The President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Muhammad Suleiman, has faulted the Federal Government’s claim that it is releasing N11.9bn within 72 hours for the payment of outstanding arrears and allowances to doctors and other health workers across the country.
Suleiman, who spoke exclusively with The PUNCH on Sunday, said only about N500m of the said amount is meant for resident doctors.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had on Saturday announced in a statement signed by its Deputy Director and Head of Information and Public Relations, Alaba Balogun, that the government would release N11.9bn for the payment of arrears, including accoutrement allowance, as part of measures to address the welfare concerns of doctors and restore industrial harmony in the health sector.
The ministry’s statement came amid a nationwide strike by resident doctors, who on Saturday withdrew their services across 91 federal and state tertiary hospitals over unpaid arrears, delayed allowances, and other welfare-related issues.
However, reacting to the ministry’s claims, Suleiman said both the 25–35 per cent arrears and the accoutrement allowance are longstanding entitlements that date back over two years and belong to all categories of health workers, not just doctors.
“The 25–35 per cent arrears have been pending for over two years and belong to all cadres in the health sector, including those in the Ministry of Health, its agencies, and even administrative staff. The total bill for that review was supposed to be N48bn, but government said it’s N41bn. In August, they released N10bn; two weeks ago, another N10bn; and last week, N21.3bn, totaling N41bn. Out of that, the portion that goes to all doctors is about N11bn, and resident doctors get less than N10bn since we are about 60 per cent of all doctors.
“It’s only N6bn that was agreed to be released in 72 hours, not N11.9bn. I don’t know where they are bringing N11.95bn from. We don’t know any N11.9bn. What we agreed with the Federal Government is that N2.9bn will be released within 72 hours for accoutrement allowance, and even that accoutrement is for all doctors.
“Out of that N2.9bn, about N500m is coming to resident doctors. Another N2.4bn is for consultants non-clinical duty allowance, and N400m is for other health workers as COVID-19 arrears. So the total is about N6bn, not N11.9bn,” Suleiman explained.
He insisted that the accoutrement allowance was not a new intervention, but an old entitlement owed to doctors,not just resident doctors.
“Some of these arrears have been there for over two years; it’s not peculiar to doctors alone. It covers everyone in the health sector, including administrative staff,” he stated.
He accused the ministry of generalising payments to create the impression that government had met all of NARD’s demands.
“From what I know, only about N500m of what is being released affects resident doctors directly,” he noted.
On the dismissal of five doctors at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, which the ministry said was under review by a government-appointed negotiator, Prof. Dafe Otobo, the NARD President noted that the association was not consulted and had no knowledge of the process.
“We don’t know the professor they mentioned. We don’t know the criteria he is using or the documents he has been given. Those five doctors were all union leaders. They were targeted because of their union activities,” he said.
He added that the association had only requested the reinstatement of the affected doctors, not litigation.
“We didn’t want to litigate the issue. We only asked the Ministry of Health to reinstate them. Even the ministry admitted that some of them were terminated without due process, yet they are talking about review again. There are more questions than answers,” Suleiman said.
He also challenged the ministry’s claim on recruitment figures, demanding transparency and accountability.
“They said 20,000 health workers were recruited last year and another 15,000 this year. They should give you the breakdown of how many are doctors, how many are nurses, and where are they now? Those are the pertinent questions.
“The ministry should address the root issues raised by the association. That press release tries to make doctors look ungrateful and greedy, as if all we want is money. But our issues go beyond financial matters. We have 19 outstanding demands, many of which are administrative and can be resolved with a single memo,” he said.
Suleiman, however, commended the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, for his swift response to the financial aspects of the doctors’ grievances.
“I must appreciate Mr. Wale Edun. He took charge immediately, and issues on his table are being addressed. But the Ministry of Health is a different story. Their language and attitude show they’re not genuinely interested in resolving these problems,” he said.
The NARD president appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the matter.
“We are calling on the President to speak to those in the Ministry of Health. Just as he directed the Minister of Finance to handle his side of the problems, we are pleading that he ensures the health ministry genuinely engages us and resolves the issues on their table,” he added.
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