OMINOUS signs of disenchantment and discontent with its system of governance continued to plague Nigeria even as it held its 53 years post-independence anniversary yesterday, with resident doctors beginning an indefinite nationwide strike today over integrated Payroll and Personal Information System agreement.
Also, some police officers rose from an emergency meeting early yesterday threatening an indefinite strike over the transfer of about 60 senior officers, an exercise they consider “punitive,” as it involved the transfer of officers from the rank of Inspectors from the Imo State Police Command to the troubled areas far North.
In their resolution sent to The Guardian in Owerri, the officers, who preferred not to be named, called on the Presidency, Senate Committee on Police Affairs and the Ministry of Police Affairs to thoroughly investigate the matter, accusing the Imo Police Commissioner, Mr. Muhammad Musa Katsina, of punitive and politically motivated transfer.
According to them, about 12 senior police officers from the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) were also posted to guard motor parks while seven were posted to Okigwe as camp commandants.
Their grouse also included that the two IC Area Commander (Fire Service), who just returned from eye operation, was sent out “punitively” without the consent of the headquarters, adding: “This has never happened before in Nigeria. This must be addressed.”
Rising from its extraordinary National Executive Council meeting at the National Hospital, Abuja, the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) yesterday declared an indefinite nationwide and total strike effect from yesterday over the Federal Government’s failure to implement their agreement on Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System.
Other reasons listed for the strike action included the government’s failure to produce a blueprint on residency training in conjunction with the association and other stakeholders, which would consist of all aspects of residency training, including local training modules, funding and overseas attachments, among others.
This was contained in a communiqué at the end of the meeting in Kano, signed by NARD President, Dr. Jibril Abdullahi, Acting Secretary General, Dr. Udu Chijioke Udu, and Publicity/Social Secretary, Dr. Ilokanuno Chinedu, after the Abuja meeting.
It noted the failure of the Federal Government to “appropriately respond to our demands as contained in our earlier ultimatum, which effectively expires at midnight of September 30, 2013.”
It further condemned the continuous victimization of their members by the Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, in spite of several consultations between them and other stakeholders.
Additionally, “NEC further observed with dismay the failure of the Enugu State Government to implement the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for our members in Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu. This is in spite of the implementation of same to a select group in the same institution. This has greatly hampered effective health service delivery and residency training.”
The body warned the Enugu government that failure to respond positively to their demand would result in staged withdrawal of services in the state, then the whole of South Eastern Nigeria and finally, nationwide.
More so, “all institutions already on the IPPIS platform should be retained and concerted efforts made to identify and correct factors impeding the successful implementation of IPPIS. In addition, no new health institution should be recruited until all anomalies are fully resolved.”
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