Isaac Adewole, minister of
health, says the demand of officials of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU)
to be at par with doctors in terms of salary is neither practicable nor
acceptable.
Disclosing this in a statement on
Monday, Adewole said the current administrationt has offered to adjust the
salaries and wages of the health workers.
He was reacting to the
advertorial by JOHESU in some national dailies.
“As a responsible government, we
will do everything within our power to bring the ongoing strike action to an
end as quickly as possible,” read a statement Olajide Oshundun, health ministry
assistant director of information, issued on Adewole’s behalf.
“Indeed, the federal government
has put machinery in place to ensure that the strike is called off by meeting
with JOHESU officials on several occasions.
“But what JOHESU is asking for is
parity with medical doctors which is neither practicable nor acceptable to the
federal government.”
Adewole said the current strike
action by the unions is unfortunate and that the health, adding that well-being
of many Nigerians had been affected.
The minister also denied that
there was an agreement between the federal government and JOHESU prior to the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said what the union brandished
as a 2014 agreement with the federal government were minutes of meetings they
had with some organs of government.
Adewole added that out of the 15
demands presented by JOHESU in September 2017, the government has implemented
14 while the last demand was “being attended to.”
“The administration of President
Muhammadu Buhari will not renege on any agreement entered into with any labour
organisation including JOHESU,’’ he said.
The minister, therefore, appealed
to the unions to “immediately call off the strike” and allow for the conclusion
of the assignment given to a panel regarding the 2017 agreement.
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