Ngige: Buhari Ordered Restarting of Negotiations with Resident Doctors
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige
* Mamora ask resident doctors to call off strike
* NMA blames FG for doctors strike
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that negotiations with striking resident doctors should recommence.
Speaking at the resumption of talks with the doctors on Friday, Ngige said that the president directed that the ministry should ignore technicalities, and work in line with the injunction by the Industrial Court to further explore avenues for a negotiated settlement of the issues in dispute before the adjourned date of the suit.
“Like I said, Mr. President takes this meeting very serious. His son is wedding today in Kano, but he gave me permission to bring all the ministers and government officials here. Some of them would have loved to attend the president son’s wedding in Kano, but they are here to see that we resolve the issues amicably,” he said.
He said that a lot of consultations have been made by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Federal Ministry of Health with various stakeholders in the sector to prepare ground for an amicable resolution of the dispute.
According to the minister, the meeting will take decisive steps to review all the areas that needed federal government’s intervention to know what has been addressed and what remained to be handled.
He expressed hope that with the presence of the leadership of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), which will be negotiating along with its affiliate, the National Association Resident Doctors (NARD), issues will be put in better perspective and resolved once and for all.
Ngige implored all the parties to be positive and allow issues to be resolved as the meeting goes into closed door technical session.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnibe Mamora, urged the resident doctors to call off their strike since their case is receiving attention at the highest quarter.
He said that it will be in the interest of the country if the dispute is resolved at the end of the meeting.
However, the NMA President, Prof. Innocent Ujah, alleged that his association had been sidelined in the discussion with the resident doctors.
Ujah also attributed the frequent strikes by doctors and hospital workers to the nonchalant attitude of some government officials who tend to treat issues affecting the equipment of the hospitals and welfare of doctors with contempt and levity.
Details later…
