The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has threatened to invoke the ‘no work, no pay’ on the striking National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) if they refuse to resume work.
Ngige issued the threat on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, while reacting to the indefinite stike embarked by the resident doctors over salary arrears and owed allowances.
According to him, he will not hesitate to implement a no-work, no-pay policy for striking doctors if the ongoing industrial action persists.
“By Tuesday, I will invite them back. If they become recalcitrant, there are other things I can do. There are weapons in the Labour Laws, I will invoke them. There is no work, no pay,” Ngige said.
“Their employers have a role also to keep their business afloat, to keep patients alive. They can employ local doctors. We won’t get there but if we are going to get there, we will use that stick.”
Ngige noted that he is optimistic that the matter will be resolved within a few days, as meetings have been arranged to clear the backlog of owed salaries and allowances.
KanyiDaily recalls that Chris Ngige had said that doctors who want to leave the country in search of greener pastures are free to do so as Nigeria has enough medical personnel
