STRIKE!!! Nigeria Nurses Begin Nationwide Strike On Monday

The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and
Midwives (NANNM) declared on Wednesday that all
nurses and midwives at the local government, state
and federal levels will commence "an indefinite and
total strike" on Mondày, next week if the Federal
Government failed to fully implement the judgment of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) which was
given 34 years ago, and the subsequent judgments
recently delivered by the National Industrial Court
(NIC) and the Court of Appeal.

However, considering the activities and killings by the
Boko Haram sect in Borno State, the union exempted
nurses and midwives in the state from the industrial
action to avoid aggravating an bad security and social
welfare situation in the state.

Addressing a press conference at its national
headquarters in Abuja, the president of the union,
Abdulrafiu Adeniji, frowned at the continuous refusal
of the Federal Ministry of Health to comply with the
IAP awards and the NIC judgment, saying that the
nurses had been patient for 34 years.

According to the president, the decision to embark on
the strike follows a seven-day ultimatum given to the
Federal Government to comply with the final
judgment of NIC after an appeal filed by the Ministry
of Health was dismissed on Tuesday, January 2014 in
the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

"The continuous refusal of the Federal Ministry of
Health to comply in full with the implementation of
IAP Awards and subsequent NIC judgments for the
past 34 years can no longer be tolerated by the
professional association of Nigeria nurses and
midwives," he declared.

Adeniji added: "Since nurses have maintained
patience for 34 years from May 1981 when the
Industrial Arbitration Panel award was given, coupled
with the fact that subsequent NIC judgments and
even the appeal filed by the Federal Ministry of
Health were all in favour of NANNM, a seven-day ultimatum with effect from Friday, 14 February, 2014
has been given to the Federal Ministry of Health to
implement the judgments in full, failure of which the
entire nurses and midwives in the three tiers of
government will commence an indefinite and total
strike by 12 midnight of Sunday, 23 February 2014."

He explained that on 7 May, 1981, the tribunal of
the IAP gave awards to the NANNM which bordered
on the professionalism of nursing, autonomy of the
nursing profession, the scheme of service for nurses
and many other issues.



Source: Tribune