The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), has rejected the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) presented by the Federal Government.
The NARD’s National President, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, said this while addressing newsmen at the end of a closed door meeting with the Federal Government and other relevant stakeholders, yesterday in Abuja.
The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) led the striking doctors to a meeting summoned at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari aimed at resolving the ongoing strike by doctors across the country.
It would be recalled that the resident doctors embarked on an indefinite strike on August 1 to press home the issues of agitation amongst their members.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, had on August 13, handed over the trade dispute between the Federal Government and NARD to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria for adjudication.
According to Uyilawa, NARD had refused to sign the MoU that was brokered by its parent body, the NMA, and the Federal Government due to an undisclosed clause.
“We rejected the MoU, we didn’t sign it because we feel we are being punished for the failures of those in government,” he said.
He said the nationwide strike would continue and that they would proceed with the court case.
He, however, added that NARD leadership has to present the new MoU to its members before he could sign the document.
On his part, Ngige said that all other unions in the negotiation including the NMA and the Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria have signed the new agreement.
He noted that the meeting did not discuss the issue of ‘No Work No Pay’ but that all parties at the meeting agreed to an out-of-court settlement.
The Federal Government, had, last Saturday morning agreed to pay N4.8billion residency training fund to the National Association of Resident Doctors within seven days.
The government also agreed to clear the arrears of the consequential adjustment of the national minimum wage, starting from April when the bill was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari to December, 2019.
The government, through the Federal Ministry of Health, also said it has forwarded a list from 38 hospitals to the budget office for inclusion in the Service Wide Vote.
The agreement may have laid the foundation for the peaceful resolution of the ongoing strike by NARD, which commenced on August 1, 2021.
In a statement issued on Saturday morning by the Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan, Ngige said the President directed him to side step every technicalities and re-commence conciliation, especially in the background of the alternative dispute resolution window provided by the National Industrial Court, where the matter was referred to under the instrument of Article 17 of the Trade Disputes Act.
He said, “The National Industrial Court in its wisdom advised that NARD should keep talking with its employers. So, we are tapping into this widow of an alternative dispute resolution to ameliorate this situation that is already bad.”