I Thought It Was April Fool When Doctors Started Strike — Ngige
When doctors in Nigeria went on strike, Labour Minister Chris Ngige suggested that they were pulling a prank on him.
On Friday, the minister stated that the government will put an end to the National Association of Resident Doctors’ statewide strike (NARD).
Ngige addressed the Nigerian Health Commissioners Forum Quarterly Meeting in Abuja.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, according to Ngige, is doing everything possible to accommodate doctors.
He remembered that in the first instance, public medical practitioners were given N32 billion as a special COVID-19 hazard allowance for three months.
State governments, according to Ngige, were instructed to pay as much as they could.
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He described how the situation deteriorated, saying that in September 2020, NARD issued a strike warning while requesting funding from the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF).
They asked for N542,000 apiece to cover the expense of books and journals for the examination, as well as transportation and lodging for three days.
Since the extra budget was being put together at the time, Ngige added, the physicians’ demand was included, satisfied, and the strike was called off.
They mentioned other things by March 2021, according to the minister, and complained that the Residency Training Fund was not included in the 2021 budget.
”They also needed the hazard allowance to be upgraded and demanded that States should domesticate Residency Training Act.
“Before we could say Jack Robinson, they went on strike on April 1. I thought it was April fool until April 2 when we didn’t see them at work.
“I told them that, they didn’t give the mandatory 21 days notice to their employers who have written to me to complain.”
The 2021 Residency Training Fund, according to Ngige, was eventually captured in the supplementary budget, and the funds are now accessible.
He also revealed that the federal government granted N11.3 billion for Group Life Insurance in 2020 and that it was renewed in 2021.
The government met with the NMA-JOHESU joint committee on hazard allowance multiple times until the unions disagreed and demanded separate negotiations, according to the minister.
