After a series of bickering over electricity debt, the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria, has admitted that it owes the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company up to N495m, which led to the health facility being disconnected from public power supply.
The UCH Public Relations Officer, Mrs Funmilayo Adetuyibi, confirmed in an interview that the hospital’s electricity debt was over N400m, contrary to her initial claim. The doctors, nurses, and other staff of the hospital have refused to work beyond 4.00 pm until power is restored fully. The workers had embarked on what they termed down-scaling, working from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm every day until power was restored.
They also threatened to go on a seven-day strike if the hospital was not reconnected before Tuesday, April 9. Recall that the UCH was disconnected by the IBEDC on March 19, the third time in less than two months.
Meanwhile, while giving reasons for the disconnection, the Ibadan DisCo explained that it disconnected the hospital after attempts to engage with its management regarding the N495m debt, which had persisted for over six years.
The UCH spokesperson had last week denied owing N495m, saying the current UCH administration, led by Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, assumed office on March 1, 2019, and inherited over N27m as of February 27, 2019. According to her, the management had since ensured the monthly payment of bills brought by IBEDC. When Adetuyibi was contacted on Tuesday by the IBEDC spokesperson, Busolami Tunwase, had insisted that the debt was N495m, she admitted that there was an error while writing her initial rejoinder.
