... Accused him of complacency


 CMD Edmund Banwat 


A group under the auspices of Affukoh Concerned Youth (ACY) of Lamingo area of Jos North Local Government, has staged a peaceful protest over their dissatisfaction with the way and manner the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Jos University Teaching Hospital  (JUTH), Edmund Banwat discharges his duties within the hospital and their community respectively. 



The group also accused the Chief Medical Director of the Jos University Teaching Hospital of complacency, negligence to the plights of the host Community and regards him as coward, a failure and are tired of his mal- administration. 


The protesters were seeing en- masse carrying placards with various inscriptions such as: 2000 hectres of land, no employment for host Community, give us our farmland, give us our right by employment. We need our 75 percent employment slots as enshrined in the Federal Character Article, we are hungry no land to farm because of JUTH, we say no to JUTH brutality and dehumanisation of our people, give us access roads amongst others.    




The convener of the protesters  and Chairman of Affukoh Concerned Youth (ACY), Comrade Azi Aware Peter while briefing Newsmen at the venue of the protest said: " This hospital moved from the temporary site to Permanent in 2007. The former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo was the one that ensured that the hospital was completed after abandonment of over 20 years. In fact to break the camels back, was in in August, they started deploying over 300 staff and invited them for interview and non of us from the host Communities was invited for the interview and we said why is it so? Thereby, we wrote a petition to the CMD of the hospital, we published it to the Minister of Health State, Chairman House Committee on Health in the House of Representatives, the Federal Character Commission and all relevant agencies. We wrote to them to please come and compel JUTH to do the needful to employ our people. From there, we went to the Character Commission and we look for an article, and that article says that you must give 75 percent to host Community and they refused. This protest,  is a peaceful protest to tell the whole world that this is what this man is doing. The man refused to give us employment. He employed securities, cleaners, landscaping and more than 2 years and he has not paid them and do you know that these people reside with us, we're the one feeding them again. We don't have employment in in JUTH and they've brought a burden for us to feed those people who are now stealing in our farms for them to feed themselves. They've constituted a nuisance, they've constituted social vices  to our communities so, these are problems over 2000 hectres of land was given to them free of charge and our people agrarian society.  We don't have where to farm, we don't have government job, we don't have water, we don’t have schools we don't have hospital. Even there, we cannot access the hospital facilities". He lamented. 




Asked if whether the traditional  rulers of the community are in the know over the planned protest he said: "They're aware. We inform them. They called the CMD, and the CMD said he's coming to the palace of the paramount Chief today to interface with us and that is why you see us not going to the gate because of the intervention of the paramount rulers of this chiefdom" he added.