The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi on Tuesday doled out a sum of N10 million and 1,000 bags of rice to staff members of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife who were recently disengaged by the hospital management to ameliorate their suffering occasioned by the non-payment of their 11-month unpaid salaries.
Speaking while announcing the donation and receiving the affected hospital staff in his palace, the monarch assured them that he is currently working with relevant stakeholders including the Federal Ministry of Health among others to resolve the crisis.
According to him, “It is your right to protest if you feel injustice has been done to you all, but I want you to apply wisdom in order to achieve beneficial results. I am dedicating myself and the ancient throne of Oduduwa to fight this fight to a logical conclusion.
“I am happy that you all have demonstrated the core Omoluabi ethos of descendants of Oduduwa by allowing operations to resume at the hospital upon receiving my message. You have honoured me and I pray that God will honour you all.
“Beyond that, I wish to assure you that the Palace will support your dreams and aspirations in life even beyond the OAUTHC. I believe that most of you have big dreams and you are only looking for how to achieve it but I am calling on you all to use me as a ladder to reach your peak in life.” The Ooni said.
Speaking on behalf of the disengaged workers, Samson Falope, explained that the hospital Management served them a circular last week Wednesday, 31st January 2024, disengaging over 1,500 workers from their duty posts, after serving the institution for about 15 months with most of them not getting paid a dime.
“We were left with no choice but to converge at the hospital complex main gate on Thursday, 1st February 2024, in order to seek the audience with the Management but the Chief Medical Director of OAUTHC, Professor John Okeniyi and his team did not show up.’
Samson, an estate officer II of the Civil and Maintenance department, lamented that they were taken through all recruitment and verification processes after which they were issued the required documents with which they have been working since 2022.
He said, “Kabiyesi you have wiped our tears and we pray that God Almighty perfect all your affairs, sir. We cannot thank you enough especially as these people (OAUTHC Management) almost turned us to nuisance after using us for about 15 months without pay.”
“We were interviewed, screened, taken through orientation programs organized by the management, oath form was given to them, appointment letter was given to them, they had resumed their duties, observing both day and night shifts, only to be told to go home after serving with all we have for about 15 months.”
“Our children are out of school due to the fact that we can no longer pay their school fees, we have aged parents at home, nobody to take care of them, we do not know where to start again, so, we have no other choice than to embark on a peaceful protest, shutting the main gate of the hospital complex but allowing emergencies to enter the hospital for immediate treatment, ” he added.
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