Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has urged medical doctors and other stakeholders in the health sector to demonstrate the spirit of leadership.
He said this could be achieved by coming up with solutions to the issues that led to their strike, rather than dwelling on the problems that led to it.
Dogara said this in Abuja on Tuesday at a reconciliatory meeting between the Ministry of Health, Nigeria Medical Association, National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Dogara implored them not to allow their decisions to be defined by the issues that brought them to the table, but rather, to find solutions to the issues involved.
NAN recalls that the Speaker had met with the executive members of NARD two weeks ago; where he appealed to them to shelve the strike pending the outcome of today’s meeting with members of the executive.
“I want to appeal to us to show leadership because leadership is essential in solving any problem.
“And leadership therefore means that your eyes are always on the solution and not the problems because I believe that if we are leaders in whatever situation we find ourselves, we should be able to invent a solution.
“I don’t want anybody to think this is abnormal, in every democracy there will be conflict, there will be consensus and there will be compromise.
“So, conflict in every democracy is necessary, it provides a new way of doing things, it provides an opportunity for us to chart ways by which we can move forward.
“I believe that by our calling and training as medical doctors, there is no way we can run out of ideas. It therefore means that we must find a solution”, he said.
President of NARD, Dr Mohammed Askira, expressed gratitude for the intervention of the Speaker to find solution to the issues.
Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, assured the Speaker that the ministry was committed to respecting all agreements, not settlements, entered into by the relevant parties.
The Minister of Labour Dr Chris Ngige informed the Speaker that they had come up with the causative factors of the strike as well as ways that they could be addressed.
Also present at the meeting held at the National Assembly were the Executive Chairman of Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, chief medical directors of federal medical centres and chairmen of the relevant House committees. (NAN)
