Ondo Health workers lament 15 months Unpaid salaries

Some health workers have raised an alarm over an alleged refusal of the Governor Rotimi Akeredolu led government of Ondo state to pay them salaries for the past 15 months.

The 25 health workers, who took to social media to call out the government of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, said life has been miserable for them despite their active participation in fighting the new coronavirus in the state.

The health workers include doctors, nurses, scientific officers, pharmacists, medical lab technicians and record officers and currently work at government hospitals in Owo, Ore, Ikare Akoko, Irele and many other parts of the state.

It was gathered that they were employed into the Ondo State civil service under the health management board on June 26, 2019 during the tenure of Oluwatoyin Akinkuotu as Head of Service (HoS).

Copies of their employment letters duly signed by Adeniran Ikuomola, the Permanent Secretary of the State Health Management Board were also obtained by Premium times.

Some of the affected individuals spoke with journalists under the condition of anonymity to avoid being sanctioned.

“We have been living on debt for the past one year. We were recruited and offered appointments letters but no payment. We kept working due to the promise that the government will attend to us”, one of the doctors said.

A pharmacist told PREMIUM TIMES that quitting the job at the period of COVID-19 may hinder the effort of the government towards curbing the deadly virus.

He, however, said that despite their travails, they keep up with the normal office activities.

“We have reached out to the state Assembly and some other stakeholders but effort to get our salaries proved abortive and we’re getting tired of this injustice”, another affected person said.

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Information, Donald Ojogo, told our correspondent that the current HoS, Oluwadare Aragbaiye, is in the best position to give reason for the neglect.

Mr Aragbaiye, is however, yet to respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ enquiries as of the time of filing this report. He did not respond to our correspondent’s calls and text messages.