In the story, BENJAMIN SAMSON takes a look at the two-week ultimatum issued by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to the federal government just a few weeks to the inauguration of a new government.
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) last week gave the federal government a two-week ultimatum to implement the agreements concerning their demands or face industrial disharmony. The association made this known in a communiqué issued at the end of their Extraordinary National Executive Council meeting held in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.
According to the association, the meeting was predicated upon burning issues affecting the welfare of doctors and the alarming rate of brain drain on account of poor remuneration, grossly inadequate funding of the health sector, and the attendant negative effects on the citizens and health workers.
Wrong timing
However, reacting to the strike notice in a chat with this reporter, an industrial resolution expert, Barrister Paul Ukegh, said the federal government should not tolerate strikes that “do not follow due process by any union, especially during this transition period of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
He advised the doctors that there was no need for them to issue strike threats when the government had put a process in motion to address their concerns.
“The federal government should not tolerate a strike that does not pass through due process by any union, until the end of President Muhammadu Buhari administration in May. Any group that embarks on strike should be visited with Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act (TDA), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004, which says that when a worker goes on strike, especially those on essential services, the employer can also refuse to pay compensation or wages which accompanies work done.
“The due process of a strike is that social dialogue negotiations with employers should be explored first and in the event of the failure, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment office in the affected state/Federal Capital Territory should be notified and finally, a Trade Dispute Notice (TDN) served.
“Unions in Nigeria don’t like to obey laws. The statutes are there. The laws of the country are there. If you even try to enforce the law, you look odd. It’s allowed, you can go on strike, but your employer has the right to keep that money that is due to you,” he said.
He advised all aggrieved unions to shelve any plan of embarking on strike until a new government has been inaugurated.
“The two weeks ultimatum issued by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors during the transition period is not only ill-timed but counterproductive. The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has only a few weeks to go. As far as I am concerned, there is very little that the present administration can do to address the demands of the resident doctors. Ministries, Department and Agencies are currently preoccupied with preparation of hand over motes as part of the transition process. I advised the doctors to shelve any idea of strike at this moment until a new government is inaugurated,” he said.
Doctors’ insistence
However, some resident doctors, who spoke with Blueprint Weekend, said the government is a continuum and their demands had been long overdue.
Dr. Ishaku Dantani of the Federal medical Centre Keffi, said: “We have not gone on strike for some time now because we are considering Nigerians, but this particular ultimatum is about Nigerians and if you want to be sincere you will know that there is brain drain and it is affecting the functionality of our hospitals.
“People who visit public hospitals know that the quality of services has reduced, there is cancellation of surgeries and people are dying. We can’t wait until the system collapses, yet nobody has come out to address these issues or dispute it.
“It is clear from the letter from the ultimatum our association gave to the government that the issues in contention are not new. They have lingered over the years and have been the sources of industrial disharmony in the health sector. Some of them have been on the table since 2013, raising the question: what kind of government keeps issues in abeyance for upwards for years without any action?
“The federal government had on occasions promised to implement the demands of the doctors without fulfilling its promise. As a result, the strike has been recurrent with damaging effects across the country. Unless the government acts proactively on this, Nigeria’s already perilous health care system will receive yet another bashing and the poor citizens who cannot afford the expensive services of private hospitals would be the main victims.”
Another doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Once again, the ineptitude of the government in supposedly rudimentary matters is in full display. Why should matters in issue be allowed to fester until a strike is called? What does it take for a government which rode to power on the crest of popular opinion, promising to bring change to the polity, fail in such simple matters?
“Nigerian medical doctors play a crucial role in the health sector. Whereas they have been known to perform creditably in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and other developed countries, here at home, Nigerians invariably pass a vote of no-confidence in them. The problem therefore must be with the environment and at the core of this is the government.
“The governments at the federal and state levels have not met their obligations to the health sector. The nation’s hospitals have long been identified as lacking in equipment. Remuneration or incentives which are expected to make the profession attractive are not provided. Too many people have died because of poor facilities in the hospitals. This is a tragedy.”
He said further that, “The government should use this opportunity to put things right. It is possible to assert that there should be no strike in the health sector. This can be done by taking the right steps and ensuring that all the facilities and personnel in the sector are properly taken care of. Millions of dollars spent annually by the government and individuals in foreign hospitals can be saved with the right policy in place and the ailments treated locally.
“The government should act immediately and avert the threatened strike by urgently meeting with the union to resolve the dispute. Whether during transition or not, government is a continuum. So the argument that the ultimatum is ill-timed does not hold water. If the government had at any time signed an agreement with unions, it is simply honourable to fulfill its own side of the agreement.
“In a country where public officials are accused of routinely stealing millions and where national legislators earn millions of naira monthly, no excuse can be given for not meeting the demands of health care professionals whose services are fundamental to the survival of citizens.”
FG’s plans
Meanwhile, this reporter gathered that the federal government has begun moves to avert the planned strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) by initiating high level discussions with the doctors.
A senior official from the Federal Ministry of Health, who asked not to be named in print for obvious reasons, said it was working towards resolving the demands of the doctors before the expiration of the deadline.
“We are working on resolving the demands of the doctors. There are discussions ongoing regarding their demands,” the source said.
Ngige’s angst
Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has described as “absurd” the demands being made and the ultimatum issued by the doctors.
Ngige said the government had given the doctors everything they wanted, adding that their sense of entitlement was “too much.”
Speaking on Arise Television, Ngige said the doctors’ demands were absurd, adding that they had the option of leaving the country.
“We have given them everything they want, including their Medical Resident Training Fund; we are paying them, even when in training, paying them full salary, paying them all the allowances and you decided that we have not done enough. Like I said before, you have an option to go. It is left for the education ministry and the health ministry to fashion out what they can do.
“You asked that a bill by one of the members of the House of Representatives be removed and that is one of the reasons you want to go on strike. How can the government tell a member who has done a private member’s bill to step it down? It is not even an executive bill; you now release it as one of the conditions of going on strike; that is absurd!
“The entitlements syndrome, the sense of entitlement is too much in this country and like I said earlier, you obey the law you look odd, you apply the law, you look odd or you are a wicked man. I don’t have any apologies for whatever I have done in the management of trade disputes.”
However, reacting to Ngige, Dr. Dantani said: “We do not have an entitlement mentality and our demands are not absurd. Every association deserves the right to ask for an increment in salary.
“The Medical Residency Training Fund has been there and has been paid about three times now. It is paid once a year and it was approved in 2017 and did not take effect until about three years ago. Even in those three years, every time it is paid, there is a threat of a strike. The government does not ordinarily want to pay and these monies are appropriated but there is this unwillingness to pay. Every year, there has to be a threat of strike for them to pay.
“We are tired of getting the government to do what they are supposed to do naturally. The first round of update courses for the year has been done, the first round of exams for the year has been concluded and these monies were not paid. So, what is he saying?
“A fund has been provided in the budget but somebody is not willing to pay as and when due. It is not proper. When has demanding our rights become an entitlement mentality? When he said the government is providing everything we need, what exactly is being provided?
“The Consolidated Medical Salary Structure was approved in 2009 but did not take effect until 2014 and it was meant to be reviewed in five years but it started implementation in the next five years. We are in 2023; the salary structure has not been reviewed despite the inflation.”
Need for action
In his view, a consultant paediatrician at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr. Suleman Mainoma, urged the government not to take the ultimatum with levity in the interest of Nigerians.
“Health authorities in the country, led by the health minister, should not treat the reported plan by resident doctors to embark on a nationwide indefinite strike with levity. It will be unfortunate if the government ignores the warning and allows the threat to become a reality.
“On so many occasions, such warnings had been neglected until it was too late, giving vent to situations of huge collateral damages, such as the eight-month or so strike by university teachers from which the education system is still reeling.
“For a country suffering from acute health facilities deficiencies, and medical personnel moving in droves out of the country for greener pastures and environment that is more conducive to professional fulfillment, a strike action by doctors at this time will undoubtedly occasion serious harm to the lives and health of Nigerians, particularly the common Nigerians. The government should rise to the occasion and avert the impending strike in the public interest,” he said.
