NEWS
Kogi Doctors Protest Manpower Shortage at Federal Teaching Hospital
The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja (FTHL),on Friday, protested the alleged shortage of manpower and work overload at the hospital.
The ARD members, who marched round the hospital premises, decried the shortage of manpower and overwork load on their members.
The doctors displayed placards with various inscriptions such as “We want to work, not to work and die,” “Don’t kill us, stop using no work no pay to threaten us,” and “Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja doctors are dying of help, among others.
The Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) Kogi Chapter, Dr Olushola Baoku, who joined the protest, said the doctors were completely overworked without commensurate wages.
“The doctors are angry and sad and of course in extension, NMA is sad because of the event that is actually taking place in Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja.
“We have communicated to the management three times in the last three months concerning the burning issues.
“We have hoped that the management of hospital would have found a middle ground in resolving all these issues.
“People can not be on duty for 48 hours and there will be no food to eat. What if they collapse? Somebody resuscitating another can collapse.
“I can’t imagine that with all the things Mr President has put in place about workers, there are some doctors who are not getting the 35,000 wage award,” he said..
He expressed concern over how doctors were being casualised on a platform called GIFMIS with so many problems going on in the hospital.
He said: “We are also aware that FTHL which has about 500 beds that runs on over 200 doctors before, now runs 64 doctors as resident doctors.
“Before these doctors will go and die one after the other or shut down the system, the federal government should quickly intervene and bring this problem to a reasonable end”.
Baoku urged the management of FTHL to urgently address the issues of manpower shortage as well as improvement in the working conditions of the resident doctors.
In a swift reaction, management of FTHL has denied ARD’s lpallegations.
Dr Ebune Ojochide, the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) of FTHL, said the issue of manpower shortage in health sector remained a major challenge across the entire country as a result of the “Japa syndrome”.
Ojochide said the doctors needed to understand that there was administrative due process in the recruitment and replacement of workers into the federal institutions.
According to him, the Federal Government had put on hold the recruitment of workers in Nigeria including the health sector.
He said FTHL could not recruit without the approval from the relevant authority.
“An health institution like ours, cannot recruit without the approval of the federal government with the necessary cash backing to recruit.
“The management of the hospital has no power to recruit without the legal backing. If you recruit, it will be illegal, null and void.
“The recruitment of shortage of power affects the whole health institution in the country.
“Until we have the mandate and approval of the federal government to recruit medical staff, we cannot do it because there will be no cash backing,” he said.
He explained that the management of the FTHL in the interim, had a temporary arrangement of bringing in local medical officers to fill some of the manpower gaps.
“We cannot afford to let the services collapse because doctors are leaving the country due to Japa syndrome.
“The salaries of the local staff and entitlement are being paid as and when due.
“Except that it is not a permanent employment until the federal government gives the approval to convert them as a permanent staff.
“So, this is the interim measure that has been taken by the hospital management to bridge the manpower shortage gaps.
“There are two platforms upon which staff are recruited in the Federal Government personnel management which are IPPIS and Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
“The IPPIS is a platform for regular staff that were employed on permanent basis and are pensionable while the GIFMIS is a platform for those temporary or non regular staff,” he said.
He stressed that the local staff on GIFIMS platform would also have the opportunity to be converted to permanent staff whenever the federal government gave the approval for recruitment.
“So, it is not casualisation of staff as alleged by the ARD, but just an interim measure to fill the manpower shortage gaps which is the only option we have to keep the services going,” he said.
On the issue of call meal, Ojochide said the provision of call meal was an incentive by the management of FTHL to encourage staff who on call, saying, “it is the prerogative of the hospital management and not the right of staff”.
He noted that the call meal was suspended by the hospital because of the sudden change of vendors by the ARD without following due process.
He insisted that the management was responsible for the payment for call meal and the ARD should have communicated to the management before disengaging the vendor which was not their prerogative.
“So, the hospital management did not stop their call meal, but the ARD disengaged the vendor without the approval of the hospital management”.
Ojochide, therefore reaffirmed the commitment of the hospital management to continue to deliver quality healthcare services to the people of the state and Nigeria at large.
Reports says that the ARD had embarked on the protest since on Thursday and vowed to continue the protest on daily basis until their demands were met.
There were presence of heavy security personnel at the hospital premises which the management said was to ensure the safety of lives and property, and to prevent the break down of law and order. (NAN)
Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.
George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.
The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.
According to the elder statesman,Nigerians are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.
He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.
The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are special months , said that such gesture could start from the middle of December and run through January.
“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.
“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.
“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.
“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.
“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.
“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.
“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.
Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .
He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness in order to create a better future for Nigerians
Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.
According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates to emerge.
Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.
“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is heard in elections.
“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.
Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.
“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.
George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
George disagreed with political watchers saying no vacancy in presidency in 2027.
On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.
He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.
“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves up. ” he said.
Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.
Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)
President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.
Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos
Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.
“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.
Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.
Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.
Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)
Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.
7 billion is for capital expenditure.The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.
5 per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.
Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.
4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.
“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.
“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.
“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.
The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.
He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.
“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.
“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.
Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.
He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)
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