The Chief Medical Director, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, OAUTH, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Professor John Okeniyi has vowed to remove beds placed in several offices in the hospital to stop sexual harassment of female staff.
Speaking with newsmen at the hospital complex in Ile-Ife while giving progress reports of his one-year administration, he said the beds stationed in the offices could provoke sexual drive, hence, the need to remove the beds.
According to him, the institution now has an anti-sexual harassment law in place and ignorance is not and would not be an excuse for anyone who disobeys the law.
“The laws are clear, which we have brought to the fore for the notice of the people, ‘thou shall not sexually harass’. So ignorance can no longer be a defence, now you all know and if anybody does that, the next step is a deterrent with punishment. If anybody does that, we will punish him and will not sweep it under the carpet.
“Once we start punishing people, others will be exposed subsequently, there will be a wall of shame on the Internet for it. It will be there for your friends, children, and spouse to see forever.”
“For those who cannot control their libido, they will have the law to contend with. Besides that, we will remove beds from offices being used under the guise of night shift. Having beds in offices could provoke sexual harassment. From now, I will personally supervise the removal of beds from offices. The night shift is not meant for sleeping but for people to do their job and leave.
“I have also empowered sevicom people to say something, people are groaning from sexual harassment. Now they know that if they talk, there is a listening ear and action would be taken”, he said.
Speaking on the issue of sacked workers, he said the affected persons were swindled by some individuals within the system and illegally recruited into the system, lamenting a teaching hospital cannot employ 2,054 persons at go.
“We have conducted a suitability test for the required candidates and out of the 450 the Federal Ministry of Health gave us a waiver to recruit, we have properly employed 390 persons”, he added.
