Resident doctors petition Lagos Assembly over unpaid salaries

LAGOS — Resident Doctors in Lagos, have petitioned the State House of Assembly, seeking its intervention over alleged refusal of the state government to pay their August salary.
In a letter through the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, the resident doctors said they were not finding the alleged refusal of government to pay their August salary funny.
NMA letter which was read on the floor of the House by the Clerk, Ganiyu Abiru, called on Governor Babatunde Fashola to pay the doctors’ salary in the interest of industrial peace.
NMA had embarked on a nationwide industrial action which lasted for about two months before it was finally suspended in August.
The letter by the chairman and the secretary of the NMA, Dr. Babafemi Thomas and Dr. Tope Ojo respectively, argued that various bodies in the state had embarked on strikes in the past and their salaries were paid.
The doctors wondered why government would refuse to pay their entitlement.
Speaking on the issue, the Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Rotimi Abiru said: “The issue raised by the NMA is valid,” adding that the House should endeavour to look into it critically, noting that before final pronouncement would have to be made, the House Committee on Health should be mandated to carry out thorough investigation.
Also contributing, the Leader of the House, Ajibayo Adeyeye, recalled that sometime last year, the Resident Doctors in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, were not paid a month salary, saying the House should urgently look into it to “avert another industrial unrest.”
He stressed that it became imperative to address the issue since other Doctors who also went on the same strike had been paid their August salary.
In his submission, Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who presided over the plenary, directed the House Committee on Health to investigate and report back in a week’s time.
ImmortaliSation of Adadevoh
Ikuforiji also called on the State Government to immortalise late Stella Adadevoh by naming the centre for infectious disease control after her.
Ikuforiji spoke at plenary when the deputy leader of the House, Lola Akande, representing Ikeja constituency II, raised the issue under a matter of urgent public importance, saying Dr. Stella Adadevoh should be honoured for her heroic stand to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Nigeria.