We’re Ready For Dialogue —Lagos Doctors

As workers marked the
Workers’ Day yesterday, the
striking doctors in Lagos
State public hospitals say they
are ready to dialogue with
the state government in
other to reach a truce in the
matter.
This is coming as the Nigeria
Labour Congress, NLC, and
Trade Union Congress, TUC,
during the workers’ day
celebration urged the striking
doctors to embrace dialogue
with the state government in
order to save lives of dying
patients.
Chairman, Medical Guild, Dr
Olumuyiwa Odusote told PM
NEWS that the doctors had
been making attempt to
dialogue with the state
government, saying that they
have even gone through the
back door to ensure they fix
appointment with government
for dialogue.
“The government has refused
to dialogue with us. They insist
we must answer the queries
issued to us first. We have
initiated dialogue but
government has refused. We
are still waiting for the
government to dialogue with
us,” he said.
According to him, the doctors
had even made attempt to
meet with Governor Fashola
on the matter so that he
could hear their own side of
the story, but noted that
Fashola rebuffed them as he
refused any form of dialogue.
Odusote stated that he heard
what Governor Babatunde
Fashola said in his May Day
speech, that he would not be
compelled to pay a wage bill
he did not bargain for, saying
that Fashola signed to pay
the new Consolidated Medical
Salary Scale Structure,
CONMESS wage.
“We are not asking for
anything else, we are asking
him to pay the one he has
already approved for us; we
are asking him to implement
what he has approved,” he
added.
The governor, in his May Day
speech had said that “I will like
to assert that our
government will not be
stampeded into paying any
wage we are not part of
negotiating and which the
fund to pay them is not
provided for and given to us.
“I recognise that item 34 of
the Exclusive Legislative List
gives the Federal Government
the power to make legislation
for a minimum wage. That is
where the power ends. We
have complied with the
minimum wage since January
2011 long before it was signed
into law. We should be left to
decide what more we can
afford to pay over the
minimum to any cadre of
worker.”
Speaking also at the May Day
rally,Chairman, NLC, Lagos
State Council, Comrade Idowu
Adelakun said, “the lingering
industrial crisis between the
state government and
doctors in the public hospitals
is unhealthy for the good
people of Lagos and also
thwarting the good health
policy of the Fashola
administration.”
He recalled that the doctors
had earlier embarked on
several months of strike over
the non-implementation of
CONMESS, while urging the
government to halt the use of
threat in solving the problem.
“It is important for
government to employ every
peaceful mechanism to resolve
the issues for the sake of
Lagosians as we are beginning
to witness quite a number of
deaths in public hospitals,” he
said, while appealing to the
doctors to sheathe their
swords and allow for amicable
resolution of the crisis
Also, TUC Chairman, Akeem
Kazeem urged the doctors to
embrace dialogue with Fashola
as a matter of urgency.
Meanwhile, at the May Day
rally, Fashola said the issue of
power supply remains the
quickest way to galvanise the
nation’s economy, saying that
“while I identify with the
underlying philosophy of the
power reform plan, I think we
must pursue its
implementation more
aggressively.
“It was supposed to have
been completed last year
when the privatisation of the
power generation and
distribution companies will
have been finalised, but we
are now five months into a
new year without a definitive
date for conclusion.
“I must also emphasise that
the recent euphoria
generated in the public
discourse about the Federal
Government’s statement that
states can now distribute
power, will soon evaporate
unless immediate and positive
action is taken to give
expression to that intent for
the following reasons: The
first reason is that no state
in Nigeria to the best of my
knowledge has the
institutional human resource
or the financial capacity to
set up and operate
distribution companies.
“The second reason is that
power distribution is an area
where the private sector has
demonstrated undoubted
capacity and experience both
locally and internationally; the
third reason is that the
success of any power
distribution company will
depend on the ability of
states to partner with the
private sector.
“The fourth reason is that
the intention of Federal
Government for states to
distribute power is at best no
more than a restatement of
provisions of Article 14 (b) of
the Concurrent Legislative List
in the 1999 Constitution as
amended which provides that:
“A House of Assembly may
make laws for the state with
respect to the generation,
transmission and distribution
of electricity to areas not
covered by a national grid
system within that state,” he
added.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga

Source: Pmnewsnigeria.com