Following a comprehensive meeting between the Federal Government and the National Association of Resident Doctors, Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has said the doctors have resolved to suspend the planned resumption of strike on Friday.
According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, the doctors, at the resumption of the meeting with Gbajabiamila, said they would suspend the planned resumption of the strike as soon as they receive payment of their salary arrears, ranging from one to five months.
Lasisi said the doctors took the position after Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning revealed that the money was on ground for payment and also established the fact that it would be paid as soon as a verified list of beneficiaries was received.
One of the stakeholders at the meeting, Ben Akabueze, the Director General of the Budget
Office of the Federation, conforming to the statement, acknowledged that his office was in
receipt of the list, and that payment would be made unfailingly by May 7th.
Recall that resident doctors embarked on an indefinite strike on April 1st due to non-payment of their salary arrears.
