By Kelvin Obambon
Protest broke out on Tuesday July 30th, 2024 at the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital Calabar following the alleged interference of the hospital’s management in the affairs of the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI).
The protest which was at the behest of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of SSAUTHRIAI, was led by the Chairman of the union, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital branch, Comrade Dominic Effiong.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Effiong said that the protest was to show solidarity with the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital branch of SSAUTHRIAI, where there has been a face-off between the union and the hospital management to an extent that the sector chairman at the national who was incidentally a former chairman of the branch was arrested by the police.
“The past chairman of SSAUTHRIAI, Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital branch, who also happens to be the sector chairman of the health sector, Comrade Ken Bassey, was arrested on the 25th of July, 2024 in a commando style by the Anti Robbery unit of the Nigeria Police Force as a common criminal.
“When the information of his arrest got to us we did everything possible to ensure that he was released. When we got to the station we discovered that the bone of contention was the handing over of a bus. To me that’s not an issue. For a person of that caliber to be arrested in a union matter leaves much to be desired. Union issues should be resolved by members of the union,” he said.
Comrade Effiong regretted that despite being a senior staff of the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, the management did not show any concern in the arrest of the sector chairman, which made it suspicious that the management had a hand in it.
He further disclosed that there had been a failed attempt to conduct election for the Psychiatric Hospital branch of the union, which culminated in the setting up of a caretaker committee that the management had since refused to recognize.
Corroborating the position of the SSAUTHRIAI Chairman UCTH, the sector chairman, Ken Bassey, in an interview with our correspondent, explained that his travail began when he was elected to the position of a sector chairman overseeing all federal health institutions in the country.
“Before then I was elected the branch chairman of SSAUTHRIAI in 2015. My tenure was suppose to expire by September 2023. But in 2022, due to my wonderful performance in the union people all over the country asked me to step up to the sector chairman. I contested and won the incumbent in Ilorin, Kwara State. After 6 months I thought it wise that it will not be good as a christian to be holding two positions at the same time.
“I decided on the 1st of May 2023 to relinquish my position as branch chairman to the vice chairman who became acting chairman. The branch election was supposed to hold on the 23rd of May but we suddenly discovered that the two candidates running for the position of chairman were from the same unit, which is against the union’s constitution. When the both candidates refused to agree for one person from the unit to stand in the election, the NEC disqualified the two of them.”
He stated that the disqualification of the candidates did not go down well with the management because according to him, one of them was fronted by the hospital’s leadership. For failing to have their way, Bassey said the management resorted to dealing with an exco that was dissolved and suspended over anti union activities, having refused to recognize the caretaker committee put in place by the NEC.
On the issue of vehicle that led to his arrest by the police, the sector chairman explained that he was duly authorized to take the vehicle as a parting gift.
“The vehicle is still impounded by the police even when I presented the documents that transfer the ownership of the vehicle to me,” he said.
On his part, Comrade Dennis Ekpo, the caretaker committee chairman of SSAUTHRIAI Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital branch, said the inability of the union to conduct election was due to management’s interference, and that since the committee came on board the management of the hospital has disregarded it and bluntly refused to acknowledge its legitimacy.
“Their reason is a very flimsy one. That the letters we got were doctored and gotten from somewhere in Calabar. We made efforts to reach out to some top management members who did not agree with the position of the Acting Medical Director. The medical director singlehandedly refused to recognize the caretaker committee. It has not been easy for the caretaker committee but we have kept the peace,” he said.