The Federal Government has pledged to ensure the different categories of workers in all sectors enjoy continued protection and to always respond swiftly to their calls and complaints.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong said this when the leadership of the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) visited him in his office on Wednesday in Abuja.
Lalong said that the federal government would always be swift to respond to their calls and complaints.
According to him, the federal government has been taking stock of the peculiar needs and grievances of different categories labour organisations.
“Government has been working assiduously to address them effectively,” he said.
The minister, however, assured NAMDA that measures to address their complaints and grievances were already on course, and would be concluded to their satisfaction.
Also, Dr Nosa Orhue, National president of NAMDA, congratulated the Minister on his appointment.
Orhue also pledged the support of the association to the federal government in salvaging medical education in the country, as well as in general education.
He noted that the association was faced with some challenges.
“The challenges include the disparity in the entry point salary grade level between our association, as doctors teaching in the university system and our counterparts in the hospital system. whose entry point salary ranks higher,” he said.
Orhue noted that the disparity should be closed, as it discourages doctors from working in the university system, thereby posing a challenge to medical education in Nigeria.
He called on the minister’s support in pushing for the implementation of the agreement with the federal government to extend the retirement age of their category of medical doctors.
He also called for the implementation of the special pension benefit, as captured in the PENSION ACT 2014, for their category of workers.
Orhue also appealed for the payment of the withheld salary of their members, as they did not take part in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike for which it was withheld.
He also commended the management of the ministry for their quick response to industrial relations issues.
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