New twist, as striking doctors reject new MoU, head to court

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has rejected the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) presented by the Federal Government.

The NARD National President, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, said this while addressing newsmen at the end of a closed-door meeting with the federal government and other relevant stakeholders on Sunday in Abuja.

According to him, the association would head to court to achieve it’s aim.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) led the striking doctors to a meeting summoned at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari aimed at resolving the ongoing strike by doctors across the country.

The resident doctors embarked on an indefinite strike on Aug. 1 to press home the issues of agitation amongst their members.

It would also be recalled that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, had on Aug. 13, handed over the trade dispute between the federal government and NARD to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria for adjudication.

After a meeting between both parties, the federal ministry of Labour and Employment in a statement by the deputy director, Press and Public Relations, Charles Akpan, had said, “The National Industrial Court in its wisdom advised that NARD should keep talking with it’s employers. So we are tapping into this window of an alternative dispute resolution to ameliorate this situation that is already bad”.

Read also: Nigerian govt invokes ‘no work, no pay’ rule on striking doctors

It was thought that the agreement would lay the foundation for the resolution of issues around the strike action by the resident doctors.

However, Uyilawa confirmed that NARD refused to sign the MoU that was brokered by its parent body, the NMA, and the federal government due to an undisclosed clause.

“We rejected the MoU, we didn’t sign it because we feel we are being punished for the failures of those in government,” he said.

He said the nationwide strike would continue and that they would proceed with the court case.

He however added that NARD leadership has to present the new MoU to its members before he could sign the document.

In his statement, Ngige stated that all other unions in the negotiation including the NMA and the Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria have signed the new agreement.

He noted that the meeting did not discuss the issue of ‘No Work No Pay’ but that all parties at the meeting agreed to an out-of-court settlement.

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