After hours of an extensive meeting with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, nurses in Lagos agreed on Sunday evening to suspend the planned three-day warning strike as soon as the government issues a circular containing the agreements on Monday and the discuss themselves in a meeting. emergency congress of the nurses union.
Reliable sources at the meeting, who do not want to be named, said that the governor has approved “in principle, almost all the demands of the nurses, especially the retention allowance and the recruitment of more people to fill the void created by the exodus of our colleagues abroad and on the basis of retirement ”.
Sources confirmed that an emergency congress of the state chapter of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives of Nigeria (NANNM) has been tentatively set for 12 noon at the union secretariat on Monday. The novelty, according to the sources, however, implies that the strike would continue until the congress finalizes its deliberations on the content of the circular that the union is waiting for. of the government on Monday.
But joining Monday’s meeting along with the governor was the same group of government officials whose membership had previously been rejected by workers for what they described as their continued failure to address their concerns.
The officials included the health commissioner and his counterpart in the establishments ministry, Akin Abayomi and Ajibola Ponnle respectively; the permanent secretary of the ministry of health and his counterpart in the commission of health services, Olusegun Ogboye and Benjamin Eniayewu, respectively; Chief Medical Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Adetokunbo Fabanwo, among others
Government confirms
This was corroborated by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Gboyega Akosile, who spoke to our reporter by phone shortly after the Sunday night meeting.
According to Mr. Akosile, most of the nurse requests that could be approved immediately were granted by the governor, “and those that require further deliberation have also been approved for further discussion.” In a short message shared with our reporter, Mr. Akosile wrote that “Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu held a closed-door meeting with members of the Nigerian Association of Nurses and Midwives, Lagos State Council at the State House, Marina on Sunday night. The meeting was called by the Governor to address complaints from the nursing workforce in the State.
“At the end of the two-hour meeting, both the Government and the union agreed on a series of issues that had been causing discontent between the two parties. Governor Sanwo-Olu promised the sincerity of the Government in the implementation of everything agreed, to the delight of the representatives of the nurses.
“For his part, the president of the association’s Lagos State Council, Comrade Olurotimi Awojide, thanked the governor for agreeing to most of his requests, describing the governor as a true leader and father who cares about his children. Awojide promised to convene an emergency conference of the association on Monday, where the union will announce its decision to cancel the planned industrial action. “
Union is silent
But the association’s leadership has banned its members from involving the public on the issue, saying no interviews should be granted until the issues are logically resolved. As 24 hours before, the team of nurses was led by its president and secretary, Olurotimi Awojide and Toba Odumosu, respectively.
But a reliable source confirmed that trade unionists have said that they could only trust the government when they receive a circular with the contents agreed upon at the assembly.
“We have told our members to maintain the status quo ante agreed to in congress on Friday until another congress decides otherwise. So we cannot say that the strike has been canceled or suspended for now until we see the governor’s promises in black and white, “said one of the sources.
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The source accused the government of marginalizing nurses, saying that as the most populous workforce within the healthcare sector and a solid pillar on which the sector rests, the government treats them poorly at all levels.
Background
PREMIUM TIMES had reported Sunday how angry nurses abandoned government representatives at a meeting scheduled for Saturday. The development forced Mr. Sanwo-Olu to abort his planned trip out of Lagos on Sunday when he promised to physically meet with health workers as demanded by them.
The nurses, under the umbrella of the Nigerian National Association of Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), had on Friday at a congress held at their secretariat in the Agidingbi area of Ikeja, declared the three-day warning strike to begin on Monday January 10. and ends on Wednesday, January 12.
Their demands include the resolution of what they called an “acute shortage of nurses and midwives, retention incentives to halt the turnover rate, adequate consolidation of the CONHESS salary structure, and better working conditions.”
But the meeting scheduled for Saturday with the governor could not take place when union representatives insisted that they were ready to meet with the governor in person and said they had held several meetings with the same officials, including the head of service in the state, Hakeem Muri-Okunola. , without a logical conclusion and that they were not sure if their issues were being raised with the governor.
They said it would only be appropriate to raise the matter directly with the governor, insisting that only a compromise made by the governor would be brought to its members for deliberation.
Damage stats
According to the association, the exodus of its members abroad in search of greener pastures is putting incalculable pressure on those left in the system, saying that the high turnover of the workforce in the state is becoming unbearable for existing members. .
Breaking down the statistics, the union wrote in a statement that “the increase in foreign labor migration of nurses is no longer news. Understandably, this has led to severe staff shortages in health facilities. According to our records, more than 496 nurses left the Lagos State Health Services Commission service between 2019 and 2021 alone and less than 15 percent due to legal retirement. For context, the commission has only about 2,350 nurses. More than 200 nurses left the service of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital in the same period. More than 80 left the primary health care board in the past two years, which has only about 700 nurses and midwives.
“It is clear that nurses do not find job satisfaction or fulfillment here. Nurses are quitting within weeks of taking appointments. And this mass exodus continues to further strain and stress the nurses who are still on duty. The government has a replacement policy upon departure that has been rendered ineffective due to the inability to find replacements easily. Nurses are critical assets. Of the 500 vacancies approved for hiring by the governor for the Health Services Commission recently, fewer than 300 applied. This is in a country with an unemployment rate of 33.2 percent. It is certain that much less would accept the job. LASUTH met the same fate in its own recruiting effort and the same would happen to the Primary Health Care Board when it began recruiting.
“The inherent danger is that while it is difficult for the government to fill entry-level positions, more senior nurses are also leaving the service. A departure replacement policy does not cover the deficiency of experienced hands that results from this mass exodus. The effect on the quality of care can be easily inferred ”.