-edge diagnostic facilities, and living quarters for healthcare professionals.

We’ve also incorporated training spaces to cultivate a highly skilled medical workforce. Our vision is to reduce Nigerians’ dependence on medical tourism, which will ultimately boost our economic potential.

I’m pleased to announce that the first phase of this project is scheduled for completion in 2026.

Jubril A. Gawat @Mr_JAGs

UPDATE: Governor of Lagos State, Mr @jidesanwoolu today performed the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Lagos Medipark project, located on the site of the former Lagos Nursing School, Awolowo road, Ikoyi.

This Project is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between the Lagos State Government and IASO Medipark Ltd. promoted and led by Iwosan Investments, a proudly Nigerian Healthcare Investment company, and owners of the Iwosan Lagoon Hospitals.

The Lagos Medipark will have a 140-bed multi-specialist hospital, a state-of-the-art diagnostics centre, emergency services, essential support facilities, integrating residential spaces, training facilities, commercial and retail medical spaces, which will create a community where people can live, work, and receive quality health care—all in one place.

#LagosMediPark
#GreaterLagosRising

Jubril A. Gawat @Mr_JAGs

Proposed Output

My post from April 2nd, 2023.

naptu2:
I knew that they were serious this time when I discovered in October last year that they had demolished these buildings and cleared the land.

My post from April 4th, 2021

naptu2:
My Lagos State Nursing School rant


From memory.


Governor Bola Tinubu fell ill and was rushed to the United States for treatment. This was in the early or mid-2000s, so might not find a record of it online, but I remember it very well.


His return was marked with fanfare because people were happy that he had recovered. There were a lot of journalists and other people at the airport when he returned. I remember the news footage very well. The present Oniru was his ADC at the time.

Governor Tinubu told journalists that he was happy to be back. He spoke about his ailment and said that he was feeling better. He also spoke about how impressed he was with the hospital in which he was treated and he spoke about his desire to build something similar in Lagos.


There was talk about the hospital that Tinubu wished to build and this talk went on for months after his return. However, just before he left office, this talk changed from being about a hospital to being about a medical park.


The idea was that there were many Nigerian doctors abroad and so the government would get into a partnership with them. Government would provide land (there was talk about it being sited in Lekki) and other amenities and the doctors would also provide some kind of investment. The doctors would spend some time in Lagos every year and use their world class skills to treat Nigerians, while the government and some private entities would provide the equipment that the doctors needed.


This arrangement would ensure that Lagosians would not need to travel abroad for first class medical care and in fact, it might attract other Africans to come to Lagos for treatment.


The Federal Government, led by Olusegun Obasanjo, also expressed its desire to build a medical park.


Tinubu left office but no medical park was built.


During Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola's second term the government began saying that the medical park would be sited at the Nursing School, rather than at Lekki.


The land for the Lagos State School of Nursing was provided by the legend, Mrs Ayo Vaughan-Richards (here is Mrs Vaughan-Richards' 1988 interview with the Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-05-29-8801030310-story.html) and the idea was that its location should be close to General Hospital and Island Maternity to make it easy for the student nurses to get practical experience.


The Nursing School was on Awolowo Road in Ikoyi and you could actually walk from there to General Hospital, Odan, Marina and to Island Maternity, both on Broad Street.


The Nursing School was subsequently moved to far away Igando. It had been on Awolowo Road for many decades.


The Nursing School was moved, but nothing was heard about the medical park. In fact, that complex on Awolowo Road was abandoned and people began to speculate that Bola Tinubu had bought it. I wrote about that speculation on this thread in 2015. Akinwunmi Ambode was the APC candidate in the governorship election and Jimi Disu interviewed him ahead of the election and asked him about the complex. Mr Disu was very angry because he believed that Tinubu had taken over the place. Ambode could not provide an answer to Mr Disu's questions.


I knew that the place was the designated site of the medical park and I was shocked that Ambode did not know this. Signboards had been placed on the walls of the complex just a few months before that interview and the signboards stated that it was the proposed site of the medical park.


Ambode became governor and in 2016 his government signed an agreement with a private company for the development of the medical park at the former Nursing School on Awolowo Road. You can find articles about the agreement online. The signing of that agreement was the last that we heard about the medical park.


The former School of Nursing and hostel complex has been overtaken by weeds, wild plants and small wild animals. I can't imagine how Mrs Vaughan-Richards would feel if she sees the place today. You can go see it for yourself. It is located beside the ramp that leads to the Ring Road Bridge at the Onikan end of Awolowo Road. It is opposite Creek Hospital (Military Hospital) and Protea Ikoyi Westwood Hotel.


I have attached some pictures just in case you can't go there. You can see the signboards and banners that were put up by the Fashola Administration. They've all faded. Just take a look at this nonsense!

My post from January 24th, 2019.

naptu2:
I forgot to explain Jimi Disu's comments about the nursing school.

When Jimi Disu asked Jimi Agbaje the question about the nursing school on Sunday, I said that it was one of his favourite topics. I listened to his show in 2014/2015 when he interviewed Akinwunmi Ambode and the nursing school was one of the issues with which he tackled Ambode.


The Lagos State Nursing School was on Awolowo Road for many decades. The complex is almost opposite Creek Hospital (military hospital) and it is just before the ramp that takes you to Ring Road Bridge (on your way to 3rd Mainland Bridge).

However, the school was moved to Igando c2012 and the complex in Ikoyi has been abandoned. The walls are covered in dust and weeds are growing in the premises.


There is a rumour that Bola Tinubu bought over the complex from the Lagos State Government and it is that rumour that annoys Jimi Disu very much. He often challenges APC candidates that they should explain what has happened to the complex and none has given a satisfactory answer.

Jimi Disu said that the nursing school was built at that location because it is close to the General Hospital Lagos, the Island Maternity Hospital and the Massey Street Children's Hospital and this makes it easy for student nurses to get practical experience. He is angry that the school was moved to a far place like Igando.


However, on the other hand, I've also heard a different story.

I remember that Bola Tinubu fell ill when he was governor and he had to go to the United States for treatment. Many people criticised him for going abroad for treatment. When he returned he said that he was working towards establishing a hospital in Lagos that would be like the hospital in which he was treated.


He later came up with the idea of a medical park (the Obasanjo led federal government also had a similar idea). The idea was that Nigeria had many medical doctors that were practising abroad. These doctors were among the best in their field. Therefore, the government would provide infrastructure (land, electricity, etc) for these doctors to come back to Nigeria and set up practices where the major ailments that were afflicting Nigerians would be treated.


Basically, it would be like a large park where surgeons, dentists and other Nigerian medical professionals that are based abroad would be able to practice for a few months every year. This would reduce the need to go abroad.

It was initially proposed that the park would be in Lekki, but it was later decided (during the Fashola era) that it should be at the nursing school complex. There are billboards on the walls of the nursing school that advertise the medical park idea.

However, the complex has been abandoned since c2012 and its decrpit state is annoying a lot of Lagosians.

Previous threads.

Lagos State Government Executes Concession Agreement For Medical Park.

https://www.nairaland.com/7637897/lagos-state-government-executes-concession


Governor Sanwo-Olu Meets With Promoters Of The Lagos Medi-Park Village Project
https://www.nairaland.com/8286304/governor-sanwo-olu-meets-promoters-lagos

May 2022

Tolu Ogunlesi @toluogunlesi

NEWS: IWOSAN Investments Limited (co-founder & Chair, Mr. Fola Adeola; co-founder & CEO, Mrs. Fola Laoye) has announced the acquisition of the Lagoon Hospitals Group.

Lagoon now rebranding as “IWOSAN Lagoon Hospitals.”

(IWOSAN = Yoruba word meaning healing/to heal)

https://twitter.com/toluogunlesi/status/1531300961444044803

Fola Adeola

Tajudeen Afolabi Adeola is a Nigerian businessman and investor. He is the Founder of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank Plc.)., a member of the Commission for Africa, as well as founder and chairman of the FATE Foundation.

Education

Adeola completed his secondary school education at Methodist Boys High School, Lagos. He obtained a Diploma in Accounting from Yaba College of Technology in 1975 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1980 following his training with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells and D.O. Dafinone & Company (both Chartered Accountants). Over the years he has received professional development training at notable institutions worldwide including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland.

In 1999, he completed a one-year sabbatical at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Jos, Nigeria, where he carried out research on economic development and job creation policies.

Private sector

In 1990, he (together with Tayo Aderinokun) established Guaranty Trust Bank, which he served as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer from 1990 to July 2002. The bank has since expanded beyond Nigeria to other neighbouring African countries (The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia) and in United Kingdom. The bank became listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1996.

In 2002, Adeola voluntarily retired from Guaranty Trust Bank, after twelve years, handing over to his deputy, Tayo Aderinokun. Since then he has served as the chairman UTC, ARM, Lotus Capital, Eterna Oil, CardinalStone Partners Limited, Tafsan Breweries (board member), and Credit Registry Services.

He is also the chairman of Main One Cable Company Limited which completed the construction of an open access submarine cable system that spanned 14,000 kilometres and provides international and internet connectivity to countries on the Atlantic Coast from Portugal to Lagos in 2010.

Public sector

Adeola served as Chairman of the National Pension Commission, following the promulgation into law of the Pension Bill (principally authored by him), by the National Assembly of Nigeria. He chaired the Lagos State Disaster Relief Committee which was set up following the 27 January 2002 Lagos armoury explosion. He was the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) serving as running mate to former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairman (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu in the 2011 presidential elections.

Adeola was also a member of the National Honours and Awards Committee and was appointed a member of the Governing Council of Lagos State University in November 2004. He served as a member of the Solid Minerals Committee (constituted by the Federal Government) and was the Chairman of Ogun State Development Trust Fund Committee. He was a council member of Lagos State University and until 17 January 2011 served as a council member Olabisi Onabanjo University.

Civic work

Adeola established the FATE Foundation in 2000. FATE is a non-governmental organisation which aims to encourage entrepreneurship, using a mix of training, mentoring, loan support and consulting to support young Nigerians. To date it has served over 30,000 young Nigerian entrepreneurs, of which over 65% are fully employed by their businesses and are employing on average about four staff.

FATE opened an innovation centre in Abeokuta, the Institute for Venture Design, in collaboration with the Centre for Design Research at Stanford University, which runs an entrepreneurship program focused on engineering, technology, and innovation, and which aims to promote development of industry in Nigeria.

Adeola served as a member of the Global Advisory Committee on Philanthropy of the World Economic Forum for four years. In 2001, he was invited to join twenty-four other business leaders for the Aspen Institute ISIB Annual Business Leaders Dialogue in Aspen, Colorado. In May 2004, he was appointed Commissioner on the Commission for Africa by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He was a Council member, and is Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria; Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria.


Honours and awards

He was nationally decorated as Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in December 2002 by President Olusegun Obasanjo. He has an honorary doctorate from Nkumba University, Ntebbe, Uganda. Banker of the Decade in 2009 by the Vanguard Newspaper group. Distinguished Famous Alumni award by Yaba Tech. Zik Leadership in 2003. This Day Awards 2011 – Change Makers in Social Entrepreneurship.

Personal life

Adeola is married to Hajara, and has six children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fola_Adeola


Previous thread:

Governor Sanwo-Olu Commissions Iwosan-Lagoon Hospital On Victoria Island.
https://www.nairaland.com/7981090/governor-sanwo-olu-commissions-iwosan-lagoon-hospial

Highly commendable.

But naptu2, you dey try oh. 😁 😁 🤣

Very good

Projects can never tired us

I see Sanwo Olu being picked as a vice in 2031

Lagos.... A country that should be on its own

adebayo201:
Highly commendable.

But naptu2, you dey try oh. 😁 😁 🤣

Sir naptu should be one media guru in Nigeria but chose to be so humble.

Respect boss

Good

Lagos is working on a blue print that wants to make it the best city in Africa or even the world at large

When I know that Lagos state means business is that they allow their staff to bring innovative ideas and even compensate them, no state will do this and not move forward

helinues:
Sir naptu should be one media guru in Nigeria but chose to be so humble.

Respect boss

He just dey quote from years back to back up his post. I'm impressed.

EXLOVER:
How can i purchase those spoil buses? Can someone help?

We are mediocre to say the least. What's this announcement about? What's the big deal over a 140 bed hospital or are we suppose to applaud government for doing the bearest minimum they are voted to do?
A state with over 18million resident, generating so much in revenue, and making announcement of every project for recognition of the governor is appalling.

My head dey swear aswear

Cool

helinues:
Sir naptu should be one media guru in Nigeria but chose to be so humble.

Respect boss

no $120m award without workings.

Lagos City, a country on its own.

Eko o ni baje o

Aile:
Lagos.... A country that should be on its own

All thanks to Tinubu..

Ok

Nigeria needs this project across its 6 geo politico zones

You people should try to bring bad news from Lagos and South West too na.
How do you think this makes other states geopolitical zknes feel?

At least complain about the traffic....

Let other states not feel alone in bad governance....

Every time positive news from Lagos, you forgot how bad this can make those from across the Niger feel?
Please be Merciful

Sanwo na real G
I like how each Lagos state governor trys to out do his predecessor.

I heard CHINEDU said he want to run again.
I wonder who is chasing him

helinues:
Sir naptu should be one media guru in Nigeria but chose to be so humble.

Respect boss

I have been suspecting him to be Uncle Jimi..

triple996:

Lagos leads others follows.
Pls Kaduna, kano and revers should learn and follow


By the way...... This one go pepper children of biafra, land of cannibalism, flogging of parents, sit at home, ritual, drug pushing, and bloodshed

Get a life and check your mental health.

The South West is the most PROGRESSIVE region in Nigeria, no doubt about that.

God bless Lagos.

God continue to bless YORUBALAND.

AMEN!

#RestructureNigeria