I Mistook NARD’s Strike For “April Fool” When It Started – Ngige

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige said he thought doctors in Nigeria were playing a prank when they embarked on an industrial action.

Ngige who spoke in Abuja at the Nigerian Health Commissioners Forum Quarterly meeting on Friday, assured that the government will end the ongoing nationwide strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).

He said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was doing its best to cater for doctors.

The minister recalled that public health workers got ₦32 billion as special COVID-19 hazard allowance for three months in the first instance, adding that state governments were advised to pay as much as they could. Narrating how the situation degenerated, he said in September 2020, NARD issued a notice of strike while asking for Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF).

They wanted ₦542,000 each to cover the cost of books and journals for that particular examination, transportation and lodging for three days.

Ngige added that since the supplementary budget was being put together then, the doctors’ demand was included, fulfilled and they called off the strike.

The minister said by March 2021, they listed other things, complaining that Residency Training Fund was not in the 2021 budget.

“Before we could say Jack Robinson, they went on strike on April 1. I thought it was April fool until April 2 when we didn’t see them at work,” he said.

Ngige said the 2021 Residency Training Fund was eventually captured in the supplementary budget, disclosing that the funds are now available.

The federal government also approved ₦11.3 billion for Group Life Insurance in 2020 and renewed it in 2021, he disclosed.