The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila
\nhas brokered a truce between the Federal Government and the National
\nAssociation of Resident Doctors (NARD), which saw the association
\nextending the suspension of its planned strike action.<\/p>\n
The Speaker had last week through a member of the House appealed to the
\nresident doctors to suspend the strike action, pending a meeting
\ninvolving him, members of the association and officials of relevant
\ngovernment agencies.<\/p>\n
At the meeting held on Monday, July 29, 2019, at the National Assembly,
\nAbuja, the Speaker was able to convince both the association and
\nofficials of the Federal Ministry of Health to reach an agreement on how
\nto settle the matter.<\/p>\n
The President of NARD, Dr. Olusegun Olaopa, had explained to the Speaker
\nand other principal officers of the House, including Deputy Speaker Rt.
\nHon. Ahmed Idris Wase, that they had three major grievances against the
\nFederal Government.<\/p>\n
The three grievances, he said, had to do with their salary arrears,
\nskipped salary of N23.6bn and irregularities in the implementation of
\nthe Resident Doctors’ Act.<\/p>\n
However, Speaker Gbajabiamila was able to get a commitment from both the
\nFederal Ministries of Finance and Health that the salary arrears would
\nbe ready for payment in the next three weeks.<\/p>\n
While commiserating with the association for losing one of its members
\nin the process of struggling to resolve the issues, Speaker Gbajabiamila
\nsaid: “Let me thank you for according this House and this institution
\nthe respect of putting your strike on hold.<\/p>\n
“I want to assure you that the respect is mutual. We are here for you;
\nwe are here to protect you, and in doing that, we also protect our
\nconstituents. When you talk about essential services, the most important
\nis health services, because you save lives. So, we know the consequences
\nof your going on strike. Since we all know the consequences, we should
\nbe serious about the issue.<\/p>\n
“Ours is to appeal to you using the instrumentality of this House. The
\nissue of your N3.5bn. I can almost assure you that that will be resolved
\nnext month. There’s already machinery in motion to ensure that it is
\npaid by next month.<\/p>\n
“In the presence of everyone here, finance (ministry) is committing
\nthree weeks and you’ll get your pay. As a house, we’ll make sure we
\nfollow through. So, for the sake of lives, on that particular one, I beg
\nyou to tarry a while,” he said.<\/p>\n
On the Resident Doctors’ Act, the Speaker said the House would do
\neverything within its powers to ensure that the House Committee on
\nHealth provided effective oversight to the relevant agencies.<\/p>\n
The Speaker also assured that the House would ensure the inclusion of
\nthe N23.6bn skipped salary due to the doctors in the 2020 budget, which
\nis yet to be presented to the National Assembly.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to put our reputation on the line and try to see how we can
\nget the Executive to bring whatever is agreeable and due to them (NARD)
\ninto the budget. On our part, we will make sure that whatever is due to
\nyou forms part of the 2020 budget.<\/p>\n
“But I’m asking now that you should exercise some little patience to see
\nwhat we can do on our own so that we can arrest this issue. For the sake
\nof people out there, let’s hold on.\u200e Once the N3.5bn is paid, you can
\ntake it from there that the 2020 budget will have the N23.6bn.”<\/p>\n
Responding, the NARD President, Dr Olaopa said the association would
\nwait for the three weeks, saying “We assure you that we will keep our
\npart of the agreement.”<\/p>\n
The meeting, which lasted for close to two hours, had in attendance the
\nDeputy Speaker Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase; House Leader, Alhassan Ado
\nDoguwa; Deputy Chief Whip, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha and other members of the
\nHouse.<\/p>\n
There were also officials from the Federal Ministries of Finance and
\nHealth, the Director-General, Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, members of
\nNARD and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has brokered a truce between the Federal Government and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which saw the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n