A total of 150 medical doctors in Borno State have issued a 21-day ultimatum to embark on an indefinite strike over non-payment of allowances by the government.

The doctors are those in the employ of the Borno State government, Bukar Abbagana, Chairman of the Medical Doctors Association in the state disclosed this on Monday at a press conference.

The association, he explained, unanimously resolved to embark on industrial action following failure of the state government to settle backlog of unpaid allowances.

Abbagana was quoted as saying that the government owed over N300 million arrears of skipping allowances to 150 doctors in the past four years.

He said that the association had not joined the nationwide strike before now, based on humanitarian gesture and security challenges in the state.

“Doctors out of loyalty and empathy for the people, refused to down tools with the belief that the state government will extend similar gesture to them,” he said.

“Four years down the line, there was no single acknowledgement for the correspondences to the government, and all avenues for dialogue were exhausted.”

He said the association issued a 21-day ultimatum between January 8 and February 5 to enable the state government meet their demands.

Abbagana disclosed that the association had registered members in secondary and primary health facilities in the state.

He noted that the association was mindful of the grave consequences of such industrial disharmony on the people, and called on individuals and organisations to prevail on the government to avert the strike.