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Join Strike Now Or Pay N5m Fine, NARD Threatens Covid-19 Doctors
The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has ordered doctors at the Covid-19 isolation centres to join the ongoing nationwide strike.
NARD threatened that failure to do so will attract a fine of N5million.
The body also warned that any branches ignoring the ongoing strike, which started on April 1, would not be able to hold any national position for the next two years.
The threat to impose a N5million fine on errant branches was contained in an internal memo sent out to members by the National Executive Council of the association.
The internal memo read in part, “NARD affirms her commitment to the welfare of all members. All members of NARD will be levied the sum of N2, 500 as a strike levy for the smooth prosecution of the industrial action.
“Penalty for any centre that sabotages the industrial action will be payment of a fine of N5million and suspension from holding any NARD national officers committee positions for two years.”
NARD, an association of doctors undergoing residency training, had on April 1 begun a nationwide strike over the government’s failure to pay salaries of house officers and review the N5,000 hazard allowance of doctors.
Last-minute efforts on March 31 by the Federal Government to prevent the strike failed as the doctors shunned an agreement they signed with the government on the grounds that the proposals contained in it were not new.
On Hazard Allowance, he said the government had started talks with NMA and others since February.
Ngige said, “That issue about hazard allowance, we started that proactively in February. I started that with the Remuneration Committee of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) at the instance of the NMA President who solicited for me to see them.
“With my officials from Employment and Wages Department, we started some discussion. We have also held some preliminary discussions with some other groups in the health sector. This is a business or work in progress.
“For anybody to say that we have not started discussing, it is a lie. But, it is not a business we can do with only doctors. We have discussed it with lab technologists, medical workers union, association of radiologists, pharmacists and all that work in the hospital environment. Everybody that works in hospital environment as at today takes hazard allowance
“The hazard allowance they are taking today is very paltry, it is N5,000. That was why the Federal Government decided to shelve it and paid them Special Covid-19 Hazard Allowance last year for the months of April, May and June. And it cost the government N32billion.
In a statement by the Ministry of Labour and Employment through its Deputy Director (Press), Mr. Charles Akpan, explained why the salary arrears accumulated.
It accused some Chief Medical Directors of conducting recruitment of House Officers in violation of a circular which prohibited it.
It said, “The central placement of House Officers was approved by the FEC for all would be intern in federal tertiary institutions to enable these graduates not to roam the streets for up to twelve months, waiting for spaces for housemanship. This was meant to curb favouritism and corruption associated with their recruitment in different centres, hence, the last Executive Committee of the NMA was informed of the decision and they fully supported.
“This same centralised recruitment was meant for other health professionals. But, medical graduates were chosen for the pilot, which was to start in 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
“However, January, 2021, was chosen as the commencement of recruitment from the federal teaching hospitals and medical centres. NMA was aware of this arrangement and made no effort to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and the Committee of Chief Medical Directors to ensure a smooth transition and migration of house officers at the tail end of their training programmes into the IPPIS platform for the uninterrupted continuation of their emoluments, salaries and allowances.
It also quoted the minister as saying, “I am aware that the NMA President had complained he does not get the expected cooperation, even audience with the two health ministers and their officials, but that is one of the challenges faced by people in leadership, a situation that has made my ministry to play proactive roles to prevent the strike not only in health sector, but in education and others.
“But the NMA President is reminded that he cannot effectively pilot the big job of the presidency of the Nigerian Medical Association from his new seat as the vice chancellor of the new Federal University of Medical Science, Oturkpo, Benue State.”
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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