₦airaland Forum

Nigeria: LASU Resident Doctors Embark On Strike
Lagos — THE rising fortunes of the health sector in Lagos State dipped in the last couple of days as doctors under the aegis of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital branch of the Association of Resident Doctors (LASUTH-ARD) embarked on indefinite strike to press home demands for payment of outstanding emoluments accruing from a 22 per cent basic salary increment approved for health workers in May 2001 and deduction of their Call Duty allowances from their December 2005 salaries.

Nigeria: Lagos Workers Defy Court Order, Begin Strike

Lagos — The Congress of Industrial Union in Lagos State yesterday directed employees of the Lagos State Government to embark on strike with immediate effect in spite of a Lagos High Court's injunction restraining them from embarking on any form of work stoppage to protest non payment of the N7,500.00 per month pay demanded by the workers.

This came on a day Governor Segun Osoba of Ogun State, declared that no state government in Nigeria was capable of paying the Federal Government approved new minimum wage.

A public sector strike that has closed schools, hospitals and left mounds of uncollected rubbish at street corners in Lagos state is now well into its second week, news organisations reported on Monday.

The continuation of the strike coincides with a visit to Nigeria by Horst Koehler, the newly appointed managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF has been asking for tough economic reforms to be put in place in Nigeria but this is opposed by the trade unions, the BBC reported.

Striking civil servants in Lagos and their counterparts in many other states of the Nigerian federation are demanding the same minimum wage as federal employees - 7,500 naira (US $75) as against the 5,500 naira approved for state employees. Trade union leaders have described state officials as “uncooperative,” the BBC reported on Monday.

Koehler, on a five-nation African tour, will also visit Senegal, Cameroon and Mozambique before ending his trip in South Africa.