Hope that the strike action by medical doctors in Nigeria will soon be called off has been dashed for now as the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, rejected the new Memorandum of Understanding, MoU presented by the Federal Government.
The National President, NARD, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja Sunday morning, at the end of a closed-door meeting with the federal government and other relevant stakeholders.
Uyilawa said NARD refused to sign the MoU that was brokered by its parent body, the NMA, and the federal government due to an undisclosed clause that made the body feel it was being punished for the failures of those in government.
The NARD President noted that the nationwide strike would continue and that they would proceed with their court case.
He added however that the NARD leadership was yet to present the new MoU to its members whose inputs were needed before they could sign the document.
For his part, The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris 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.
It would be recalled that the resident doctors embarked on an indefinite strike on Aug. 1, now twenty-three days to press home the issues of agitation amongst their members.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, had on August13, handed over the trade dispute between the federal government and NARD to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria for adjudication.
