Buhari Directs Fin. Minister to Release Seized Salaries of Doctors, Nurses, Other Health Workers

*Inform your members how much has been paid, FG tells ASUU
*Nigeria, UAE, Qatar to agree on labour migration

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, to release the salaries of doctors, nurses and other health workers, which were seized when they embarked on industrial action in 2018 and 2021.

The federal government also challenged the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to tell their members how much of their outstanding allowances and salaries government had been paid. Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, stated this on Thursday in Abuja while addressing newsmen after a closed-door meeting with Buhari at the State House.

Ngige disclosed that the president had approved the authority letter to release the salaries of the resident doctors for September and October 2021. According to him, the approval also covers the wages of nurses and other members of the Joint Health Services Union (JOHESU) who went on strike in 2018.
He said the approval for the release of the salaries was on compassionate grounds and to encourage them, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging.

The minister revealed that the president had also directed relevant agencies to conclude the discussions on the other allowances for the health workers.
He stated, “The president graciously approved that we pay back some funds, some wages, which we did not pay health workers.

“First, section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act says that when a worker goes on strike, especially those on essential services, the employer can also refuse to pay. That is what they call the ‘No Work, No Pay Rule’. But these health sector workers; doctors, pharmacists, nurses and members of JOHESU, we’re trying to make sure that we create an equitable environment for them to function.

“As a first step, Mr. President has approved last week and I have the authority and letter, directing the Minister of Finance to release the funds of the resident doctors for September and October 2021, which were seized in conformity with the law.

“In the same vein, the approval also covers members of the JOHESU who went on strike in 2018 for three months. After the first month, after March, when they couldn’t come back, we asked that their pay be suspended. This is in tandem with the ILO principles at work.

“You have a right to strike, but the employer has a right to stop your remuneration and, if possible, use it to keep his enterprise going by taking new hands, where possible, especially in essential services.

“So, that same money for 2018 April and May, Mr. President has again approved that the finance minister refunds or reimburse, on compassionate grounds, those payments.

“This is predicated on the grounds that this group of workers has been showing a lot of dedication and concern to the COVID and that their Hazard Allowance for 2021 had remained what it was before.

“On compassionate grounds we agreed that they should be getting this money to keep their morale high. We’re not yet free of COVID-19 and the new mutants; we need to do everything to keep the health workers here happy.

“In the same vein, he has also directed us to conclude the discussions on the other allowance for the health workers so that they can enjoy it anytime from now.

“Tomorrow (Friday), we’re convening a meeting of the Presidential Committee on Salaries and Wages, where we’ll ratify the new pay hazard structure for health workers.”

On the threat by ASUU to go on strike over non-implementation of the 2020 agreement reached with the government, the minister said the union should educate its members on the large sum of money the federal government has already paid to them. He said they might be threatening to go on strike not knowing that money had already been paid while the 2009 Memorandum of Action (MoA), which is the other dispute that the union has, is still at the level of Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

He said, “On the side of ASUU, you will also notice that there’s been some brewing crisis. ASUU and their direct employer, which is the Ministry of Education, there’s a tango and the tango is running round the MoA, the Memorandum of Action signed in 2020.

“Refreshing your minds, they were on strike last year and they were at home for nearly nine months and last December, the president magnanimously gave them a blanket clemency and we paid them their money for the nine months, spanning into January, February of this year.

“We gave them back nearly nine months’ pay. After doing that, we also gave them a revitalisation fund for N40 billion, early this year, for the revitalisation of the university system. In the MoA we agreed that they should get another revitalisation this year and by last July, August. The money for revitalisation was paid to them, for the universities that were entitled to that. N30 billion was paid.

“Last week, N22.127 billion was also released to the university system for the unions, workers university system to benefit in consonance with the MoA we signed in December 2020.

“The altercation going on now and for which ASUU is asking their union branches to vote on is that a lot of them don’t know that we have paid this quantum of money.

“Maybe it has not gotten into the accounts of the people, the persons involved, but I expected ASUU to inform their people, let them know that this is what has happened.

“They also have a grouse with the negotiation of 2009. The 2009 agreement was being renegotiated before Babalakin left and a new committee was set in place.

“That committee had advisors from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Minister of Budget, and then Head of Service of the Federation, and Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, because part of the renegotiation was the renegotiation of the conditions of service.”

“So, it’s not that the government is reneging. It’s important we tell the public that this is the situation.”

Commenting on the University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS) designed by ASUU, Ngige said the proposed salary payment platform had not been perfected to obtain the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) compliance certificate.

He said, “NITDA has written just last week to give their results on the tests they have done, that those two broad categories of tests, (user acceptance test, which involves NUC and the universities vice chancellors, bursars, and registrars), that has been done. The second group of tests is what they call integrity test; they have to look at the integrity and usability of that system, where are the loopholes?

“The third one is the vulnerability test. Many systems are hacked into. What potential is there as presently developed, and how they can offer their advice for the protection?

“So, these are the issues there and they have written officially and I’ve copied ASUU with the result of the test, that for now, the system in this present state, cannot be given NITDA compliance certificate, but they went on to enumerate things that can be done to make it a system that will be robust.

“So, they have conducted a lot, like I said about 500 tests. The solution system of UTAS pass many tests, but there are other areas that need to be recovered. About 1/3 of the tests that need to be covered because they were not satisfactory.”

Ngige said he also briefed Buhari on bilateral agreements between Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar on employment. He said Nigeria wanted to formalise the labour migration policy so that Nigerians in the Middle East counties could be guaranteed descent work.

According to him, “So, we have some emerging issues that are both of national and international importance. Internationally, we have some bilateral agreements on employment with the Republic of Qatar and with the UAE. That of Qatar is ready for us to sign the bilateral agreements. So, I’ve come to brief Mr. President on that.

“We want to use it to formalise labour migration policy, so that Nigerians who are there, about 7,000 of them, in different spheres of work, will be assured of decent work.

“We have the agreement that will specify what kind of work they do, protection for them, and protection for even their employers over there. So, that is online, I had to brief Mr. President because the agreement is nearing maturation and ratification.”