13th July, 2023
By Jethro Ibileke
Selection process for the appointment of a substantive Chief Medical Director (CMD) of federal government-owned Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, is currently generating rancor among the people of Edo central and their counterparts in the northern senatorial district of the state.
Irrua, the host of the specialist hospital, is the administrative headquarter of the Esan central local government area of Edo State.
Following the expiration of the tenure of the former CMD, Professor Sylvanus Okogbenin, the supervisory body of the Hospital, the Federal Ministry of Health, constituted a nine-member interview panel to screen and conduct tests among five shortlisted candidates to determine the most suitable candidate for the position.
Four of the candidates, including the Acting Chief Medical Director, Prof. Reuben Eifediyi, hail from Esan in the Central Senatorial District of the state, while Dr. Mojeed Momoh is the sole contestant from Edo north extraction.
The immediate past CMD of the hospital, Prof. Sylvanus Okogbenin, is also of Esan extraction.
At the end of the interview, Dr. Mojeed Momoh was allegedly scored highest (77.27%) was recommended for appointment as the CMD of the Hospital.
But, a group under the umbrella of Esan Descendants Assembly (EDA), has kicked against the outcome of the interview.
ESA which says its stands for protecting and projecting the interests of Esan people in all spheres, in a letter dated April 25, 2023, and addressed to the minister of health, called for a review of the interview.
The group alleged that the interviewers “gave maximum scores to their candidate to put him ahead.”
The letter reads in part:
“The institution has contributed in no small measure to the development of Esanland by giving opportunities for our people to be employed and also training medical doctors and health workers.”
“It is unfortunate that the current interview has been marred by obvious bias and tendencies of financial compromises on the parts of some members of the panel.
“We have it on good authorities that they were compromised financially to award maximum marks to a particular candidate in two of the subjects (Public Service Rules and General Knowledge).
“We do not in anyway insist that the Chief Medical Director must be an Esan person, but we insist that the best, based on merit and professional competence be appointed.
“We therefore urge you to call for a review of the processes for setting the questions and markings of the two subjects (Public Service Rules and General Knowledge) in order to ensure that due processes are followed.
“What is particularly worrisome is the fact that this their preferred candidate has severally been rejected by the past panels because of the fact that he is more of a Cheveon Staff than that of ISTH.
“He spends greater part of his time for the past 15 years in Chevron and has never been part of the team that built ISTH to its present enviable standard.
“He will be a complete stranger to most of the newly employed consultants and staff. His imposition will spell doom for the institution. He cannot come and reap where he did not sow. Where then lies the reward for steadfastness and team work?
“With the strategic national and international placing of ISTH. especially in the fight against infectious diseases, we cannot afford to have a Chief Medical Director who has not been part of the team that has placed the institution in such height. ‘The institution deserves nothing but the best,” the group contended.
But, in a swift reaction, a group, Edo North League (ENL), condemned the stance of the Esan body over what it described as glorifying ethnic sentiment over merit in the appointment of of a substantive CMD for the Hospital.
President of the ENL, Dr Desmond Iyokpa, in a statement made available to journalists, noted that siting the Hospital in Esan land is not a license that all its CMDs must be an indigene of Esan, adding that the best candidate has emerged after a competitive and rigorous exams and interview.
He said: “Thank God they are not challenging the qualifications and administrative skills of the person in question who has the acumen to further turn around the Teaching Hospital for better.
“The petition by the Esan body is seen by many at the hospital as a dangerous dimensions to the growth of the hospital where all the previous CMDs are all from Esan extraction.
“Keen observers are worried that if the primordial ethnic sentiments are allowed to prevail, it will spell doom for the medical institution and damage the morale and work ethics in the establishment.
“The President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration is therefore urged to restore sanity in the hospital by upholding competence and capacity over and above ethnicity and pronounce the substantive CMD based on merit as exemplified by the performance of the candidates.”
Iyokpa therefore called on the Esan group to respect and accept the selection process, adding that no ethic group has a monopoly of wisdom and competence.