Intervene In The National Orthopaedic Hospital Crisis, Edo CSOs Urges Representatives
A group, the Coalition of Edo Civil Society Community (CECSC) has called on the Senators and House of Representative members from Edo State in the National Assembly to take urgent steps to resolve the leadership crisis in the newly established National Orthopaedic Hospital in the state.
Speaking to reporters in Benin City over the weekend after a meeting with his constituents in the state, a member of the lower chamber of the National Assembly confirmed receipt of a petition by the group written to the three senators and the nine members of the House of Representatives in the National Assembly from the state. The coalition document exclusively obtained from the Rep member was endorsed by the President of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGOs), Comrade (Mrs) Daisy Abiola Igaga, the Executive Director of the Canvassers for Democracy and the Rule of Law (CDRL), Rev. Olu Martins, the Chief Responsibility Officer of Josemaria Escriva Foundation, Dr Jude Obasanmi, the Executive Director of Youth Empowerment Advocacy and Good Governance Initiative (YEAGGI), Comrade Solomon Idiongbe, the President of the Network of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria (NOCSON), Comrade Emmanuel Ogbidi and the President of Talakawa Parliament, Marxist Kola Edokpayi.
In the document cited by this reporter, the group stated,
“Recall that three National Orthopaedic Hospitals were established in three geopolitical zones hitherto without any in the twilight of the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari with the South South one cited in Benin City, Edo State”.
According to the group, “We were however alarmed that in May 2023, double appointment letters were each issued to two different individuals to head the National Orthopaedic Hospitals in Benin, Jos and Jalingo by the immediate past Minister and Minister of State respectively. This created doubts about an early takeoff of the health institutions”.
“We were delighted to learn that, following a painstaking and transparent process and review of the situation by the new administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, substantive appointments were approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu which approval was convened to the Ministry of Health for implementation by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. (Dr) George Akume”.
Continuing, the Coalition stated that, “It is however embarrassing that whereas all other CEOs of the other health institutions have all resumed in their respective centres, the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Edo State is still enmeshed in some seeming crisis owning to some confusion about the authentic Chief Executive of the hospital resulting in the embarrassment of having two individuals attending the National Assembly 2024 budget defence of the hospital on Friday, 8th December, 2024 on behalf of the hospital as the Medical Director”.
“We hereby call on you as representatives of the people of Edo State to immediately intervene by convening an emergency meeting of the Edo Caucus in the National Assembly to immediately resolve the issue to ensure that our state does not lose the right to the institution to any of the neighboring states in the region and to ensure that the hospital does not also lose out in the 2024 budgetary allocation process”, the group stated.
It would be recalled that there has been a leadership crisis in the newly established National Orthopaedic Hospital in Edo State resulting from a disagreement between the immediate past Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire and the Minister of State for Health, Hon Joseph Ekumankama in the days leading up to the handover by the last administration. While Ehanire felt slighted that as a minister representing Edo State he ought to nominate the Chief Executive of the new institution, it was discovered that the mandate for the appointment and subsequent recommendation to the President for ratification laid with the Minister of State, Ekumankama which he exercised when he noticed that Ehanire was not forthcoming with his input in the process. It was thought that with the President Tinubu’s confirmation of the appointment of Dr Philip Ugbodaga, who is a former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Edo State Branch as well as a former Medical Director of the State Central Hospital in Benin City, the tussle had effectively been brought to an end. However, those who lost out had refused to sheath their sword culminating in two people attending the Joint Senate and House Committee session of the 2024 Budget in Abuja last week, a scenario that prompted the Coalition of Civil Society Community in Edo State to seek the immediate intervention of its representatives in both chambers of the National Assembly.
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