On JOHESU strike

The ongoing nationwide strike embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) in Nigeria appears to be disappointing and embarrassing.

In spite of the high level of commitments by the federal, state and local government and support from international organizations like World Health Organization and other relevant bodies in financing the health sector in Nigeria, the health workers continue to draw the country back through unnecessary selfish strikes and demands.

Based on the priority given to the health sector by government either there is economic recession or not, the health workers are utilising the opportunity to agitate for salary increase virtually every year, and this has led to the enormous salary they receive currently. Apart from medical doctors, pharmacists and other health workers that obtained university degrees, the salary of nurses and others that studied health related courses in various institutions with course durations of one to four years is about thrice the salary of other staff in the same grade level and establishment even with university degree of the latter, especially when they are in higher levels.

This implies that to pay the salary of a nurse or his/ her assistant who is a civil servant, government is spending about three times salary of his or her counterpart that does not possess a health certificate. Yet, health workers in Nigeria are insatiable. This corroborates one of the major reasons that have been attributed to high level of unemployment and inability of government to pay workers’ salary regularly in Nigeria today.

Some branches of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) are at variance with the  JOHESU strike, claiming that there are great disparities between  medical doctors  and some affiliated health workers called JOHESU using JAMB cutoff marks and other criteria to support their assertions. In the first place, how many JOHESU members have university education? It is the government that gave the health workers ladders to climb by lifting them over other civil servants in Nigeria.

In order to curb incessant strikes that usually bedevil the activities of health workers in Nigeria, there is need for government to reduce their salary, because it seems as if they are overfed without proper planning.

Henceforth, employment forms and letters of appointment of health workers in various government health agencies should be coined to reduce unnecessary strikes in future, and it could be extended to other labour unions in all the government establishments irrespective of their status and level of education.

Government could privatise the health sector to pave way for competitiveness among various health agencies in the country.

If the excesses of some labour unions which believe that they are too important in Nigerian economy is not checkmated, a time will come when they will be demanding for over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s budget for their selfish end.

Olanrewaju Ajayi                                                                                              

[email protected].