Resident doctors working at the University College Hospital in Ibadan have officially resumed work following the conclusion of a month-long nationwide strike.

The doctors had initially embarked on the strike action beginning November 1, acting on the directives issued by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors.

NARD had instructed its members across the nation to commence an indefinite strike. This directive was issued because of the government’s failure to adequately address a list of their demands and concerns.

NARD’s Demands and Agreement
The primary demands put forth by the association included a 200 per cent increase in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure. They also called for the full implementation of new allowances that were initially proposed back in July 2022.
Additionally, the doctors demanded the immediate recruitment of clinical staff.

They also sought the removal of bureaucratic bottlenecks that were reportedly causing delays in the replacement of doctors who were exiting the service, among other specific requests.

The President of the UCH NARD, Dr Gboyega Ajibola, confirmed that the NARD National Executive Council had convened a meeting on November 29 to reassess the overall situation. He noted that the government had successfully met most of their immediate and short-term demands.

According to Ajibola, a Memorandum of Understanding had been formally signed with the government. This document meticulously enumerated each of the association’s demands and the points of execution.

Ajibola stated: “Based on the satisfactory terms of the MoU, the NARD NEC decided to suspend the industrial action and give the government a period of four weeks to reappraise the efforts of the government as contained in the signed MoU.”

He further detailed the process for returning to work, explaining: “Having suspended the strike on Nov. 29, as in the tradition of NARD, each centre was mandated to hold a congress on Dec. 1 for all centre presidents to brief their members on development.”

Ajibola continued: “After the brief, the centre presidents will direct all members to resume at their duty posts.” He concluded the update by saying: “In compliance with this, a congress was held at 8.00 a.m. today (Monday), where members were updated and directed to resume work.”
Dr. Ajibola concluded by emphasizing that all members have now resumed at their duty posts on Monday.