Borno Gives N6.5m to Victims of Police Brutality

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Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, Wednedsday directed that N6.5 million should be paid to the victims of police brutality at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH).

Some policemen had besieged the 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 giving the victims the 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 show during the incident, praised the committee for doing a thorough job and assured them that the recommendation of the committee would be implemented to the letter.

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 incident on one of the medical staff of the hospital.

Liberty said the committee hailed the governor for his timely intervention on the matter that prevented the staff of the hospital from embarking on strike, after the committee discovered in its findings that many staff sustained various degrees of injuries.

He said the committee recommended that Dr. Abba Kabir, who sustained fraction in his leg during the beating, should be given N3 million, Professor Ngada, N500,000; Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) of the hospital, Dr Bashir, N1 million and the 29 other staff of the UMTH who lost their properties during the incident should be given N1 million to share.

Liberty assured the governor that the UMTH would continue to partner with the state to provide healthcare delivery services to the people despite what happened.