Ekiti govt denies owing doctors four months salaries

The Ekiti State government, on Sunday, described as false and misleading media reports that the state was owing doctors four months salaries, saying it has paid workers including those in the health sector regularly since inception in 2018.

The president of the Nigeria Medical Association, Professor Innocent Ujah, had last Friday alleged that Ekiti State alongside Abia and Ondo were owing doctors salaries.

Ujah said: “The NEC expressed its disappointment with the failure of Abia, Ondo and Ekiti State governments to pay salaries in full and other allowances of doctors and other health workers for up to 23 months in Abia State and down to four months in Ekiti State.”

But the permanent secretary of the state Ministry of health, Mr Akinjide Akinleye, in a statement made available to Tribune Online, on Sunday, noted that the administration of Dr Kayode Fayemi placed priority on the welfare of medical personnel in the state hence the prompt and regular payment of their entitlements.

He said: “As of today, all health workers in the state including Doctors have been paid their salaries up to November 2021.

“The State Government holds its workers including medical and health professionals in high esteem and would continue to make their welfare a top priority at all times. It is public knowledge that the State Government regularly engages with its workers and continues to create enabling environment as a catalyst for improved productivity.

“This is more entrenched in the health sector where the State Government has committed to building staff capacity, infrastructural uplifting of the health facilities and procurement of state-of-the-art medical equipment.

“The general public is hereby advised to completely disregard this misleading article and we encourage everyone to refrain from spreading unverified information which can be quickly and needlessly sensationalised.”

He, however, noted that the government was aware of the backlog of salaries owed to the workers by the previous administration, adding that the present government has commenced the process of settling the outstanding salaries.

“However, the public is aware that salaries were owed between July and September 2018 to workers in the State by the past administration. The administration of Dr John Kayode Fayemi acknowledged this liability from the previous administration and has begun to defray these salary arrears to the workers. It is important to state that the present administration is not owing any worker since its inauguration in October 2018,” the permanent secretary said.

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Ekiti govt denies owing doctors four months salaries