Agreement between the striking members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and the Federal Government (FG) has collapsed.
The NARD rejected the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the FG, saying it has to present the document to its members before he could sign it.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NARD National President, Dr. Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, addressed journalists at the end of a closed-door meeting with the FG delegation and other relevant stakeholders on Sunday in Abuja.
According to NAN, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) led its members to a meeting by President Muhammadu Buhari,.which was designed to resolve the ongoing strike by doctors across the country.
It would be recalled that the resident doctors embarked on an indefinite industrial action on August 1 to press home the issues of agitation amongst their members.
It would also be recalled that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, on August 13 handed over the trade dispute between the FG and NARD to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria for adjudication.
Uyilawa, who noted that NARD had refused to sign the MoU that was brokered by the NMA, and the FG due to an undisclosed clause, said: “We rejected the MoU, we didn’t sign it because we feel we are being punished for the failures of those in government.”
He promised that the nationwide strike by NARD would continue and that its members would proceed with the court case.
Meanwhile, Ngige has disclosed that all other unions in the negotiation, including the NMA and the Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria have signed the new agreement, adding that the meeting did not discuss the issue of ‘No Work No Pay’ but that all parties at the meeting agreed to an out-of-court settlement.