The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has threatened striking doctors that the Federal Government may stop paying their salaries if they do not resume to work.
He said this on Friday during
an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
According to Ngige, the
Federal Government is empowered by labour law to stop paying salaries of the
striking workers.
He also said the Federal
Government has an option of employing local doctors.
The PUNCH had reported that members of the National
Association of Resident Doctors began “a total and indefinite strike” on
Thursday.
The doctors are demanding
payment of salaries of house officers and an upward review of their N5,000
hazard allowance among others.
The minister, however, said
medical council and Office of the Accountant General have been told “what to
do” to ensure that the doctors suspend their industrial action.
He said, “Immediately after
the holiday, I will talk to them again. I have told the medical council and
accountant general what to do to make sure. Only 23 institutions are involved,
not all institutions. I want to know what they (medical council and accountant
general) have done by Tuesday.
“By Tuesday, I will invite
them back. If they become recalcitrant, there are other things I can do. There
are weapons in the Labour Laws, I will invoke them. There is no work, no pay.
“Their employers have a role
also to keep their business afloat, to keep patients alive. They can employ
local doctors. We won’t get there but if we are going to get there, we will use
that stick.”
The minister added that the
Federal Government would review the current hazard allowance of N5,000 in five
weeks’ time without disclosing the proposed figure.
He said, “It is the last NMA
President Faduyile that called my attention that the hazard (allowance) was ₦5,000. I raised it with the Finance Minister and
the Vice President in the Economic Sustainability Meeting.
“The new hazard allowance will
be done in the next five weeks. It is in the Memorandum of Action that we
signed. Immediately after the Easter break, I will convene a meeting to look at
it holistically.”
Before the doctors began the
strike, government had on Wednesday night signed a memorandum of action with
them.
The agreement was signed after
a seven-hour meeting between the government side and the leadership of NARD at
the office of the Minister of Labour and Employment.
However, the strike was
effective in hospitals despite the agreement and efforts by the National
Assembly as well as the Ministry of Labour and Employment to prevent it.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, is currently appearing before the House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee on the Need to Review the Purchase, Use and Control of Arms, Ammunition and Related Hardware by Military, Paramilitary and Other Law Enforcement Agencies.
The committee had no less than two times invited Attahiru and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to answer questions on the procurement of arms and ammunition. On Friday, the committee, after a long wait, postponed the investigative hearing till Monday.
Earlier on March 22, 2021, the committee had, after the failure by the CBN governor and the COAS to appear before it, summoned them to appear before on April 7, 2021.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has directed the Muslim Ummah to look out for the crescent (moon) of Ramadan 1442AH from Monday.
Abubakar gave the directive on
Sunday in a statement issued by Prof. Sambo Junaidu, Chairman, Advisory
Committee on Religious Affairs, Sultanate Council, Sokoto.
“This is to inform the Muslim
Ummah that Monday, April 12, which is equivalent to the 29th day of Sha’aban
1442AH shall be the day to look for the new moon of Ramadan 1442AH.
“Muslim are, therefore, requested to start looking for the crescent moon on Monday and report its sighting to the nearest District or Village Head for onward communication to the Sultan,’’ the statement read.
The Sultan prayed Allah to
assist Muslims in the discharge of their religious duty.
Junaidu gave telephone numbers
that could be used directly to report the sighting of the new moon to the
committee.
The numbers are 08037157100,
07067416900, 08066303077, 08036149757, 08035965322 and 08035945903.
The News Agency of Nigeria
reports that Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar observed by
Muslims worldwide as a month for fasting, prayer, reflection and assisting the
needy.
The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, Prince Philip, will take place at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on April 17, Buckingham Palace announced Saturday.
The ceremony at Windsor, west of London, which will be televised but have no public element because of coronavirus restrictions, will be preceded by a national minute’s silence.
Royal officials said the
99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh’s grandson, Prince Harry, would attend, but his
heavily pregnant wife, Meghan, had been advised against travelling from the
United States on medical grounds.