The Nigerian Medical Association has issued January 31, 2024 ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its demands or risk industrial action in the health sector.
The President of the NMA, Uche Ojinmah, who issued the ultimatum at a press briefing after the association’s National Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Sunday, asked the government to implement the upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure.
Ojinmah stated that the association cannot guarantee industrial harmony after the ultimatum if the government fails to meet its demands.
He also urged the federal government to implement the newly approved accruement allowance with arrears from June 2022.
According to him, the association does not have a direction about when all the allowances would be implemented despite its approval on June 1, 2023.
But Ojinmah said while the association was grateful that the government had taken a step regarding one of its agreements, it awaited the full implementation of the agreements they had.
“For now, while we are grateful, they have started doing the right thing, we look forward to their doing it completely, agreement should be agreement as we had with the last administration. It was meant to take effect from January 2023.
“The agreement is that every increment is for salary and allowances but what we have seen is salary. So, we are waiting for allowances, by next week, we will put out our position,” Ojinmah told our correspondent.