All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors have counselled striking members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to decentralise their line of negotiations by engaging defaulting State governments to resolve the ongoing nationwide faceoff.
The Governors under the auspices of Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) at its meeting in Abuja on Sunday noted that most of the grievances of the Resident Doctors are with State Governments.
In a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by chairman of the Forum and Kebbi Governor, Abubakar Bagudu, the Governors also appealed to doctors in Federal establishments to negotiate with the relevant structures of the Federal Government.
The forum also acknowledged and endorsed the intervention of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) in engaging the leadership of NARD to resolve the crisis.
The statement reads: “The meeting also reviewed the ongoing strike action by National Association of Resident Doctors and resolved as follows:
“Noting that Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) is already engaged in consultations with the leadership of the Resident Doctors and the Federal Government, Forum endorsed the initiative of the NGF and support the call by the Federal Government through the Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige for the immediate suspension of the strike to allow negotiations to continue.
“Noting that most of the grievances of the Resident Doctors are with State Governments, Forum appealed to the Resident Doctors to negotiate with individual State Governments and issues affecting Resident Doctors in Federal establishments should be negotiated with the relevant structures of the Federal Government.”
Bagudu noted the forum also reviewed the progress made by the party’s Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee in the effort to rebuild structures and commended the Mai Mala Buni-led exco for the successful conduct of the ward congresses across the country.
Accordingly, the Forum reaffirmed its support for the Caretaker Committee to proceed to conduct Local Government, State Congresses, and National Convention, in line with the mandate of the National Executive Committee.
THE NATION
