The Federal Government has rejected the 21-day ultimatum handed to it by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA).
In a statement on Sunday, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment said the ultimatum is in direct collision with the Memorandum of Understanding signed on August 21.
At the weekend, the NMA had threatened to join the ongoing strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) if the government failed to resolve all the issues contained in the various agreements signed with its affiliate unions.
The association gave the ultimatum after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, in Benin on Saturday.
A statement by the spokesperson of the ministry, Charles Akpan, said the government “is religiously implementing its own side of the agreement, with effective monitoring by the office of the Minister of Labour and Employment,” adding that the NMA was yet to “move a needle” on the roles assigned to it in the agreement.
“First is that the NMA communique in Benin which issued a 21-day ultimatum is at variance with the timeline in Article II, VII, VII and X of the MOA.
“Importantly, aarticle II on payment of the outstanding hazard allowance from the 2020 Medical Residency Training Fund states that the fund will be paid after verification and reconciliation of figures from the BOF. Till now, Both NARD/ Postgraduate Medical College are yet to submit the validated application for the eligible doctors missed out in 2020 to enable this payment.
“Article VII on withdrawal of the circular from the Office of the Head of Service removing House and NYSC Doctors from the scheme of service says ‘the NMA should submit her position immediately to the FMOH PS for onward transmission to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation with a view to processing and issuance of clarification circular within two months.’ The NMA is yet to comply with this.”
The ministry said a technical committee set up in article VII to tackle the backlog of arrears on Government Integrated Financial Management Information System was given four weeks effective Monday, August 31, 2021, to round off its assignments, querying if this wasn’t a collision with the 21-day ultimatum.
“It is, therefore, clear that the 21-day ultimatum will neither assist the NMA discharge the role assigned to it in the MoU nor facilitate the faithful implementation of the timeline which the federal government has given every attention.”
It urged NMA to play its role “as the guardian of its affiliate associations instead of descending into the arena for needless fear of impeachment.”
“It has by the communique issued in Benin abdicated the main role assigned to it in the August 21 MoU,” the ministry said.