Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, said this in a statement signed by Mr Charles Akpan, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, in the ministry, on Sunday in Abuja.

The union had, in a letter addressed to Ngige, said it would go ahead with the strike scheduled to commence in the midnight of Sunday.

It cited Federal Government’s inability to meet its demand as the reason for its action.

Ngige said that the Federal Government had directed that the various unions in the health sector operating under the umbrella of JOHESU should not to go ahead with the strike.

He urged the leadership of the various unions that made up JOHESU to have a rethink on the illegal strike by putting the welfare of their patients and Nigeria above every other consideration.

He noted that issues in the trade dispute between JOHESU and the Ministry of Health were being discussed.

According to him, going ahead with the action would be illegal as it is in clear breach of the ILO Principles and Conventions on Strike and Section 18 of the Trades Disputes Act, Cap T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

“Parties in disputes are expected not to arm-twist, intimidate or foist helplessness on the other party while negotiations are ongoing as per Sections 8 and 18 the of Trade Dispute Act (TDA) 2004.

“This bars any strike when the matters are before a Conciliator and undergoing conciliation.

“Any strike now is inimical to an equable settlement of the dispute, bearing in mind especially that this is a grave period of a pandemic where the Federal Government has spent about N20 billion to pay April/May 2020 hazard allowance.

“An additional N8.9 billion for June 2020 COVID-19 hazard and inducement allowances has also been approved to all categories of health workers that are mainly JOHESU members.

“Besides, all health workers on essential services -Pharmacists, Nurses/Midwives, Radiographers as members of JOHESU – are statutorily barred from strikes during emergencies, by both the ILO Statutes and the Trade Dispute Act 2004.

“Such an action while the nation battles the COVID-19 emergency accentuates its illegality, as it will compound and aggravate the challenges in health services, causing further risk and deaths to the sick in hospitals across the country,” he said.

He noted that COVID-19 pandemic had been declared as a situation of “Acute National Health crisis” by both the ILO and World Health Organisation (WHO), whose Statutes and regulations had forbidden strike for the period.

He also added that the withdrawal of services was clearly unnecessary as the Federal Government had demonstrated capacity in her amelioration of age-long challenges in the health sector.

Ngige, however, said that government had addressed most of the demands of the union which included provision of enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), approving N29 billion for payments of allowances and also spending N9.3billion as premium for Group Life Insurance for medical and health workers.

He also noted that during the last negotiation, the meeting resolved all the issues raised by JOHESU against the Ministry of Health.

“This is with exception to the issue of CONHESS adjustment which is before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN).

“Same goes for the issue of refund of the two months 2018 April/May salaries caught up in the ‘No Work No Pay’ principle when JOHESU was on a long strike of over two months, which was also a substrata of the strike issue at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) of 2018,” he said.

He noted that the union and the Ministry of Health were advised to resolve the issues and report back in four weeks.

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The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, made the government position known while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The meeting, which lasted for over seven hours, was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

It was reported that ASUU had on Monday declared a two-week warning strike to protest the non-payment of salaries of lecturers not enrolled in the Federal Government’s Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS)

The National President of the union, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, made the declaration after ASUU National Executive Council meeting in Enugu.

Ngige, however, expressed shock over the ASUU decision to withdraw their services, saying that the mandatory strike notice was not given by the union and hence making the industrial action illegal.

“I was shocked on Monday when I read and saw some people coming out of the university that lecturers have gone on strike.

“I have my children in Nigerian university and I saw them and it is not a very cherry news. They didn’t give us the mandatory notice before going on strike. So for a start, this strike is illegal.

“They said it is a warning striking but there is nothing like warning strike. A strike is withdrawal of services for which you are being paid.

“Then, the question will arise, if you don’t go to work, do you want to be paid? Is it not corruption? So this is the dilemma,’’ he said.

The minister, however, stated that his ministry had invited ASUU, the Minister of Education, Accountant-General as well as the Minister of Finance, National Planning and National Planning on Thursday to deliberate on the matter with a view to finding possible solution to the problems.

He said: “So to solve the dilemma, I have invited them to the meeting for tomorrow (Thursday). I have invited the minister of education, their principal employer, the finance ministry and the accountant general of the federation.

“So, we will meet and discuss the way forward because no employee is empowered to dictate to his employer on how he or she should be paid.

“There is an ILO convention on it. The important thing is that you receive your compensation for services rendered or work done as and when due.

“So, we hope to solve the problems. ASUU are Nigerians, they are patriotic but tomorrow we hope to engage them.’’

Ngige further disclosed that his ministry made presentation to the Council where it highlighted its achievements and challenges in the last 100 days.

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The department said in the statement that 163 Somali nationals had left for their home country on an airplane of local airliner Al-Buraq.

The department said the deportation was in cooperation with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

“This is the first direct flight to leave Tripoli’s M’etiga international airport to the Somali capital Mogadishu,” the department said.

In addition, the department said, 30 migrants from Bangladesh and 28 from Pakistan were sent to their countries of origin.

Libya has become a preferred point of departure for immigrants hoping to reach Europe after domestic conflicts erupted in the North African country in 2011.

The voluntary return program is carried out by the IOM in Libya to help illegal immigrants stranded in Libya return to their countries of origin.

Some 20,000 illegal immigrants returned home via the program in 2017.

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The Commander of the Agency in Anambra, Mr Sule Momodu, made the call when he received members of an NGO, Anambra Youth Empowerment Initiative at the command’s Headquarters in Awka.

Momodu, who noted that the issue of illicit drugs was becoming worrisome in the state, called on residents, especially the youth to shun negative lifestyles that would make them take to illicit drugs.

The NDLEA official, who linked several crimes in the society to illicit drug consumption, advised youths to be creative and innovative than be addicted to drugs.

He commended the effort of the NGO in the fight against illicit drugs and called on more groups or individuals to partner with NDLEA in the cause.

Momodu, however, challenged members of the organisation to educate the youth on the dangers inherent in illicit drugs.

Earlier, the Chairman of the NGO, Mr Nduka Alor, said the core objective of the group was to curb illicit drug intake, especially among the youth.

He expressed displeasure the rate at which youths engaged in illicit drugs.

According to him, the NGO has lined up programmes to enlighten and educate the youth, especially student, on the dangers of indulging in illicit drugs.

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