A protest was staged by a group of young Nigerians, who had for over one year now assumed that they were undergoing probationary period at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun state in Ile-Ife penultimate Thursday.
Over 2,000 among them had their hopes dashed as they were told to forget about becoming staff of the hospital at least for now.
The management team of the hospital had in a memo signed by the Acting Director of Administration O. Omonije which was dated January 31, 2024, submitted that while 68 among them will have the hope of becoming full-time employees of the hospital turning into reality , the remaining 2,000 will have their own ending as a mirage.
The affected people were said to have been recruited through an alleged job racketeering that began in early 2022 and continued until 2023.
The controversial memo noted that the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation had approved the recruitment of only 450 new employees for the hospital while the 68 lucky people would participate in a fresh recruitment exercise.
The aggrieved former workers penultimate Thursday staged a protest in Ile-Ife and carried placards with various inscriptions that include ‘Say no to injustice’, ‘Okeniyi must go’, ‘Our salary must be paid’, ‘Our 14-month salary or nothing else’ and ‘Pay our salary OAUTHC’,.
They have accused the management team of ‘labour exploitation’ and demanded that even if they would have to leave, they should at least be paid for the months they had spent as workers at the hospital carrying out duties.
