Doctors have agreed to shelve their strike, say governors

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) says the Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has agreed to shelve its strike.

The doctors embarked on a nationwide strike last week amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Some of their demands are the implementation of the medical residency training act in all federal and state hospitals and pay parity among doctors of equal cadre.

In a statement, the NGF said the doctors agreed to shelve their strike after meeting with Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti and NGF chairman.

The leadership of NARD met with Fayemi at the instance of Asishana Bayo Okauru, director-general of the governors’ forum on Thursday.

“When you strike it is not the men in power that suffer but the common man on the streets,” the NGF chairman was quoted to have said.

Fayemi was said to have commended them for remaining in the country in spite of the opportunities and lucrative offers they could get abroad.

The governor reportedly said the NGF would sit and consider their grievances with a view of finding a lasting solution to the issues they have raised.

On his part, Aliyu Sokomba, NARD president, said his leadership would consult with its members of the association to prevail on them to put their faith in the NGF while awaiting action of the governors on their grievances.

“It is on that basis that the president reached out to the DG of the NGF this evening as they closed the NARD meeting to announce that they are calling off the strike to allow the governors to address their complaints,” the statement read.