We’re no longer safe in Ogun, says NMA as doctors, nurses begin strike
On Tuesday, health workers in Ogun State decried the state’s high level of insecurity, lamenting that all parts of the state were becoming unsafe.
In separate interviews with newsmen, state branches of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, as well as the Nigerian Medical Association, reported this in justifying their decision to go on strike at 12 a.m. on Tuesday.
The NANNM based its decision on the kidnapping of health workers in the state, according to a letter to the state Commissioner of Health, Dr Tomi Coker, dated April 12.
“It is clear that protection of lives and resources is way out of reach of the government,” the association wrote in a letter titled “Notification of Withdrawal of Service.”
It announced that its representatives would stop working at 12 a.m. on Tuesday.
On the Abeokuta-Imeko lane, a medical doctor and a nurse were kidnapped on Wednesday last week.
Despite the fact that the two health workers were released on Tuesday morning, the NANNM announced that it would continue its strike.
“No change of mind,” Funmilayo Solarin, the association’s state chairman, said in an interview with one of our correspondents. We’ve already started our strike. It will not begin tonight. It has begun. It will go on indefinitely until we get what we want.”
Dr Oluseyi Aderinwale, the state secretary of the NMA, also said, “It is irreversible.” The term has no reversal. I’m going to say it again: I’m not going back on my promise. I’m currently in a meeting with the state government, and I’m not sure when it will end. I’ll try to contact you when it’s finished.”
A dental therapist employed at the state General Hospital in Ijebu Igbo was abducted on her way to work on Monday, according to the NANNM in a letter to the commissioner of health.
In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, the NMA Chairman, Dr. Oladayo Ogunlaja, said, “There are a lot of security problems in the state right now.” Before we return to work, I want the state government to fix these issues.
“We want government to make where we work a safe place so that we can work without any fear . The state is now becoming unsafe for everybody living in the state, not in one axis.”
Meanwhile, a prominent figure who was one of two people who arranged the release of the two health workers with kidnappers has accused some police officers of colluding with the kidnappers.
The victims were released as a result of the efforts and the ransom offered to the kidnappers, according to the negotiator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He, on the other hand, remained tight-lipped about the supposed ransom paid to the kidnappers.
“The experience is not what we should be talking about,” the source said. The police and the kidnappers were working together. They are well-informed about the situation. Our people (the kidnapped doctors and nurses) told us that the kidnappers told them what we told the Police.”
However, when approached, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, was enraged by the accusation.
The remark, according to Oyeyemi, was unjust and callous. “That would be the most callous and deceitful remark I have ever received from anyone,” he said.
He said that police had been on the lookout for the kidnappers for days, to the point where “even the helicopter that we have now has been used for aerial surveillance because of these people.”
“Even we mobilised local vigilantes, some of them were even attacked by the hoodlums. After all these somebody would be saying that they did not do anything.”
On the ransom, Oyeyemi said, “We told them that we are not in support of any ransom to be paid because if we are paying ransom we will be making them feel that the thing they (kidnappers) are doing is good, and the more they will continue doing it.”
When contacted, Remmy Hazzan, Special Adviser to the Governor in Public Communications, summarized the government’s behaviour.
The government, according to Hazzan, played its part but chose not to get involved in something that did not follow its rules of engagement.
“There are certain types of agreements that would not fall in line with the government’s rules of engagement,” he said.
“So, if some people are involved in some negotiations and are out of order and we are not part of that ,that cannot be a reason why we should be held down.
“But we did our own within the limit of the rules of engagement. What they interpreted to mean we, not being involved may not particularly be the rules of engagement that we know.”
In response to medical workers’ decision to go on strike over unemployment, Hazzan said that the government was willing to work with them.
“We’ll involve them,” he said. The level of comprehension or perception of safety varies from person to person.
“There are things that you need to do beyond the people that are actually in uniform, so, when we engage the medical practitioners, we will be able to agree on the minimum that will ensure that everybody is safe.
“If they are asking for security it is well within their rights as citizens of this country because the constitution also guarantees that.
“But, we will engage them and we will be able to take the right step to ensure that everybody is safe .”
