Resident doctors at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) in Zaria have initiated a five-day warning strike, demanding that management address their salary issues.
The strike commenced early Monday morning after a one-week ultimatum given to hospital management expired.
Dr. Ashiru Mikail, Vice President of the hospital’s chapter of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), announced the strike during a briefing in Zaria. Mikail warned that if their demands are not met after the warning strike, the association would reconvene to determine the next steps.
Mikail outlined the association’s demands, including the “rejection of percentage salary payments for members on the GIFMIS platform and the immediate repayment of parts of the doctors’ salaries that were previously withheld.” He noted that last month, the salaries of affected members were cut by about 25 to 27 percent, equivalent to ₦58,000 to ₦60,000. Additionally, these doctors, who received partial payments in June 2024, are also owed salary arrears from 2021.
Despite the economic challenges in the country, Mikail said that management had provided no valid reason for the deductions. He revealed that the hospital management had proposed to pay ₦2 million monthly from the overhead cost to offset the arrears of accoutrement allowance. However, this amount would only provide ₦5,000 to each doctor per month, far below the ₦100,000 owed to each member.
“More than 60 percent of Federal Health Tertiary institutions in the North West zone have commenced payments of the arrears of accoutrement allowance, but ABUTH has yet to pay. The management only proposes to pay ₦5,000 instead of the ₦25,000 due for each member,” Mikail said.
The association is also demanding the implementation of a 25 percent CONMESS upward review to the salaries of members who are on the GIFMIS platform.
