The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has pacified disengaged staff members of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, with N10 million and 1,000 bags of rice.

Mr Ogunwusi announced the donation while addressing the angry youths who thronged to his palace on Monday in Ile-Ife.

He assured them that he is currently working with relevant stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Health among others, to resolve the crisis.

“It is your right to fight and agitate because injustice has been done to you all, but I want you to apply wisdom to achieve beneficial results. I am dedicating myself and the ancient throne of Oduduwa to fight this fight to a logical conclusion, You have honoured me and I pray that God will honour you all.

“I am happy that you all have demonstrated the core Omoluabi ethos of the descendants of Oduduwa by allowing operations to resume at the hospital upon receiving my message.

“Beyond that, I wish to assure you that the palace will support your dreams and aspirations in life even beyond the OAUTHC,” the Ooni said.

According to him, “most of you have big dreams and are only looking for how to achieve them, but I call on you to use me as a ladder to reach your peak in life.”

Speaking on behalf of the disengaged workers, Samson Falope, commended the Ooni for his fatherly role on the issue.

Mr Falope revealed that the hospital management served them a disengagement circular on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

He explained further that the hospital authorities, through the circular, disengaged over 1,500 workers, some of whom had served the institution for about 15 months with most of them not paid a dime.

According to him, on their move to create awareness about their predicament, they were left with no choice than to converge on the hospital complex main gate on Thursday, February 1, 2024.

One of the victims stated further that they converged to seek audience with the management, but the Chief Medical Director of OAUTHC, Prof. John Okeniyi, and his team, did not show up.

Mr Falope, an estate officer II of the civil and maintenance department, lamented that they were taken through recruitment and verification processes after which they were issued required documents with which they had been working since 2022.

“Kabiyesi, you have wiped our tears and we pray that God Almighty will perfect all your affairs, sir. We cannot thank you enough, especially as these people (OAUTHC management) almost turned us into a nuisance after using us for about 15 months without pay. We were interviewed, screened, taken through orientation programmes organised by the management, oath forms were issued, appointment letters issued before we resumed our duties,” he said.

Mr Falope said that they observed both day and night shifts. Only to be told to return home after serving diligently for about 15 months.

He stated, “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, and nobody to take care of them. We do not know where to start again, so, we have no other choice but 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 stated.

(NAN)