Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has thrown his weight behind the demands made by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which could trigger an industrial action if there is no positive response from the federal government, news.ng reports.
In a post on X on Sunday evening, monitored by the news platform, Atiku blamed the federal government for being nonchalant about the welfare of medical practitioners on its payroll and criticised it for failing to keep its side of the agreement.
According to findings, NARD claimed that the federal government is planning to suspend the implementation of the revised Professional Allowance Table, a major clause of the agreements reached after its 2025 industrial action.
Meanwhile, the former Vice President berated the government for allowing the dispute to escalate to a level where the doctors have no option but to embark on industrial action.
According to him, the doctors deserve more than what they are asking for, considering the level of sacrifice they make and the risks they take with their lives.
“The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors should not have to beg for what has already been agreed upon. The Federal Government signed a deal on the Professional Allowance Table, and now it wants to abandon it. This is not governance; it is betrayal.
“Our resident doctors are the last line of defence in hospitals that are already collapsing. They work gruelling hours, in impossible conditions, for pay that insults their sacrifice. And now, the government seeks to take away the little that was promised?” he queried.
He called on the federal government to wade in and address unresolved issues such as unpaid allowances and withheld training funds.
“The Tinubu administration must demonstrate commitment to the issues: 19 months of unpaid Professional Allowance arrears; promotion arrears gathering dust; a Medical Residency Training Fund stuck in bureaucratic limbo; and a government that treats its doctors as an afterthought and remains unconcerned as they flee the country in droves,” he said.
Atiku attributed the high rate of doctors leaving the country for developed nations to leadership failure, stating that the government should be blamed for not sticking to its own word, while declaring his support.
“Every doctor Nigeria loses to the UK, Canada, or Saudi Arabia is a failure of leadership, not a failure of patriotism. You cannot ask people to serve a nation that refuses to honour its own word.
“I stand with NARD. Pay what you owe. Honour what you signed. Or explain to 200 million Nigerians why their hospitals will go dark on Tuesday,” Atiku warned.
