The federal government has made
an offer to raise hazard allowance for all health qin public health
establishments in the country.
Chris Ngige, minister of labour
and employment, said this while briefing journalists at the end of a meeting
between the presidential committee on salaries (PSC), relevant federal
government stakeholders, health professionals association and trade unions on
Wednesday in Abuja.
According to NAN,
the minister called the meeting to discuss the issue of hazard allowance and
retirement age for health workers in government establishments.
Ngige said the stakeholders were able to reach fruitful resolutions in the meeting.rr3
“The federal government has moved up from the
N5,000 monthly hazard allowance paid to all health workers in Nigeria and now
offering 350 percent and 600 percent increments for junior workers and senior
workers respectively,” he said.
“The government side led by the
minister of state for budget and planning gave a counteroffer to the earlier
submissions made by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and affiliate
associations and the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU).
“The Government side gave them
that offer based on the realities that we have on ground, that the economy is
not doing very well and the capital component of the budget is actually being
funded on borrowing. The earnings of the government have also drastically gone
down.
“So, they are going back to their people with
the government offer and they asked for two weeks adjournment to enable them to
conclude consultation with their members and report back to us.”
Ngige said they agreed that the
offers should be left as they are until both parties go back for consultations
with their members and return in two weeks’ time for further negotiations.
“But we moved from the N5000
hazard allowance per month, which was long forgotten until COVID-19 struck.
During COVID-19, the government spent about N31billion for three months,” he
said.
“So, I think the government side
has offered things that are very reasonable, increasing the former positions of
junior and senior health workers.”
The minister also said the
federal government has agreed to raise the retirement age of doctors and other
health workers from 60 to 65 years and 70 years for consultants.
On April 1, members of the Nigerian
Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) embarked on an indefinite strike to ask
that the federal government meet their 10-point demands which include an upward
review of the hazard allowance.
The association later suspended
its strike on April 10 after signing a new agreement with the federal
government.
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