Sultan, others caution doctors against strikes
We never threatened to go down tools, says Abuja zone ASUU
The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III has cautioned the new 340 fellows of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria against strikes.
At the 34th convocation of the college, he said an industrial action by doctors usually leads to loss of lives.
According to him, the sight of empty beds at hospitals during this period is unpleasant, hence young fellows should avoid strikes as means of making demands from the government.
Abubakar, who was conferred with an honorary fellowship by the college said, though Nigeria lacked excellent leadership, it has the right medical personnel to make it great.
The guest lecturer, Dr. Benedictus Ajayi, said that doctors and hospital workers are not entirely responsible for the incessant strikes, but the inability of governments to provide the required facilities to discharge their responsibilities.
He urged them to employ dialogue, rather than industrial action.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nasarawa State University chapter, Dr. Theophillus Daniel Lagi, has denied a report of plans by the Abuja zone of the union to begin a warning strike on October 2.
He said the leadership of the Abuja zonal office comprising University of Abuja, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai and Nasarawa State University, Keffi did not speak to any journalist on this.
Lagi added that the publication was targeted at smearing his name and the office of the ASUU zonal coordinator.
He said the only body that has the right to declare a nationwide strike is the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU, not its zonal office or any individual.
He stressed that before any action is taken there are procedures that must be followed, adding that ASUU would not hastily go on strike without presenting its grievances to the appropriate authorities for dialogue.
Lagi then asked students, stakeholders in the education sector and the general public to remain calm, adding that the report on the planned strike was false and misleading.
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