Nigerian doctors have commenced a nationwide strike as coronavirus continues to ravage the country.
The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) of Nigeria announced that they commenced a nationwide “indefinite strike” on Monday morning, hours after COVID-19 cases in the country exceeded 16,000 with over 400 deaths.
Roland Aigbovo, the president of the ARD, confirmed this to PREMIUM TIMES over the phone. He did not give further details.
On the day Nigeria recorded its third case of coronavirus in mid-March, resident doctors in Abuja had threatened to embark on the strike action but later called it off after the Nigerian Medical Association advised them against it.
The doctors in Abuja were protesting among others, the failure of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to make complete payment of their over two months’ basic salaries.
The union attributed the salary irregularities and shortfalls to the migration to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform by the FCTA.
It is not immediately clear if the demands of doctors in Abuja are synonymous with that of others across the nation.
More details later…