Unversity Collge Hospital

-Allegations Baseless-chairman

Worried members of the Non Academic Staff and Associated Institutions Union(NASU), University College Hospital(UCH)branch,Ibadan, Nigeria have accused the executives of the union of promoting self-designed and self-centered interests to the detriment of the union.

The members, who spoke incognito, also lamented the lack of accountability and transparency on the part of the executives.

''The executives of our union have continued to channel the resources of our union to self-driven and self-centered projects and interests. They have been so smart about it, but we have detected the infractions. In addition, they hide under the name of the union to seek pecuniary benefits from politically exposed persons, whom everybody knows have had engagements with the union leaders.''

''And of great worry, is the fact that we, the members of NASU are not carried along in the scheme of the union's activities. There is the need for inclusiveness, accountability and transparency,'' the aggrieved members stated.

In his reaction on behalf of the union's executives, the chairman, Comrade Kehinde Abiona dismissed the allegations, describing them as concocted and baseless.

''The so-called resource diversion is alien to me because we run the union with the mindset of transparent leadership. This our great union is backed by a constitution which stipulates our functions and the terms of stewardship at the beginning and end of our tenure, which is four years and is renewable. There has never been any occasion during which the union's resources were diverted to private interests. Since we came on board on March 13, 2019, we have opened up the resources of the union for the overall benefit of all members.''

Comrade Abiona disclosed that the days of touts and hooligans in the union were gone for good, saying, '' we ensure that there is equality and fairness in the workplace. Anything concerning my members, I must be very interested in it. I am not here as a chairman on my own, there is the secretary and treasurer. Formerly, only the chairman, secretary and treasurer took major decisions, but when we mounted the saddle on March 13, 2019, we opened up the issue of finances, so the five ex-officio members of the union are always part of the decision-making process.

The NASU chairman maintained that the union gave members the opportunity to interface with politically exposed persons, who aspire to become policy makers, saying, ''is it now a crime for a trade union leader to receive and listen to potential leaders in society? Is it a crime for us to have organized a health workers' symposium last year? Our members need to be exposed to several issues. So, what happened is that we exercised our rights to ensure a balance between the leaders, potential leaders and our members. Our engagement with them was just in the interest of our members, nothing else. He attributed the allegation to the fast-approaching elections of the union in March, stressing, ''with the fear of God paramount in our hearts, we are ensuring that transparency is not defeated in our tenure.''

''By the special grace of God, all members of the executive are recontesting in the upcoming elections. The purpose of recontesting is to consolidate and to ensure that the well rebranded image of the union does not relapse to the inglorious days. Expect our score card soon, Comrade Abiona concluded.