Doctors In Nigeria Are Lucky To Have Me As Minister, Says Ngige

Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, has said medical doctors in Nigeria are lucky to have him as a minister of the federation.

Ngige – a trained doctor – made this known when he received members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) at his office in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to the minister, he is well aware of concerns and competent to resolve such issues since he is a health practitioner.

He blamed the immediate past NARD leadership for elongating the recently suspended strike by doctors, alleging that the former executives failed to give its members correct information about the issues on the ground.

The former Anambra governor said the Federal Government does not owe any doctor since August 2 when NARD commenced its industrial action, adding that the hazard allowance for doctors in the 2020 budget has been increased from N40 billion to N47 billion annually.

He, however, admitted that there were disagreements regarding allowances, such as the medical residency training fund (MRTF), and some doctors who were not paid the special COVID-19 allowances.

He said: “The previous NARD leadership hoarded information from your members. Instead, things wouldn’t have degenerated.

“There is no need being pugilistic. We know that we have opposition to our government. It doesn’t mean that if we are doing something right, we should not be praised.

“If the former NARD leadership were not playing politics, they should have reported well to their members, especially after the intervention of the Elders Forum of which the president and secretary-general of NARD were members.

“You are lucky to have me, a medical doctor and health system manager here as the Minister of Labour and Employment. So, when the matter came, the issues are clear to me.

“But, when you bring advice to both parties on how things should be done and it is thrown away completely, you leave us with no other option than to do what the law says that we should be doing.

“That was why I sent this matter to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN).”

Ngige assured the doctors that all the contentious issues were being addressed.