•Government to pay N4.8bn within seven days

•Implementation of agreements commences on Monday

The strike embarked upon by the National Association of Resident Doctors may soon be called off, with the Federal Government on Saturday morning agreeing to pay N4.8 billion residency training fund to the 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.

A Memorandum of Action is expected to be signed by all the parties involved in the discussion yesterday.

The truce was brokered by the leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association led by Prof. Innocent Uja.

At the Friday renewed meeting, all the consolidated 12-point demand by NARD, the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) and other affiliates of NMA were resolved.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said the government resumed discussion with the striking doctors at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari.

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.”

Ngige commended the President of NMA, Prof Ujah, for assuming his role as the leader of all doctors in Nigeria, saying all affiliate doctors’ associations are under the NMA.

The minister said: “When you talk to the children and they don’t listen well, you talk to their parents. The standing agreement that every negotiation by affiliate associations must be led by the NMA was not observed in the recent past.

‘I therefore commend Ujah for assuming his role as the father of all doctors. I want you to play this role effectively and efficiently.”

At the continuation of the all-stakeholders meeting yesterday, the minister said the Federal Government will commence the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) tomorrow in order to end the indefinite strike by NARD.

Ngige who addressed journalists before the meeting went into closed door session, said they had reached agreements the previous night on all the 12 disputed issues, adding that implementation would start from the next working day (Monday).

Speaking on the issue of non-payment of some house officers, the Minister said NARD is expected to submit the list of the affected 114 officers for further verification and when confirmed to be genuine, and their Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) particulars and Bank Verification Number (BVN) are in order, they would be paid in September with the outstanding arrears.

He said an agreement was reached on the Residency Training Fund outstanding for 2020 and 2021, after the Budget Office had explained that N617, 429, 121 was the outstanding to be paid in the 2020.

Ngige added that the meeting agreed that by next Friday, August 27, residents in institutions would have started getting their money, with each receiving about N542, 000.

The Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, urged the doctors to end their strike in the interest of the nation as government tackles their demands.

In his remarks, President of NMA, Prof Uja said the strike was avoidable and blamed some government functionaries for not playing their roles.

He said: “As doctors, we are trained to prevent diseases, cure illnesses and promote health, but not trained to go on strike.” He regretted that circumstances forced the doctors to do otherwise.

He commended Senator Ngige for going the extra mile to ensure that officers across ministries and agencies who are relevant to tackling the doctors’ demands are put on their toes.

Uja said: “At the meeting we had on Wednesday before us, he was calling relevant officers, asking what have you done about this, what have you done about this?

“He does his own and also chases others around to ensure that progress is made.”

He added that there was no misunderstanding between him and the minister as falsely reported in a section of the media.

“At close door, the meeting tackled and resolved all the 12-point issues such as payment of House Doctors where Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria tabled evidence to show that 2,800 doctors have been paid and efforts ongoing to sort the outstanding 144; the N4.8 billion Residency Training Fund which the Budget Office assured would be paid in seven days.

“The arrears of the consequential adjustment of the National Minimum Wage which the meeting agreed cuts across other sectors, but that greater focus must be paid to clearing that of April to December 2019 which has no ambiguity.

“The Ministry of Health also revealed that as of August 3, 2021, a list from 38 hospitals has been forwarded to the Budget Office for inclusion in the Service Wide Vote.

“The meeting also tackled the issue of locum doctors/emergency and migration to IPPIS, the bench fees and the hazard allowance which it agreed should be out of the negotiation table since the stalemate created by the disagreement between the NMA and JOHESU was responsible for the delay, as the Federal Government already mapped out N37.5 billion for it.

“The decision of the National Council on Establishment, given effect by the Circular from the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, which excised house doctors and NYSC doctors from the scheme of service, was also visited.

“Also deliberated upon was skipping, which is a consequential grade alignment as well as non-payment of three months Covid-19 allowance to some doctors in 2020, and migration of MDCAN to CONUAS among others.

“The meeting adjourned to 10 a.m. this morning, Saturday, August 21, 2021 to streamline the agreements reached on all issues, draft and sign the Memorandum of Understanding towards ending the three weeks old strike by NARD.”

The meeting was attended by the permanent secretaries of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr. Peter Tarfa; Health, Mamman Mamuda; Service Welfare, Office of the Head of Service, Ngozi Onwudiwe; Director General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze; Chairman of National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta; representative of the Minister of State, Finance, Budget and Planning; representatives of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation; leaders of the NMA, NARD and MDCAN, among others.