Nigeria: Lagos – Resident Doctors Threaten Solidarity Protest

By Winifred Ogbebo

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has threatened to employ all machineries at its disposal to protect the interest of its members in Lagos State, if the government remains insensitive and adamant to recalling the 788 sacked doctors.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja, the president of the association, Dr. Chiedozie Achonwa called on well-meaning Nigerians and the National Assembly to intervene towards resolving the impasse and prevent what he described as needless loss of lives of innocent downtrodden Nigerians.

He noted that the mass sack of doctors by the Lagos State government, majority of who are its members was unwarranted, unexpected of a democratic administration and smacked of executive recklessness and extreme high handedness of tyrannical proportion.

Querying the rationale for the Lagos State action, Achonwa asked, “What else can explain the mass sack of highly skilled professionals in one fell swoop? Worse still is the casualization of doctors, which is against the labor laws of Nigeria.”

The NARD president maintained that it was because the Lagos State Governor, Raji Fashola refused to implement several agreements between the two parties that necessitated the declaration of the warning strike of 11-13 April 2012 to reawaken the government to its obligation.

However, he said, rather than heed to the warning and speedily re-initiate processes towards resolution of the matter, the Lagos State government embarked on a campaign of calumny and intimidation by issuing queries, use of thugs to harass doctors, publication of doctors salaries in newspapers, setting up of disciplinary panels and eventual sack of a record 788 doctors in its employment and forceful eviction of same from their residential quarters with only two days eviction notice.

Speaking further, he expressed the hope that the government would have a rethink, rescind its anti-labor decisions and commence full implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).

Posted by admin on May 19 2012. Filed under African News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry