Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, last Friday directed that N6.5 million should be paid to the victims of police brutality at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). The incident occurred on May 15, 2013 over an alleged rejection of bodies of slain police officers at Bama.
The policemen, according to hospital authorities, went on rampage at UMTH last year after their colleagues were killed by suspected Boko Haram members in Bama, destroying properties and beating up hospital staff for allegedly not given the victims required attention.
The governor who received the report of the committee set up to look into the incident, directed the State Ministry of Finance to immediately release the sum of N6.5 million to assist the victims of the brutality.
Shettima, who commended the management and staff of the UMTH for the maturity they showed during the brutality, praised the committee for doing a thorough job and assured that the recommendations of the committee, would be fully implemented.
The Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Shehu Liberty thanked the governor for his magnificent strides in the health sector especially in polio eradication, noting that UMTH management also constituted a committee following the police brutality on one of the medical staff of the hospital.
He, however, said the committee commended that governor for his timely intervention on the matter that averted the staff of the hospital embarking on strike action and the committee discovered in its findings that many staff members sustained various degrees of injuries.
Liberty said the committee recommended that Dr. Abba Kabir who sustained a fracture in the leg should be given N3 million, Professor Ngada N500, 000, Chairman of Medical Advisory Committee(CMAC) of the hospital, Dr. Bashir; N1 million and the 29 other staff members of the UMTH that lost their properties during the brutality should share N1 million.
Liberty assured that the UMTH would nevertheless continue to partner with the state to provide healthcare delivery services to the people despite what happened
