His Excellency,
Sen. Anyim pius Anyim
Secretary to the government of
the federation,
Aguda House, Abuja
Your Excellency,
Inclusive Labour Relations - Essential for Public
Health care Delivery
We bring you good tidings and continue to wish
your excellency the very best as you tackle
various challenges in the task of nation building.
Recent developments, with regards to the health
sector, compel us to reach out to you again, as
they pose a danger to the necessary stability for
quality public health care delivery.

The Joint health sector unions have continued to
observe and appraise governments negotiations
with the striking doctors under the aegis of the
NMA. Ordinaritly, in line with existing labour
laws, the NMA, a professional association of
doctors is certainly not a legitimate platform to
negotiate conditions of service of its members.
We have on numerous occasions drawn the
attention of the federal government to this reality
in addition to a court judgement on same by the
national industrial court of nigeria, enugu,
unfortunatley though, Governments continued
negotiations with NMA has confirmed that the
government has found it convenient to sacrifce
the interest of other health professionals and the
rule of law yet again to favour the NMA.
While the government gives the impression on one
hand to JOHESU that some of our demands have
been referred to the yayale ahmed presidential
committee for mediation, government has actually
gone ahead to accede to all the 24 comandments
of the NMA, including issuing new circulars in
june and july to ourtrightly jeopardize the MOU of
june 5, 2014 as authenticated by our team and
that of government.
Specifically, we put on record that government
has outrightly compromised the welfare of our
members and the promotion of harmonoius
industrial relations and peace in the health sector
in the reflected areas:
1) That appointments into the position of deputy
chairman - Medical advisory committe (DCMAC)
will continue. This is despite the fact that the
enabling act setting up teaching hospitals in
Nigeia has no provision for this position, making
such appointment outrightly illegal.
2) Government has agreed with NMA that health
workers will no longer be allowed to get to the
apex of their careers in the public service as
provided for in their schemes of service to satisfy
the ego trip of nigeria doctors.
3) An approval of the skipping of CONMESS 3 by
doctors amounts to a violation in the relativity of
the CONHESS and CONMESS Scales. This
relativity should remain sacrosant in the spirit of
the 2009 collective bargaining agreement
4) Tragically, and in what is certainly a climax of
the absurd, government has again traded away
the rights of all health workers, other than
doctors, to be designated consultants in their
areas of competence through a new circular that
now provides unholy clauses that read inter alia
"the designation of consultants should only be
used for personnel with qualifications registrable
with the medical and dental council of nigeria"
MH/PM 138/Vol.111/83 18th july 2014. It is
ridiculous that consultancy status approved for
health care providers will be at the whims and
caprices of MDCN, an agency that regulates only
doctors.
5) Government continues to dilly dally on the
payment of arrears of our members, following
approval of adjustments on the CONHESS Scale
as approved since jan 2014, while it has now
come with specific action plan for payment of
doctors
6) The distasteful withdrawal of the CBN circular
on the importation of invitro diagnostic, on the
prompting of NMA, gives the impression that
government will never stop treating the welfare of
other healthworkers with disdain as NMA and its
members continue to enjoy a free reign in
dictating the latitudes and dimensions the interest
of its members can be regulated in the health
sector.
7) Government policy now compels a formal
training at the expense of the federal government,
exclusively for resident
doctors in a multidisciplinary sector, where a
plethora of care providers are burdened with
training and manpower development at their own
costs.
Attempts by government to formally restrict
appointments of CMD/CMACs to only doctors
while deceiving the joing healht sector unions that
the matter had been refered to the yayale ahmed
presidential panel for mediation
Your Excellency, the joint health sector unions
has treated you and your esteem office with
profound respect, but what we have received in
return is obvious contempt, ridicle and delibrate
design to perpetually treat or regard members of
joint health sector unions as a second class
rated professional and citizen in the health sector
simply because we have remained law abiding.
Today our members who constitute over 95
percent of the workforce in the health sector
deride us, as their representatives who only sign
worthless MOUs while NMA which has no respect
for the rule of law, is the sacred cow handled
with kid gloves. Your excellency, it is an irony
that this administrations celebrated rule of law
mantra, does not hold sway in our sector.
The Joint Health sector union continues to be
civil and .....
it is thus strange that while the federal
government of nigeria disregards the legal and
legitimate collective agreements reached with
bona fide unions under the joint health sector
unions platform, it upholds the dictates of a
singular professional association, up to and
including jettisoning positions secured through
bargaing and event the courts of the land, by
JOHESU
It is not too late for the right steps to be taken to
ensure justice, peace and stability in the health
sector. And we urge you to use your kind office to
effect this without delay
Thus, your Excellency, if government does not
immediately redress the palpable injustice we
have drawn your attention to by issuing
approrpriate circulars in the next two weeks, then
government leaves us with no choice than to
review our suspended strike of January 2014,
after the expiration of our ultimatum
Thank you your excellency
your faithfully
Comrade (Dr.) Ayuba Wabba (chairman, jOINT
HEALTH SECTOR UNIONS)
Comrade Yusuf badmus W.G (Secretary JOINT
HEALTH SECTOR UNIONS)

can't predict how this drama will end. .its unlike the regular naija films.

Could it b dat the govt approved all 24 commandment to make dem go bak to work while the Yayale Ahmed commitee dialogue continue? If yes, GOOD but, if No, then BAD !

Your head dey there jaree

Samgreguc: Could it b dat the govt approved all 24 commandment to make dem go bak to work while the Yayale Ahmed commitee dialogue continue? If yes, GOOD but, if No, then BAD !

Is anyone still in doubt about the situation of nigeria?

Nigeria scatter scatter!

tpia1: Is anyone still in doubt about the situation of nigeria?

What do you xpect? the Man from the budget office said it at the senate meeting with NMA,that granting NMA request means calling for JOHESSU strike

They said they re being treated as 2nd class citizens in d health sector, ds JOHESU just keep amusing me, do they think they belong to first class?
JOHESU members constitute 95% of workers in d sector. This point is in keeping wt d fact dt they re 2nd class health professionals coz in any sane community, only a small percentage occupy d apex position.
The demands of JOHESU doesn't seem to benefit all its members equally some don't even benefit at all viz the orderlies, portals etc but re only being used as shield, so let each individual association or union tender its demand separately, but nay they won't coz unlike d solitary NMA, all other individual associations re dispensable.
When going on ur strike, just don't lock d hospital equipments up nd run away wt d keys as u always do...

Blooody ra.ts