Secret Reporters No place to hide
Fejiro Oliver
Elombah.com has gathered reliably that the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) may be turned into a war zone if the Federal Government does not wade into the impending crisis.
On Monday, the hospital management we learnt conducted promotional written interviews to nurses, but a clause was added to it. Sources confided in us that the Chief Medical Director (CMD) Prof. V.O Adetiloye told them point blank that they will only be allowed to write the exam and get promoted if they denounce their union, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM). This angered the workers who vowed not to disown their union for what rightfully belonged to them.
On Wednesday, the CMD again approached the nurses to continue with the exams where he made the same demand but he was asked if he can tell his Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) members to leave their union, which left him speechless and walked away. The exam we authoritatively gathered was not done till late in the night about 7pm when about 20 nurses were allegedly coerced into the boardroom to write the exams after signing with the management to denounce their association. Attempts by other nurses who refused to be subjected to such condition to enter into the exam venue and check which of their nurses played the Judases was met with darkness as the room lights were immediately switched off. Those who wrote the exams will also pay back the three months salary they collected when they went on strike or forfeit their annual leave for three years.
The exam continued on Thursday with few nurses again coerced to enter the boardroom to write the promotion exam, while a greater number of them refused to partake in the charade. A source revealed to us that the hospital management had denied nurses promotion for the past six years, leading to them going to court. According to the source, a court injunction had earlier directed that no promotion exam should be done until after the hearing; an order which the CMD and his management disobeyed.
The former CMD, Prof. Sanya Adejuyigbe who happened to be the spokesman of all the teaching hospital CMD we also learnt had been in the habit of shortchanging the nurses and oppressing them. A source confided in us on how he alongside other CMDs conspired with IPPIS to stop paying them their shift and teaching allowances, while their counterpart in the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) are still enjoying it.
Elombah.com contacted the CMD who denied all the allegations. He wondered why some people can just wake up and frame up lies that never existed. He questioned our reporter if anyone is coerced to write an exam that will promote him or her.
“We have been doing this since Monday and if any one says they are being forced to write promotion exam; that is a lie. How can one be forced to write what will benefit them? Everyone wants to be promoted and they are happy to get it”, he said. He stated that those who failed to write the exams are those who took the management to court and he has no issues with them.
