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From Isaac Job, Uyo
All Doctors in Nigeria under the aegis of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) said they are angry as president Bola Tinubu sent their colleagues to St Lucia with N3m monthly allowance while they are impoverished with only N300,000 monthly remuneration with hard labour.
President Tinubu recently sent some medical doctors to St Lucia with higher pay in addition to additional N15m which the Lucian government will pay the doctors
Addressing a press conference in Uyo , the Chairman of Akwa Ibom State Chapter of Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Aniekan Peter expressed disappointment that the Federal Government is gradually turning medical doctors into slaves as they are only known to work without commensurate renumeration.
” How can president Tinubu send Nigeria doctors to St Lucia and pay them N3m monthly while their colleagues working here in Nigeria are paltry sum of N300,000.”
Peter lamented that medical doctors are made to work for more than 72 hours non-stop and receive peanuts that can hardly feed their families three square meals.
He expressed disappointment over the recent increase in the allowances of medical doctors describing it as insensitive and an insult to the medical profession
“We all know that medical personnel anywhere in the world are given a lot of preferences and incentives to work, But unfortunately in Nigeria, doctors gradually have been turned into slaves
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“It may interest you to know that doctors work for 72 hours non-stop; they don’t go to their houses and they don’t know where their children are. They are just there in the hospital working at times more than 72 hra, and at the end of the month they go home with peanuts, money that cannot feel their families with three square meal, not to talk about buying a car or anything
” So, gradually, the Federal Government has put us into absolute poverty. Just recently, there was a circular from the Economic and Wages Commission. The purported circular say they want to increase allowances for doctors and when we look at it, the money was so paltry that it was so insensitive and an insult”
“You heard that our President, Bola Tinubu, who is very benevolent to other nations decided to send Nigerian Doctors to St. Lucia and in his benevolence he decided to pay them N3m, yet doctors at home are taking a paltry N300,000 and we are saying that enough is enough.
“This country pays one of the worse if not the worse salaries to medical personnel and this is why you see Nigerian Doctors going to Ghana, Togo, Liberia and Cameroun. Is it not a shame that doctors are resigning from Nigeria to work in countries such as Ghana and the rest?
In a communique which read during the briefing, Dr Peter said NMA in the state convened meeting to brief members on the 21-day ultimatum already issued by the National Officer Committee of the association in response to circular from the National Salaries and Wages Commission
In the communique, he said the association in Akwa Ibom rejected the circular on the review of allowances for Medical and Dental Oflicers and had made some notifications in addition to the 19- demands presented by the NOC to the Federal Government.
He listed the demands to include,
”Improvement of the living minimum wage with at least 300% pay rise for all medical and dental practitioners, universal applicability of all salary adjustments and allowances for medical and dental
practitioners in state MDAs, private sector and the universities and immediate withdrawal of the circular on review of allowances for medical dental officers in the
Federal Public Service dated 27 June 2025.
Other demands according to the NMA include “Immediate correction of consequential adjustments in line with the agreements of 2001,2009, and 2014 CBAs, immediate correction of the relativity agreement between CONMESS and CONHESS and immediate settlement of all outstanding areas of 25-35%CONMESS, clinical duty and accruement allowances owed to medical and dental practitioners”
