On Tuesday night, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen engaged in discussions with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu concerning the ongoing strike action taken by the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD).
Before this meeting, Speaker Abbas had already met with the national leadership of NARD on Monday, urging them to reconsider their planned strike. During that meeting, he requested a two-week period to address the issues raised by the resident doctors and assured them of his commitment to finding solutions.
Furthermore, he promptly formed an ad-hoc committee, chaired by Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, the Leader of the House, to investigate and resolve the matter.
True to his word, Speaker Abbas met with President Tinubu on Tuesday night, apprising him of the outcomes from his meeting with NARD leadership.
He implored the President to intervene in order to address the concerns raised by the resident doctors. Despite the Speaker’s intervention, NARD proceeded with their indefinite strike on Tuesday evening.
In response, Speaker Abbas directed the ad-hoc committee to promptly convene meetings with all relevant stakeholders to seek immediate resolutions to the issue.
The committee includes Hon. Tanko Sununu (APC, Kebbi), the immediate-past chairman of the 9th House Committee on Healthcare Services, serving as the deputy chairman, along with the participation of all medical practitioners in the House.
