Resident doctors at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) in Zaria have commenced a five-day warning strike to pressure management to meet their salary demands.
Dr. Ashiru Mikail, Vice President of the hospital’s National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) branch, disclosed the information during a briefing in Zaria.
He added that the warning strike began early on Monday, after the hospital management’s one-week deadline to settle the matter had expired.
The Vice President stated that if nothing was done after the warning strike, the organisation will reconvene to assess its strategy and choose the next course of action.
Mikail said the association’s demands include “rejection of percentage salary payments for members on the GIFMIS platform which it calls for immediate repayment of parts of the doctor’s salaries earlier withheld.”
He added, “Recall that last month the salaries of the affected members was slashed by about 25 to 27 percent representing N58,000 to N60,000.
“Additionally these doctors that were paid in percentage in June 2024 are also being owed salary arrears of 2021.”
He emphasised that, notwithstanding the country’s economic challenges, management provided no compelling rationale for the deductions.
The vice president added that the hospital’s administration proposed paying N2 million to cover the monthly arrears of accoutrement allowance from overhead costs.
He indicated that the amount could only pay N5,000 to each doctor monthly rather than the N100,000 owed to each member.
“More than 60 per cent of Federal Health Tertiary institutions in the North West zone have commenced payments of the arrears of accoutrement allowance but ABUTH is yet to pay.
“The management only proposes to pay N5,000 instead of N25,000 due for each member,” Mikail said.
According to him, the association also requests a 25% CONMESS upward review of salaries for members on the GIFMIS platform.