The body of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) have rejected the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) proposed by the Federal Government in a bid to resolving the strike by doctors around the country.
It would be recalled that resident doctors as a body NMA, embarked on an indefinite strike on Aug. 1 to press home the issues of agitation amongst their members.
Also Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, 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 close door meeting with federal government, NARD and other relevant stakeholders, the NARD National President, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, said while addressing newsmen that they could not accept the terms brokered by its parent body NMA in the MoU.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports 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.
In Dr Uyilawa’s words “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.
According to him, the nationwide strike would continue and that they would proceed with the court case.
On the other hand however, Dr Chris Ngige has said 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 except for NARD.