COVID-19: Nigerian Resident Doctors Call Off Strike

Members of the National Association of resident Doctors (NARD) have suspended their industrial action following the intervention of the country’s governors, under the auspices of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).
The NGF brokered peace with the health professionals, even as the latter cited the growing cases of COVID-19 as the reason the doctors should consider their plea, promising to meet their demands.
Consequently, the doctors, arising from a meeting on Saturday June 20, 2020 evening, decided to put their faith in the governors and suspend the action.

The entire executives of the NARD were at the NGF Secretariat Abuja on Thursday at the instance of the Director General of the Forum, Mr. Asishana Bayo Okauru, where they met with the chairman of the NGF and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and later the governor of Oyo State Ayo Makinde and expressed their grievances.

According to a statement by Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, NGF’s Head, Media, and Public Affairs, it was the very first time that NARD would be putting their grievances before the Forum.
After listening to them, the NGF chairman reminded the NARD executives of their Hippocratic oath and admonished them to always bring their conscience to the fore “because when you strike it is not the men in power that suffer but the common man on the streets, particularly at this era of Coronavirus.” 

Fayemi commended them for remaining in the country to serve in spite of the abundant opportunities and lucrative offers that await them abroad. 
However, the Ekiti governor also reminded them that the government has always invested huge sums of money to train them and it would amount to a disservice to their fatherland to flee the country without giving their services in return.
He appealed to the NARD to call off the strike promising that the NGF would sit in a week’s time and consider their grievances along with all the other members of the Forum with a view to finding a lasting solution to those of their problems that are immediately possible for the Forum to tackle.

The doctors, led by their president, Dr. Aliyu Sokomba, and their National Secretary, Dr. Bilkisu, left the NGF Secretariat with a promise to consult the members of their association to prevail on them to put their faith in the NGF and await the action of the governors on the matter.