The Federal Government on Monday said it had yet to receive any communication from the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors regarding its 72-hour ultimatum to pay its members being owed Medical Residency Training Fund and salary arrears.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment spokesman, Charles Akpan, said the doctors had not contacted the government on its minimum demands.
The NARD had in a communiqué issued at the end of its 41st Annual General Meeting held in Bauchi State on Saturday also demanded that the government withdrew the lawsuit filed against doctors before the National Industrial Court in the interest of peace.
In the communiqué jointly signed by the immediate past NARD’s president, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, and Secretary-General, Jerry Isogun, the resident doctors decried the Federal Government’s continued failure to accede to their demands.
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They restated their resolve to continue with the indefinite strike, which began on August 2, 2021, “until our minimum demands are met.”
But responding to inquiries from The PUNCH on Monday, Akpan said the ministry would deal with their demands as soon as it was received.
“The resident doctors have yet to contact the ministry on their minimum demands or the 72-hour hour ultimatum. I am sure when such communication is received, the ministry will deal with it accordingly,” the spokesman stated.
But the newly-elected president of the association, Dr Dare Ishaya, told The PUNCH that NARD had submitted its notice of ultimatum to all parties involved on Monday.
He said, “We concluded elections and handing over ceremonies on Saturday at about 1 am. No office was opened over the weekend. It is today (Monday) that we went round and submitted all the letters to the parties involved.”
