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By Barth Ikiebe in Abuja.
The ongoing industrial action by the National Association of Nurses and Midwives, Federal Health Institutions Sector will not be suspended unless critical demands are met.
The union’s National Chairman, Morakinyo-Olajide Rilwan, stated this in a Channel’s Television programme.
He said the union would reject any request from the government to return to work without concrete actions taken on their core issues.
“That is what the government will definitely ask for, that we should suspend the strike so they can look at our demands,” Rilwan explained.
“We are not comfortable with that. We have to make sure that parts of the demand are attended to before we can suspend the strike at all.”
Rilwan explained that the union had exercised patience, giving the government ample time to act before embarking on a 7-day warning strike, but no progress was made.
On Wednesday, Minister of Labour Muhammadu Dingyadi, appealed to the nurses to call off the strike, emphasizing that strikes are not the ideal way to settle industrial disagreements.
He encouraged the union to pursue continued dialogue, adding that further discussions would be held on Friday at the Ministry of Health.
Rilwan stressed that nurses are naturally compassionate and reluctant to take such drastic action, but had no choice after being ignored for so long.
“It’s not actually in the nurses’ attitude to embark on a strike, and we have been patient enough because we are compassionate. Nurses are empathetic with their patients, we love our patients and don’t want anything to happen to them.”
“But we waited for a long time for all these demands to be met. So, this strike happens to be the last option we have to get the government’s attention.”
“Based on the insincerity and insensitivity on the part of the government, I believe some parts of these demands must be met before we can suspend the strike. We have to see serious commitment from the government before taking that step,” he added.
Among the key issues raised are:
Gazetting of the nursing scheme of service
Upward review of allowances
Specialty allowances for professional nurses
Recruitment of additional nurses
Improvement in remuneration
Creation of a dedicated department for nursing at the Federal Ministry of Health
While confirming that the union had met with government officials multiple times, Rilwan described the discussions as mostly inconclusive.
“The Minister of Labour invited the leadership on Tuesday which was the last day of that ultimatum but the meeting ended in a deadlock because those that were supposed to be on ground at the meeting were not there, especially our mother ministry, the Minister of Health was not there, Head of Service of the Federation was not there, so the meeting ended in a deadlock.”
He also revealed that a follow-up meeting held with the Coordinating Minister of Health on Wednesday also failed to produce results.
“As at yesterday too, the Coordinating Minister of Health invited the leadership and the meeting was still inconclusive”.
When asked why the talks keep stalling, Rilwan explained:
“That means there is no tentative agreement met. We have to reach an agreement before we can say the meeting is conclusive. There has to be an MoU signed by the stakeholders before we can say the meeting is conclusive.”
The strike continues as negotiations remain at a standstill, with no formal agreement yet reached.
Labour Minister has urged the Nurses to return to dialogue as negotiations resume on Friday.
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