The Federal Government is set to adopt the pay rise template created for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for its medical doctors who are presently on strike. This move comes after the doctors’ call for better pay conditions and other demands.
At the moment, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), an affiliate of the Nigerian Medical Association, is on a 48-hour warning strike which began on Wednesday last week and is expected to end today.
The newspaper reports that in 2022, the Federal Government presented a 23.5% pay rise for university lecturers who are not in the professorial cadre, while junior and senior professors were offered a 35% pay rise. Although ASUU has yet to accept this offer, the union has been in a repeated faceoff with the government over the salary structure review.
In the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Federal Government and the NMA, including its affiliates like NARD, salaried structure review features strongly in Item 8. The MoU notes that “A letter has been written to FMoH by NSIWC requesting them to provide the details of the Agreement. The Permanent Secretary is to provide a response to the letter of NSIWC by Tuesday, May 23, 2023. NSIWC is to use the percentage used for ASUU and other university unions and will also include a raise in allowances.”
It further states that “the relativity of the increase shall be maintained when other consolidated scales are considered. This will be presented to the Presidential Committee on Salaries in their next valedictory meeting for final action to enable NSIWC [National Salaries, Income & Wages Commission] issue the relevant circular, seven days after the PCS meeting.”
The Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Chris Ngige, is yet to give a response to this development. Meanwhile, the National President of NARD, Emeka Orji, has convened an emergency National Executive Council meeting in response to the 48-hour deadline given by the Federal Government.
