The federal government says it has suspended Tajudeen Balogun, the Acting Director, Admin at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State, over his involvement in a job racketeering saga in the institution.

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare spokesperson, Patricia Deworitshe, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

According to her, the former chief medical director, Olumuyiwa Owojuyigbe, appointed in an acting capacity in March and involved in the saga, has absconded from his duty post since July.

Ms Deworitshe said the ministry was forced to wade into the issue of the unrest in the institution.

“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 a flagrant abuse of extant rules and regulations.

“The hospital conducted the exercise in two phases (230 and 220) after securing approval from 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,” she explained.

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

Ms Deworitshe recalled that the government set up an investigative panel in August.

“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 nonclinical staff,” she explained,

Ms Deworitshe added that the recruitment outcome also revealed that OAUTH had a staff strength of 7,279, of which 3,034 are clinical staff and 4,245 are nonclinical staff.

She said this translates to a nonclinical staff ratio of approximately 1:1 instead of the recommended 3:1, meaning it was supposed to be three clinical to one nonclinical staff.

Ms Deworitshe also said the panel’s outcome revealed that many recruited staff were without the requisite academic and professional certificates and evidence of National Youth Service Corps certificates.

(NAN)