The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said Following an exhaustive meeting with members of the National Association of Resident Doctors, they have hinted that they are ready to suspend their planned resumption of strike on Friday.
A statement issued by the Office of the Speaker said the doctors, at the resumption of the meeting with Gbajabiamila, which began last week, said they would suspend the planned resumption of the strike as soon as they got payment for their salary arrears, ranging from one to five months.
The statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, said the doctors took the position after the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said funds were available for the payment, while assuring that her ministry would pay immediately a verified list of the beneficiaries was received.
According to the statement, when the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr Ben Akabueze, who was one of the stakeholders at the meeting, confirmed that his office was in receipt of the list, the minister gave her word that payment would be made by May 7. The resident doctors had on April 1, 2021, embarked on an indefinite strike, making demands that included non-payment of house officers, abolishment of bench fees, non-payment of national minimum wage, salary shortfall for 2014, 2015 and 2016, residency training allowance, and payment of resident doctors on GIFMIS platform.
