September 6, 2021.

Ongoing NARD-Nigeria Strike - FG gives condition for withdrawal of case in court: A curious case of Hubris syndrome on the part of the Labour Minister.

I write - as one with a fair knowledge of the issues causing dispute and a past ARD President UCTH, Calabar 2017/18, in response to certain statements credited to the Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige, which if not corrected, may be misconstrued by the unsuspecting public as the true situation, with respect to the ongoing impasse between the FGN and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD.

As it is commonly said, "let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion because, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

The Minister of Labour has by his statements, clearly exhibited features of a well known clinical entity referred to as, "Hubris syndrome," - that is a disorder of the possession of power, particularly power which has been associated with overwhelming success, held for a period of years and with minimal constraint on the wielder.

Newspaper reports suggest that while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja yesterday 5th September, 2021 sequel to a meeting with Mr. President and C-in-C, to review the state of the Nation's healthcare sector, the HMOLE is quoted as having said, "that the 12-point demand of the members of NARD have all been met and that the government will not be arm twisted by the striking Doctors not to follow the global standard." No statement can be farther away from the truth than the above statement by Sen. Chris Ngige and by the way, what global standard is he referring to, if one may politely ask?

Is it not a thing of surprise and utter amazement that, the particular case in mention at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, NICN, was instituted by the Ministry of Labour on the very same day it was holding a high powered meeting with the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, to impress on NARD-Nigeria, to suspend her strike and re-sign another MOU? Now the Minister wakes up and tries to predicate withdrawal of the case on a return of the members of NARD-Nigeria to their duty post, after having shown himself and the FGN, incapable of holding frank and honest conciliatory efforts, devoid of underhand subversive tactics.

The President, C-in-C of the Armed Forces of the Federation and also the good people of Nigeria, should be made aware that, honestly, the statements by the Labour Minister, of abundant things, is largely misleading and diversionary rhetoric aimed at swaying the public tide back on the side of government, who have lost the trust of the public, on account of the heavy costs - in terms of human lives lost, which the common man who is unable to afford the money for foreign medical treatments, has had to endure for the duration of this strike.

It must be made abundantly clear at this point, that the issue of "no work, no pay," has never been included in any of the memoranda previously signed by the involved parties and is just another ploy by the Labour Minister to delay an amicable and speedy resolution of the lingering strike.

For the records and the avoidance of doubts, the enumerated issues and demands of NARD-Nigeria which still remain and are pending without any actionable steps taken by the FGN include, but is not limited to;

1. Obnoxious circular removing House Officers from the scheme of service of the Federation, which emanated from the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and which has yet to be withdrawn.

2. Backlog of unpaid salary arrears ranging from 5-9 months owed Registrars in Federal Tertiary Health Institutions (FTHI's) who are on an irregular payment platform referred to as GIFMIS and Resident Doctors in State owned Tertiary Health Institutions, who are owed as much as 19 months of salary arrears and have had to face untold and unimaginable hardships due to this. A quick poser to the Minister will be, have these set of Registrars in the FTHI's owed their wages, been migrated from the GIFMIS to IPPIS platform to enable payment of the backlog of salary arrears owed them? The answer is a resounding NO.

3. There is salary arrears owed a greater proportion of Resident Doctors in the country dating as far back as 2014 to 2016, which has not received any attention whatsoever.

4. The payment of the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) which is a provision in the Act establishing and coordinating all activities relating to Residency Training in Nigeria, has yet to receive any attention whatsoever.

5. On the issue of payment of insurance to families of the Doctors who died in active service during the period of COVID-19 Pandemic and also review of the abysmal hazard allowance currently being paid by government, still no actionable evidence seen.

These and a few others not stated here, form the agreements which were already signed in the previous memoranda and is the reason why NARD-Nigeria has maintained her stance and is passionately calling on all Nigerians to fervently, appeal to the Minister of Labour to have a rethink and in conjunction with his colleague, the HMOH, Dr. Ehanire, together paint the true picture to the FGN, in order for the terms of agreement to be implemented without delay, which will lead to the subsequent suspension of the strike and then Resident Doctors can return to their duty posts Nationwide.

A lot of time has already been unnecessarily wasted and the time to resolve this lingering impasse is now, more than ever.

Long live the NARD-Nigeria.

Long live NMA Nigeria.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Dr. Antigha Cobham
One time POTARD UCTH, Calabar.
Writes from Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

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