The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said the Lagos
State government acted responsibly and in accordance
with the state’s civil/public service rules in sacking the
striking doctors in its employment.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also
accused the petulant doctors of flouting industrial laws by
declaring the strike that led to their sack without issuing
the necessary notice to their employers.
It said they were also guilty of serious misconduct by
refusing to respond to the queries issued to them to
explain their absence without official leave from work,
adding that the consequences of their action were clearly
spelt out in the civil service rules, and that no responsible
employer would condone such egregious action from its
employees.
“We have waited this long to comment on this issue
because we were studying all the details of the situation
that led to the strike and the sack. Having concluded our
painstaking investigation, we can say without equivocation
that the government acted responsibly and in accordance
with the necessary rules and regulations.
“Contrary to the misinformation being peddled by some
mischievous individuals and groups, the strike that led to
the doctors’ strike has nothing to do with their conditions
of service, but is related to the desire of a group that wants
to continue to hold the government and the people to
ransom through incessant strikes over every frivolous
issue.
“We say this because the Lagos State government has met
all the demands of the doctors during their earlier strike:
payment of the so-called Consolidated Medical Salary
Structure (CONMESS) which has been accommodated in
the approved salary structures for the state, even when the
federal government that negotiated it did not consult the
state government; reinstatement of Dr. Ibrahim Olaifa and
the reactivation of the deduction and remittance of the
check-off dues to the Medical Guild. Complaints of high
taxation cannot be handled by the state government
because taxation is a federal government issue.”
The party however said it was cheap and uncharitable for
the PDP to try to cash in on a serious issue by using such
term as ‘fascist’ to describe the doctors’ sack. It therefore
and challenged the party to say how much the PDP states
pay the doctors in their employ and how many doctors
each of them has employed.
“There is no need to politicise the issues on ground,
because innocent Nigerians, irrespective of their party
affiliation, suffer greatly, with some, even losing their lives,
every time doctors fling away their stethoscopes in the
name of a strike. What is expected is for every responsible
citizen and group to prevail on the doctors, who have been
so remunerated, to always consider their impact of their
incessant strikes on their patients,’’ it said.
“The latest strike by the doctors is based on totally new
and unreasonable demands by the doctors, who are asking
the state government to pay them far in excess of what
was contained in CONMESS! This in a state where,
unknown to many, some consultants are already earning
more than 800,000 naira a month!
‘’It is on the basis of this totally new and unrealistic
demands that the doctors gave a mere 24-hour notice to
embark on an three-day warning strike, and gave no notice
at all to embark on their now ill-fated indefinite strike,
without worrying about the impact of their action on the
public.
“In order words, there is nothing altruistic about the
doctors’ strike. It is all about them and them alone. They
do not care whether or not the state government can meet
overhead or development costs, or whether the hospitals
where they work can even be adequately equipped. What
matters is for the ever-elastic demands of the seemingly-
insatiable doctors to be met once they are issued. This is
unrealistic and untenable, and the doctors must be told in
clear terms,’’ ACN said.
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Shame on Fashola!
Shame on ACN!

End of discussion.