By Asma’u Ahmad
Medical Doctors in the employment of Borno Government on Monday issued a 21-day ultimatum to embark on an indefinite strike over nonpayment of allowances by the government.
The Chairman of the association, Dr Bukar Abbagana, made the disclosure at a news conference in Maiduguri. Dr Abbagana said the association unanimously resolved to embark on industrial action following failure of the state government to settle backlog of unpaid allowances.
He explained that the government owed over N300 million arrears of skipping allowances to 150 doctors in the past four years.
The chairman recalled that the association had not joined the nationwide strike over the issue based on humanitarian gesture and security challenges in the state.
“Doctors out of loyalty and empathy for the people, refused to down tools with the belief that the state government will extend similar gesture to them. Four years down the line, there was no single acknowledgement for the correspondences to the government, and all avenues for dialogue were exhausted,” he said.
He stressed that the association issued a 21-day ultimatum between January 8 and February 5, to enable the state government to meet their demands.
Abbagana disclosed that the association had registered members in secondary and primary health facilities in the state.
He noted that the association was mindful of the grave consequences such industrial disharmony on the people, and called on individuals and organisations to prevail on the government to avert the strike.
