President Bola Tinubu has invoked the Principle of the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy to approve the waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” order that was instituted against striking members of the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, on August 1, following the commencement of their industrial action, which began on July 26.
The approval of waiver for the resident doctors was made public via a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, in Abuja on Friday.
Part of the statement reads, “In view of the faithful implementation of terms which were agreed upon during the fruitful deliberations between the resident doctors and the Federal Government, President Bola Tinubu has directed the grant of an exceptional last waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” order on resident doctors.
“The President has directed the grant of the waiver with a mandatory requirement that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment must secure a Document of Understanding (DoU) establishing that this exceptional waiver granted by the President will be the last one to be granted to the National Association of Resident Doctors and all other Health Sector Unions”.
“This will allow for the members of the NARD to receive the salaries which were previously withheld during the 17-day strike action.
The doctors had commenced a 17-day industrial action on July 26 after the Federal Government failed to meet their demands. Responding, the government instituted a ‘no work, no pay’ order on August 1 to compel the professionals to return to work.
After a series of consultations between NARD leadership and government representatives, the resident doctors called off their strike on August 12.
