From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
The Chief Medical Director of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Prof John Okeniyi, has spoken about how he was nearly killed during the job racketeering protest that greeted the hospital in February.
Okeniyi, who spoke to reporters in Ile-Ife on Thursday while giving a progress report of his one year in office, noted that 450 staff were supposed to be employed before 2,054 who were purportedly given employment letters started the protest.
Noting that efforts were made to kill him for his decision to discharge the duty of sanitising the hospital, Okeniyi declared that 390 people were successfully employed and they emerged on merit.
“I was not involved, I wasn’t given a mandate to investigate. The document I have was the report of the employment, and there were 2,054 in that report. When I came in, I found another 100 letters that were not interviewed, they did not apply, and they were not shortlisted.
“If I print a letter for you and it is not backed by the mandate of the head of the service of the federation, does that mean you are now a civil servant?
“I looked at the amount of money they paid, in cash or kind, I feel bad and commiserate with them, but the truth is the truth, you were swapped, you were a victim, you were ripped off.
“I am saddled to sanitise a place, and I’ve not come after you. They have come after me. They entered my office, locked the entire building, they chased my vehicle with weapons. You have paid, and you had sex, does that translate to anything?
“Some people came and said they have letters. A woman came with two different letters into two different cadres, and it was supposed to be 450. At the end of the day, 390 were successful,” Okeniyi said.
He lamented the high bill of electricity when he came in, saying the bill had been reduced with effective management of resources.
He said all the units in the hospital will be metered while efforts are ongoing to make alternative use of solar where necessary.
