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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
Medical workers under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), on Monday, locked up the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado Ekiti, when the workers were protesting over alleged unpaid emoluments by the management.
The protesting medical staff in their hundreds grounded the main gate of the health institution located in the Adebayo area of the state capital and sealed off the hospital.
The protest, which began 8:00 am, lasted for more than four hours as the staff who chanted anti-government songs ensured that no worker, including members of the management and doctors, had access into and out of the tertiary health facility.
Omotola Farotimi, the JOHESU Chairman, EKSUTH chapter, while addressing the workers said their action was not unconnected to non-payment of salary arrears, cooperative deductions, non-implementation of minimum wage and unpaid leave bonuses. He lamented that cooperative deductions had not been paid by the management in the last 24 months, thereby increasing the tally to an aggregate of N1.6bn, without hope that the amount would be defrayed in record time.
“When this government came in 2018, the aggregate of the outstanding deductions was a sum of N500 million. But now, it has swelled to as much as N1.6bn,” Farotimi said.
“Another issue that has been agitating our minds is the issue of Minimum Wage. It has been implemented for workers at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti. Even in Ekiti State, all health workers are being paid, except our members.
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“In the last meeting held by the hospital’s board, it approved the payment of minimum wage for us, yet nothing was done up to now. We can no longer wait and begin to suffer in silence. We must cry to the government.
“The board will have another meeting next week, so what we are doing is just a warning protest. This gate is where we are going to be doing our work for the next few days and we will continue until we have a positive response.”
The EKSUTH’s Chief Medical Director, Prof. Kayode Olabanji, while responding to the situation said the management met with JOHESU last week Thursday and reassured them of their commitment to accede to their requests.
Olabanji added that a letter of assurance dated August 19, 2022, had been given to JOHESU leadership, thereby reinforcing the management’s commitment to ensuring that all the backlog of emoluments will be paid.
“There is nothing we do in secrecy in this hospital. It is agreed that there was an approved minimum wage for workers. But the questions are; was it cash-backed? Or was there money meant for payment that we stashed in one account?
“We really sympathise with them, but I think we have given them enough assurance that we will pay. We are still going to do another meeting this week to iron all these issues out,” he said.
