KEY POINTS
- FCT resident doctors extend strike over unpaid salaries and arrears.
- Union alleges sabotage of Minister Wike’s earlier directives.
- Demands include salary correction, hospital renovation, and training funds.
Doctors in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) say they will continue their strike until the government fully meets all outstanding demands, despite earlier assurances.
At a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, the President of the Association of Resident Doctors, FCTA chapter (ARD-FCTA), Dr. George Ebong, said the strike resumed after the administration failed to implement key agreements reached six weeks ago following interventions by Minister Nyesom Wike and the National Assembly.
Salary delays and unpaid arrears fuel doctors’ anger
Ebong said the government still owes many doctors several months’ salaries, including 28 hired in 2023 who have not received any pay. He added that salary delays had become “a culture” in the FCTA, with wages often arriving incomplete or weeks late.
The union also cited the non-payment of the Medical Residency Training Fund for 142 doctors, despite federal approval, and protested the decision to employ new doctors on a lower pay scale.
“Doctors are overworked, underpaid, and demoralised,” Ebong said. “We will not suspend this strike even if the national body calls off theirs. Our situation is peculiar.”
FCT resident doctors strike vow to continue the strike
The group accused FCTA officials of sabotaging Wike’s directives on earlier approvals and urged the minister to take decisive action.
Their demands include full payment of salary arrears, immediate release of the 2025 training fund, correction of payroll errors, and the renovation of hospitals under the FCTA.
The doctors also want recruitment timelines, conversion to consultant cadre, and payment of hazard and wage award arrears concluded within months. “We’re ready to work, but we can’t give what we don’t have,” Ebong added.
