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Resident doctors halt protest plans, set to call off strike after Senate meeting
Members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) are set to end their two-week strike following a closed-door meeting with Senate leadership on Tuesday evening.
The association embarked on a two-week-old strike, demanding, among other things, for the federal government to pay without further delay all outstanding arrears owed its members, including the hazard allowance, the skipping arrears from 2014 to 2016, and the arrears of the consequential adjustment of the minimum wage of resident doctors in the country.
Chronicle NG reports that NARD stated on Saturday that it would begin peaceful protests on Wednesday, picketing the Federal Ministry of Health, the Office of the Federation’s Head of Civil Service, and federal and state tertiary health facilities around the country.
The association of resident doctors further stated that its members have been mobilized for the nationwide protest, which is set to begin on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, if the Federal Government fails to meet its demands.
However, addressing journalists shortly after the closed-door meeting with the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and other Principal Officers of the Senate, the national president of NARD, Dr. Emeka Innocent Orji, stated that “We had a very fruitful meeting with the Senate led by the President of the Senate, and from our discussions with them, we are very hopeful that when we table our discussions today before the NEC, something positive will come out.
“From our interaction with the President of the Senate and the practical demonstration he did before us today, we are very confident that there will be light at the end of the tunnel in the next 24 hours.
“Because of the intervention of the President of the Senate, who is the number three citizen, and the assurance he has given us, our planned national protest has been cancelled, while the decision on the ongoing strike will be taken as soon as we meet.”
Similarly, Senate President Godswill Akpabio thanked the medical doctors for honoring the Senate by cancelling their planned nationwide protest and also working towards calling off the ongoing strike action.
Akpabio said, “I thank you on behalf of the Senate for honoring us with your decision not only to cancel the planned public protest but to also call off the strike in the interest of the suffering masses.
“Your demands are well noted, and let me assure you that as soon as a Minister in charge of Health is appointed, the Senate will work with him or her to expeditiously address all your grievances. The President Bola Tinubu-led administration is doctor-friendly, which explains the large number of medical practitioners he has appointed to his cabinet.
“Strike by medical practitioners should not be allowed even for a day because of the impact it creates in the polity, and that is why the Senate is determined to ensure, through interactions and consultation with relevant offices, an amicable settlement of the impasse is reached”.
