Doctors’ strike suspension: FG, NARD, NMA not sincere – Yakassai

By Idu Jude
As the resident’s Doctors Association of Nigeria once again suspends its three weeks strike actions, Elder statesman Ibrahim Tanko Yakassai has advised both parties to get it right once and stop playing with the lives of average Nigerians.

Yakassai, was reacting to the sudden suspension of the three-week strike action embarked by the resident Doctors while pressing home its demand for non-compliant of the federal government to its working
conditions.

According to the Elder statesman, while in an interview with ThisNigeria, both the federal government and the striking Doctors, do not seem to love the country, which has made the strike action a yearly ritual in Nigeria.

“left for me, the routine exercise of strike action being embarked by our Doctors, does not develop the industry neither does it improve the working condition of the Doctors and that is because the strike action is marred by greed being exhibited by individuals. I think that a body like the NMA or NARD should be seen as an organization that saves lives and with the annual ritual of strike action by the same body, shows that they don’t honour the oath of office they took before graduating from school.

During this time, many have died at the hospitals and such lives won’t be restored again and I always say that there are many ways of settling disputes and not using strike actions to hold the government to ransom and also kill people who have no hope of surviving daily without drugs.

So it is all about greed, as you see, the same greed make them agree on terms and suspend the strike and after and other five months they will go back again”

He further alluded to the fact that the incessant strike action, being embarked by the professional bodies takes its turn once after the federal Government settles with first any group. “ very soon, you will see another group coming up to press home their own demands, today it is NMA and NARD, tomorrow it is JUHESU and other non-medical staff union and so on and so forth. Such also happens in the academic sector, today it is ASSU and in another, it is NASU or anything. And the question is, why have the Federal Government failed to end the negotiation each year, which had made strike action become the major duty of the Ministry of labor”

Tank Yakassai, on the other hand, has blamed the Federal government on the inability to fulfill its parts after negotiations each time.

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The elder statesman, in his observation, insisted that a breach of the agreement is also a serious offense as what might also have contributed much about the protracted cases of strike action includes nonimplementation of the agreements reached in the past.

“You see what makes a person well respected is this ability to honor agreements. And when you enter an agreement with people or anybody, you should not breach it. I advise both government and the striking or
about to strike groups because I know that more groups will come, to adopt a strategy because each time workers go on strike, the economy will suffer. We should take a cue from countries like Rwanda, who
after the civil war was able to advise itself, and today its economy is flying. So the leader and the leaders should also know that strike actions kill the economy of any nation, they should know that honoring agreements gives moral booster to workers and making them go on strike kills the economy so adopting a strategy is key”

Further speaking Yakassai envisages betrayal on the side of the Nigerian medical association, who waded in the war between the Federal Government and the NARD. He said that Nigerians are yet to see the main outcome of the meeting between the FG and NMA, which made the NMA prevail over the NARD to back to work. “I smell a rat because I know that the NMA had a meeting with the FG before prevailing on the NARD who are the junior Doctors. I just hope this strike will not come back again because there are things that have not to be spelled out as they were”