Edo ethnic groups bicker over Irrua Specialist Hospital’s CMD

An uneasy calm is brewing at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH), Edo State, as two sub-ethnic groups in the state bicker over the outcome of the interview recently conducted for the appointment of a Chief Medical Director (CMD) for the hospital.

The bone of contention between the Esan people of Edo Central Senatorial District, where the hospital is located, and their counterparts from Edo North Senatorial District, otherwise known as the Afemai, is the outcome of the interview which threw up the candidate of Afemai stock as the first among the five interviewed for the position.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE gathered that Dr Mojeed Momoh, who was adjudged as the overall best candidate, was the only contestant from Edo North, while the host senatorial district, Edo Central, presented four candidates.

Ventilating its opposition to the selection process, a Non-Governmental Organisation under the umbrella of Esan Descendants Assembly (EDA) insinuated that the process which threw up Momoh as the best candidate was compromised, arguing that the hospital remained the only federal presence in Esanland, and as such, it was proper that the headship of the institution should be someone from that locality.

EDA, which parades itself as a non-partisan organisation with the sole aim of protecting and projecting the Esan interest in all spheres, is made up of prominent Esan sons and daughters.

The group’s position is contained in a petition dated April 15, 2023, endorsed by Professor Oyaziwo Aluede and Ayo Binite, the president, and the secretary respectively, and three others, addressed to the then Minister for Health.

The group, in the petition, stated that “the occupier of the position of The Chief Medical Director, of The Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH), has been of paramount interest to this Assembly because of the strategic position the institution occupies in the development of Esanland and the nation. It is the only Federal Government industry in our Senatorial District which was made possible by our son of blessed memory, Late Adm. Augustus Aikhomu GCON, former Vice President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

“The institution has contributed in no small measure to the development of Esanland by giving opportunities for our people to be employed and also training medical doctors and health workers. Today, ISTH is a world-acclaimed centre for the Treatment and management of the deadly Lassa fever and other infectious diseases. This is because, the Minister and Ministry for Health, have always insisted on getting the best-qualified persons to man the position of the Chief Medical Director. The interviews in the past have always been transparent and devoid of any scandal.

“It is unfortunate that the current interview has been marred by obvious bias and tendencies of financial compromises on the parts of some members of the panel. We have it on good authority that they were compromised financially to award maximum marks to a particular candidate in two of the subjects (Public Service Rules and General Knowledge). Only two members of the panel set the questions and also marked them alone. The markings were delayed till the next day to give room for compromising the final scores after they discovered another candidate was far ahead. They gave maximum scores to their candidate to put him ahead.

“We do not in any way insist that the Chief Medical Director must be an Esan person, but we insist that the best, based on merit and professional competence be appointed. We therefore urge you to call for a review of the processes for setting the questions and markings of the two subjects (Public Service Rules and General Knowledge) in order to ensure that due processes are followed.

“What is particularly worrisome is the fact that this their preferred candidate has severally been rejected by the past panels because of the fact that he is more of a Chevron Staff than that of ISTH. He spends a greater part of his time for the past 15 years in Chevron and has never been part of the team that built ISTH to its present enviable standard. This can be verified from the duty register of the O&G in Chevron clinic. He cannot therefore sustain the developmental strides of the past Chief Medical Directors, especially the immediate one Prof. Sylvanus Okogbenin as he will be a complete stranger to most of the newly employed consultants and staff. His imposition will spell doom for the institution. He cannot come and reap where he did not sow. Where then lies the reward for steadfastness and teamwork?” EDA queried.

Reacting to the development, an Edo North-based Non-Governmental Organisation, the Edo North League (ENL), regretted that it was an irony that ethnic sentiment was being propped up against merits in the selection of a CMD for an institution like the ISTH.

The president of the Edo North group, Dr Desmond Iyokpa, who spoke to journalists in Benin on Wednesday, said that the best candidate had emerged through a competitive rigorous examination and interview, that process must be sustained and the supervising ministry should not pander to the ethnic sentiment of anyone trying to sacrifice merits on the altar of primitive notion.

“That process should be respected, no ethnic group he said has a monopoly of wisdom and competence. Thank God they are not challenging the qualifications and administrative skills of the person in question, who has the acumen to further turn around the teaching hospital for better.” Iyokpa stated.

The Federal Ministry of Health, as the supervisory body of the hospital, it would be recalled, had set in motion the process of appointing a Chief Medical Director for the teaching hospital following the expiration of the tenure of Professor Sylvanus Okogbenin as the institution’s CMD. A nine-member interview panel was constituted to screen and conduct tests among the five shortlisted candidates to determine the most suitable candidate for the position.

All five candidates contesting the exalted position are staff of the hospital. Four of them, including the Acting Chief Medical Director, Prof. Reuben Eifediyi, hail from Esan while Dr. Mojeed Momoh was the sole contestant from Edo north extraction. The immediate past CMD of the hospital, Prof. Sylvanus Okogbenin, was also of the Esan extraction.

The nine-member panel which included two resource persons, scored Dr. Momoh above the other contestants. After it submitted its report to the ministry, with all the members signing, the formal announcement of the substantive CMD of the hospital became caught up in the web of the expiration of the tenure of the Buhari administration.

The petition by the Edo Central body is seen by many at the hospital as a dangerous dimension to the growth of the hospital where all the previous CMDs were all of Esan extraction.