The FCT Chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Thursday, protested against the non-implementation of N70, 000 minimum wage in the six area council of the FCT and other arrears and allowances.
The protesters, including FCT Chapter of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), also alleged shutdown of over 270 the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) in the six area council of the FCT.
Speaking during the protest, Chairman NANNM-FCT, Mr Jama Medan, said Nigeria ranks second in maternal and child deaths, saying the continuous closure of the PHC for over a month could worsen the case.
He said: “We have less than 130 nurses and midwives in these primary healthcare centers. Women and children are dying because the health facilities have been closed down for over a month.
“People are dying because there is a gross shortage of manpower, they cannot access the primary health care centres
“We are here because the law has been passed in the country that the minimum wage for every worker, both in health sector and other sector should be taken to N70,000, everywhere, people have implemented this even paid areas.
“The area council chairmen in the FCT decided not to pay the workers their entitlement, despite that the minister has intervened by releasing over N4.1 billion, they refused and diverted the money.
“Those are the reasons why we are staging this protest. We are here also because nurses, health workers put their life to work during the COVID, they put their life at risk. Yet their hazard allowances have not been paid.”
He said nurses are particularly entitled to uniform allowances, but the allowance was yet to be paid, adding that the area council chairmen have decided not to listen to anybody on this.
Medan said that part of the demand of the protesters are that government should recruit more health workers at the area council so that the PHC can be open especially those ones that has no staff.
He also called for the payment of nurses hazard allowance, uniform and peculiar allowance, adding that if that were done, the protest will be stoped.
Medan disclosed that a nationwide polio vaccination programme was suppose to kickoff today in the FCT, but with the closure of the health centres, this will not be possible.
He said that with this situation, FCT may record polio cases, adding that this could be dangerous to the country if measures are not taken.
Also speaking, the Chairman of FCT NUT, Abdullahi Shafa, decried the non payment of minimum wage to teachers at the primary level in the area councils, calling on the FCT Minister, Nyesome Wike, for urgent to intervention.
He urged Wike to call the six area council chairmen to order; in order to avoid total shutdown of the primary education system in the FCT.
He said teachers have been on strike for more than a month, adding that they will remain on strike if nothing was done on the matter.
Responding on behalf of the Minister, the Mandate Secretary, Education Secretariat of the FCT, Dr Hayyo Danlami, pledged to deliver the demands of protesters letter to the Minister, assuring the protesters he Minister will surely act on their demands.