The directive was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the National Executive Council meeting of JOHESU and Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations in Abuja.
The communiqué read in part, “The various gains from the meetings with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, were presented to the NEC of JOHESU, after exhaustive deliberations and discussions, the NEC in session approved that the six-week old strike be suspended this day Thursday, May 31, 2018 because of the sympathy the unions have for the suffering Nigerian masses and also to pave way for further negotiations to continue on Monday, June 4, 2018.”
The union maintained that the strike was no political but was based on the principle of fairness and justice.
It, however, had harsh words for the Federal Government for failing to honour its promise of increasing the salaries health workers.
JOHESU added, “Following a series of meetings with eight members of the Federal Government team under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Federal Ministry of Health and other agencies of government such as the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Finance, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Department of State Security Services and others, we note with dismay the insincerity and unseriousness exhibited at the negotiation table by the government negotiating team which led to the breakdown of further negotiations and unnecessarily prolonged the strike action.”
The union thanked the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, as well was the governments of Lagos, Gombe, Yobe, Delta, Bauchi and Edo for being proactive in addressing the labour concerns of JOHESU.
It asked its members to remain law abiding in the face of the several threat letters and circulars from the Ministry of Health and managements of hospitals across the country.
Justice Sanusi Kado of a National Industrial Court in Abuja had on Wednesday ordered JOHESU to call off its strike.
The union had embarked on strike following the failure of the Federal Government to increase its pay in relation to the earnings of medical doctors.
