Nigerian Resident Doctors Have Called Off Their Strike, Reveal Resumption Date

The federal government had dragged the association of doctors before an industrial court.

Resident doctors under the aegis of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) have suspended their nationwide strike action.

The strike commenced on August 2.

Resident doctors are fresh medical school graduates and doctors in training. They dominate the wards of Nigeria’s teaching and specialist hospitals and constitute some 50 percent of the medical workforce in Nigeria.

NARD had embarked on the strike to press home demands bordering on irregular pay and poor working conditions.

NARD President Godiya Ishaya tells TheCable that the association has officially called off the strike.

The decision to call off the strike was reached during an emergency meeting with the association’s national executive council, Ishaya adds.

“We’ve officially suspended the strike and will resume 8:00 am on Wednesday. We made the decision in the wee hours of today.

“We held an emergency meeting from 5:30pm on Sunday to the morning hours of today, and the NEC decided that having reviewed the progress made so far, the strike should be suspended,” he said.

The federal government had threatened to not pay the doctors if they continued with their strike.