THE Federal Government has approved the payment of N25,000 peculiar allowance for medical and dental doctors in hospitals, medical centres and clinics in the federal public service.
According to a circular dated July 26, 2023, titled, “Accoutrement allowance for medical and dental doctors in hospitals, medical centres, and clinics in federal MDAs,” the allowance is to be paid from the overhead budget.
The development came on the heels of the ongoing indefinite strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD). The group’s president, Emeka Orji, on July 25, disclosed that the doctors would embark on an indefinite strike on Wednesday, July 26, after the Federal Government failed to meet their demands.
The resident doctors association had on May 15, declared a five-day warning strike to compel the Federal Government to accede to its demands before announcing the total indefinite strike.
The doctors are demanding immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), release of the circular on one-for-one replacement, payment of skipping arrears, and upward review of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) in line with full salary restoration to the 2014 value of CONMESS.
Other demands are payment of the arrears of consequential adjustment of minimum wage to the omitted doctors, reversal of the downgrading of the membership certificate by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), payment of new hazard allowance, skipping and implementation of corrected CONMESS in State Tertiary Health Institutions, and payment of omitted hazard allowance arrears.
Meanwhile, the July 26 circular read: “The Federal Government has approved the payment of an accouterment allowance of N25,000 per quarter to medical and dental doctors in hospitals, medical centres, and clinics in the federal public service. The allowance is to be paid from the overhead budget.
“The approval takes effect from June 1, 2023. All inquiries relating to this circular should be directed to the commission.”
The ICIR reports that this wasn’t the first time the resident’s doctors would be embarking on strike, as they had downed tools for 159 days since 2013, making the group the only association of workers in the nation’s health sector that has embarked on industrial action beyond 100 days within the period.
NARD’s current strike is the first major workers face-off with the Federal Government since President Bola Tinubu took over power on May 29.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M