President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday that the incumbent administration had a good history of paying owed salaries to government workers.
Buhari said this while addressing members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Abuja.
The president urged striking health workers to return to work, as the government would ensure that their salaries are paid.
He said, “Protecting our citizens is not to be left to government alone, but taken as a collective responsibility, in which especially medical professionals play a critical role.
“Let me speak directly to the striking doctors. Embarking on industrial action at this time when Nigerians need you most is not the best action to take, no matter the grievances.
“This Administration has a good track record of paying all debts owed to government workers, pensioners and contractors and we have even revisited debts left by past administrations, once due verification is done. Debts genuinely owed Health workers will be settled.
“I learnt that some of the 12 points demand in the ongoing strike were already addressed. Though the Review of a new Hazard Allowance has not been fully negotiated because of the sharp and deep division within the ranks of the striking doctors.
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“I request that the agreement reached in the meetings of 20th and 21st August captured in the MOU which I have seen be religiously implemented.”
He appealed to members of the NMA to take into consideration their responsibility to Nigerians towards “sociopolitical health and national stability”.
Buhari said, “The global economy has been seriously affected by the pandemic, and despite recent pleasing news of more than five per cent economic growth of Nigeria in the last quarter, we are still having fiscal challenges to deal with, like most other countries.
“The source of revenue that Nigeria has depended on for so long experienced global decline, our population is rising fast and the tension arising from both, is fuelling agitation among our youth.
“Organizations like the NMA could play a very useful moderating role in society.”
