FG suspends OAUTH director over job racketeering, CMD absconds

The Federal Government has suspended Balogun Tajudeen, the acting director, Admin, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, over his involvement in job racketeering saga in the hospital.

This was made known in a statement issued by the Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Patricia Deworitshe, on Sunday, November 19, 2023.

Deworitshe noted that the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr Owojuyigbe Olumuyiwa, who was appointed in an acting capacity in March and was also involved in the saga, has absconded from his duty post since July.

She stated that the ministry was forced to wade into the issue of the unrest being witnessed in the institution.

She said: “It has become necessary for the ministry to wade into the matter to set the record straight.

“The unrest is attributed to the alleged job racketeering/over-employment saga in the establishment, under the former CMD, Dr Olumuyiwa who employed over 1,973 staff.

“This was against the 450 vacancies waiver granted in the 2022 employment by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), which is flagrant abuse of extant rules and regulations.

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“The hospital conducted the exercise in two phases (230 and 220)  after securing approval of the Federal Character  Commission not to advertise the posts.

“During the first phase, the hospital recruited 600 staff instead of 230, and a total of 1,823 staff members were recruited in the second  phase instead of 220.”

Deworitshe added that at the end of the two phases, the hospital recruited 2,423 staff instead of 450.

According to her, this resulted in 1,973 staff members being recruited in excess of the approved waiver.

The OAUTH spokesman stated: “In August, an investigative panel was set up, led by Dr Aderemi Azeez of the Hospital Service Department of the ministry.

“The report of the panel states that Olumuyiwa was embroiled in over-employment/job racketeering in the establishment, without provision in the personnel budget for over 1,973 workers illegally employed.

“The report further noted that the 450 workers waiver granted to OAUTH was for the recruitment of clinical staff, but only 55 clinical staff were employed, while others were non clinical staff.”

Deworitshe added that the outcome of the recruitment also revealed that OAUTH has a staff strength of 7,279, out of which 3,034 are clinical staff and 4,245 are non-clinical staff.

This, she said, translated to a non-clinical staff ratio of approximately 1:1 instead of the recommended 3:1, meaning that it was supposed to be three clinical to one non-clinical staff.

The OAUTH spokesperson noted that the outcome of the panel revealed that many recruited staff were without the requisite academic and professional certificates as well as evidence of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates.

The Star