Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has warned resident doctors in Abuja against threatening to go on strike. He said that he would not pay doctors who go on strike while he is Minister, and that he is prepared to fight them in court.
Wike told the doctors that he would make more money if they went on strike, and that even if they came back to work, he would not pay them. He said that he would decide whether to pay them in court.Wike’s comments come after the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has been engaged in on-and-off industrial actions due to the Federal Government’s failure to meet its demands. The doctors’ demands include the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), tangible steps on the “upward review” of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), and payment of all salary arrears owed its members since 2015.The doctors also want the immediate massive recruitment of clinical staff in the hospitals and the abolishment of the bureaucratic limitations to the immediate replacement of doctors and nurses who leave the system. They also want the immediate review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done.