Governor Ademola Adeleke Osun State has suspended the Executive Secretary of the State’s Health Insurance Agency, Dr Niyi Oginni, and the Head of the Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Adebukola Olujide.
The state government said the secretary awarded contracts to the tune of several millions of naira to his daughter and his private hospital in the agency he was heading, and also defaulted in remittance of tender fees.
Governor Adeleke in a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, on Saturday ordered an investigation of the Public Procurement Agency known as the Due Process Office to determine the extent of its culpability in the non-remittance of tender fees to the state treasury and contract manipulation in the last four years of his predecessor, Gboyega Oyetola.
According to the statement, Adeleke further directed the Public Procurement Agency and other relevant government agencies to immediately begin the process to recover all outstanding tender fees on contract awards, and Memorandum of Understanding which the state was a party in the last four years.
“The suspension of the two chief executive officers was sequel to the interim report of the committee on Contracts and MOU chaired by Hon Niyi Owolade, which indicted the two agency chiefs of gross abuse of office, mismanagement of public resources and serial violations of agency and public service regulations and laws.
“The committee in its recommendation had unearthed the unethical practices of the suspended heads of the OSHIA and the Primary Health Care Board as manifested in contract awards without due process, non-remittance of actual tender fee collected from contractors, contracts without value for money like the PHCs, deliberate splitting of contracts.
“The committee further found out that the suspended OHIS boss gave contracts to the tune of several millions of naira to his daughter and his private hospital in the agency he was heading, while the acting Career Head in the Primary Health Care lied on oath when she falsely denied knowledge of all contracts of infrastructures and supplies in the PHCs, resorting to bulk-passing and blame trading,” part of the statement read.
