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Nigeria: Health Workers to Join Strike Today
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Leadership (Abuja)
23 July 2008
Posted to the web 23 July 2008
Winifred Ogbebo
Abuja
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Nigerian health workers will begin an open-ended strike this week, joining primary and secondary teachers whose own strike has entered the third week, officials of health told AFP yesterday.
Health workers, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists, said the strike would start today to protest against poor pay and lack of adequate facilities in the country's hospitals, according to a joint statement.
Operating under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Union (JHSU), Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI), Medial and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), National Union of Pharmacists, Technologists and other Professional Allied to Medicine (NUPTAM), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Nurses and Widwives (NAMM), group demanded that monetization which was paid to core ministry workers since 2003, should be extended to them with immediate effect.
The health workers are also protesting the non-replacement of the two ministers that were dismissed by the government over corruption charges in April.
"The unions observe that since the minister and minister of state of health resigned, there have not been other substantive ministers to run the ministry," they said.
The union, therefore, urged the President to appoint new ministers without further delay.
It also urged him to appoint new ministers without further delay and to consider medical and other health professionals with good antecedents while considering who becomes the new minister.
The communiqué which was signed by the Chairman, Federal Health Institute Forum, Mr Takai Nana, Secretary NANNM, Mrs Ngozi Osunde, Chairman SSAUTHRIAI, Mr A.E. Archibong, Secretary, Mr R.A.N. Iloka, MHWUN, Mr C.N. Nwobodo, Secretary I.C. Jibia, and President, NUPTAM Olukayode Faniran, explained that previous letters written on February 1, 2008, and on March 3, 2008 to the government went without acknowledgement.
They said health and medical work would be halted throughout the country unless the government meets their demands, adding that a warning of the strike issued on July 8 had been ignored by the government.
The health workers' strike comes in the wake of a three-week-old strike by teachers in the country.
The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) launched a full-scale strike on June 30 to push the government to honour an agreement on an enhanced pay structure.
The teachers had earlier gone on a three-day strike, shutting down primary and secondary schools, but suspended the action after the government pledged to improve pay.
Teaching is among the worst paid professions in the oil-rich country and the unions are demanding that the government start the new pay package immediately.
The Nigerian government said it would pay the new salary to teachers in federally-run schools, but it could not compel state and local government authorities to pay the enhanced rate in schools set by them.
Meanwhile, the NMA, though not participating in the strike action, said through its President, Dr Prosper Iuboeli, that its body is demanding a substantive health minister as the present minister, Dr Hassan Muhammad Lawal, can no longer continue to double as Labour and Health Minister at the same time.
Besides, they are also demanding that the minister to be appointed should be a doctor or a professional in the field.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Education yesterday mandated the Ministry of Education to intervene and resolve the crisis that led to the on-going strike by primary and secondary school teachers, arguing that the Federal Government cannot shy away from its responsibility, provided education is on a concurrent list.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Joy Emordi, also assured that the committee would arrange a meeting with President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, where the President would be told the hard truth regarding the plight of teachers in the country.
It was also the view of the committee that the on-going strike by the NUT will certainly affect the Vision 2020 of the present administration.
Emordi also argued that the exclusive legislative list number 34 and 60 allow the Federal Government to prescribe a national minimum wage for education staff; she also wondered why the minister of education keeps telling Nigerians that the Federal Government can only attend to teachers in the unity schools.
Meanwhile, as the industrial action declared by the teachers continues due to Federal Government's failure to issue out the Teachers Salary Structure, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said everything must be done to ensure that the matter does not escalate to a point where it will be compelled to resume the driving seat.
Labour is also calling for a meeting with Yar'Adua and other stakeholders in the education sector so as to ensure classes are reopened this week.
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The president of the NLC, Comrade AbdulWaheed Ibrahim Omar, in a letter to Yar'Adua, said it is unfortunate that the issues involved are rather clear as it does not warrant the irreconcilability between government and the NUT.
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