Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr Joseph Onojaeme has disclosed that he relieved the Provost of Delta State School of Nursing Asaba of her position because she was junior to other nurses there.
Dr. Onojaeme who disclosed this while fielding questions from newsmen in his office on Tuesday, made it clear that he is on a mission to clean the State nursing schools of the alleged sharp practices being reported and stable admission records.
According to him “We don’t take the issue of corruption for granted. Also there is a Provost at Asaba who was occupying a position ought not to, so when I came back from Abuja where I went to see the Registrar of Nursing Council, I stepped down the Provost.”
While hitting back at his critics, that he cannot be distracted by mere blackmails and ill conceived propaganda from mischief makers. That, this is a case of corruption fighting back, Dr. Onojaeme disclosed that one of the Lecturers attached to the State School of Nursing Agbor, is presently facing trial for allegedly demanding money from students in exchange of higher scores.
The Delta State Commissioner for Health asserted that, “There is a Lecturer who collected money for scores. That Lecturer will be severely dealt with. First of all, we are transferring him from Agbor School of Nursing and we are setting up a panel because you cannot just accuse a staff without doing investigation. But I am assuring you if at the end of investigation he is found wanting he will be severely dealt with.
“We don’t play with the issue of extortion from students, it is against the M-O-R-E Agenda; anything that is against the M-O-R-E Agenda we take it with all seriousness.”
Dr. Onojaeme noted that in the course of his intervention efforts to reposition the Nursing Schools in the State, Corruption is fighting back, pointing out that since certain key persons were eased out of the system, there has been subterranean move to fight back through sabotage.
He used the occasion to debunk newspaper and online reports pointing accusing fingers at him to the effect that massive corruption ranging from admission racketeering to various illegal collections were perpetrated in the various Nursing Schools under his nose.
According to Dr. Onojaeme, “Obviously, there are remnants of corruption in the system and is a very difficult thing because if you look at it carefully the students themselves, some of them are used to pay for scores now there is nothing like that, you must read to pass your exams.
“They (students) are used to the old system of payments to pass exams which we will not tolerate because the medical profession is a very noble profession. We are producing doctors, nurses who will take care of Deltans and if you allow a defaulted structure to continue, is going to tell on all of us.
“So, we must do the right thing. Corruption is fighting back. As I said earlier before students pay money to get admission, those who have money pay to pass. As a result some of them wouldn’t want to read again and we are talking about a profession that takes care of human beings, we must bring out the best from the Schools not quacks or half-baked”, the Delta State Health Commissioner asserted.
On the achievements the State Ministry of Health recorded within the past one year, the Commissioner listed significant drop in maternal mortality rate, child mortality rate, improved welfare package for the health personnel, sanitization of the rotten system met on the ground leading to the sacking of over 200 ghost workers on the payroll of the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara after staff audit exercise, among several others.