PET LOVER CONNECT

National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, NANNM, yesterday said nurses in public health facilities would suspend services indefinitely from Monday, except government meets its demands.

The strike, according to the National President of the association, Abdrafiu Adeniji, who addressed reporters in Abuja, follows alleged Federal Government’s failure to implement Industrial Arbitration Panel, IAP’s judgements given in its favour 34 years ago.

NANNM’s decision follows series of similar strikes that had been embarked upon by other health professionals in the country in the past one year. Such strikes have stifled health care delivery while they persisted.

The group said at the briefing that seven days had been given to the Federal Ministry of Health to comply with the “final judgment of the National Industrial Court,” on the earlier IAP’s verdict “after an appeal filed on April 25, 2012 by the ministry was dismissed on Tuesday, January 2014, in the Court of Appeal, Abuja.”

Adeniji said continuous refusal of the Federal Ministry of Health to comply fully with the implementation of IAP awards and subsequent NIC judgements for the past 34 years could no longer be tolerated by his members.

“On the May 7, 1981, the tribunal of the Industrial Arbitration Panel gave awards to the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives among which bothered on the professionalism of nursing, autonomy of the nursing profession, the scheme of service for nurses etc.

“The Federal Ministry of Health and Office of the Head of Civil Service of the federation refused to implement the awards in full since 1981, despite the association’s repeated appeals and reminders.

“In October, 2010, the association approached the National Industrial Court and filed a suit against the Federal Ministry of Health for the partial implementation of the same awards of 1981.

“The judgment that was delivered on 27th January, 2012 was again in favour of our association, NANNM. Rather than the Federal Ministry of Health complying with the NIC judgment, it filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal in April, 2012. It will interest the Nigerian public to know that the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 21st January, 2014 for want of prosecution,” Adeniji added.

NANNM said there were no clear-cut functions for its members which it maintained constituted about 75 percent of the nation’s health workforce. Besides, it said less than three percent of the IAP’s judgment had been implemented; stressing that the colonial practice of referring to the highest placed nurse as Matron was still the norm in most places in the country.

“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 days ultimatum with effect from Friday 14th 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 23rd February, 2014,” the association declared.

NANNM will however exempt its members in Borno State given exigency of services dictated by insecurity challenges in the state.

The association also commiserated with the people and government of the state “as a result of continuous bombardment of innocent lives by the menace and callous act of Boko Haram.”