Tinubu to address Nigerians amid nationwide hardship

On Monday, July 31, 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will deliver a broadcast to the nation at 7 pm. The announcement was made on Monday morning by Dele Alake, the presidential spokesman, urging television, radio stations, and other electronic media outlets to tune in to the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Radio Nigeria for the broadcast. Though the specific content of the address remains undisclosed, it comes at a time when the country is grappling with widespread hardship due to the removal of fuel subsidy, leading to an increase in petrol prices. President Tinubu has consistently appealed for calm, assuring the public that the government is diligently working to improve living conditions and alleviate the prevailing challenges. Interestingly, this address coincides with an upcoming nationwide protest by the organized labour, which is parleying civil society organisations as they prepare for an industrial action on August 2, and the ongoing strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD). The NARD has rejected the recent 25% increment in basic salary announced by the federal government, demanding the full restoration of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to its original value as approved in 2009. The association, represented by its president, Dr. Orji Emeka Innocent, secretary-general Dr. Chikezie Kelechi, and publicity and social secretary Dr. Umar Musa, vows to continue the nationwide total and indefinite strike action until the government takes significant steps to address their demands, including the release of the circular on the One-for-One policy for the replacement of exited clinical workers to ease work overload caused by brain drain. As Nigerians await President Tinubu’s address on Monday night, the nation is at a crucial juncture, grappling with pressing issues that demand immediate attention and resolution.

You can’t go on strike, FG warns resident doctors

The Federal Government has warned members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to shelve their planned five-day warning strike. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, gave the warning on Tuesday in Abuja, shortly after receiving the letter of notification from the NARD executive on the planned strike. Ngige said this in a statement signed by Mr Olajide Oshundun, Director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry while the planned strike as illegal. The impending industrial action is billed to begin by midnight of May 16. Ngige who was reacting to the letter, delivered to his office at about 5pm same day, said he contacted the Minister of Health, who informed him that a meeting has been scheduled with the resident doctors on Wednesday. He therefore advised the doctors to avail themselves of the opportunity for social dialogue with their employer, rather than embark on a warning strike, which is unknown to the law. According to him, “I will advise them to attend the meeting with the Minister of Health tomorrow.  I will also advise them very strongly not to go on a five-day warning strike. “There is nothing like a warning strike. A strike is a strike. If they want to take that risk, the options are there. It is their decision. They have the right to strike. You cannot deny them that right. “But their employer has another right under Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act, to withhold their pay for those five days. So, if the NARD has strike funds to pay their members for those five days, no problem. “The Health Minister will instruct the teaching hospitals to employ ad-hoc people for those five days and they will use the money of the people who went on strike to pay the ad-hoc doctors. “That is the ILO principles at decent work, especially for those rendering essential services. Lives should be protected. One of my sons is a resident doctor, I will advise him to go to work and sign the attendance register,” he said. He added that, the people seen at work are the ones to receive their pay. If you don’t work, there will be no pay. On the five demands of the doctors, Ngige said the Federal Government lacks the powers to compel the states to domesticate the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF). He added that since health is on the residual list, where both the federal and state governments have the powers to legislate. The minister also stated that the job of the Federal government was to make policy and where the states disagree, they were at liberty to make their own policy. He noted that the Federal Government cannot bully the states into domesticating the MRTF if they do not want to. Regarding the issue of immediate payment of the MRTF to their members, he said it was appropriated in the 2023 budget but has not been released, as the 2022 budget was still running, adding that those in 2022 have all been paid. Ngige denied the claim by NARD that the Federal Government did not pay minimum wage consequential adjustment arrears to their members. He added that, all workers in the Education and Health Sectors, and even the defense agencies benefited from the adjustment. He noted that the doctors cannot declare a nationwide strike because some states were owing their members, pointing out that the federal government cannot also dabble into the issue, being a state matter. Ngige also said the Federal Government as the Executive arm of government cannot intervene in the bill at the National Assembly to bond doctors for five years, as it is a private member’s bill. According to him, any intervention by the executive on the matter impinges on the autonomy and independence of the legislative arm of government. Ngige noted that the bill has passed through first and second reading, he was sure it would be shot down at the public hearing, since the law prohibits forced labour. He advised the doctors not to talk about 200 per cent pay rise, as it was not feasible. “Besides all the government has done for doctors and other workers in the health sector, such as upward review of hazard allowances, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) was already negotiating with the Federal Ministry of Health, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and the Presidential Committee on Salaries on pay rise for doctors. “It is incongruous for student doctors to embark on strike when consultants training them were already negotiating with the Federal Government,” he said