Lateef Adams

The refusal of the government to implement agreements reached with the unions over previously held strikes including the non-payment of workers’ salaries is what has triggered a majority of the strikes actions in the Health Sector. When workers decide to down tools over these issues, the federal government and even state governors in their selfish response to avert the strike action always invoke a “no work, no-pay” rule.

The strike action of August 2, 2021, called by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) was in reaction to the non-payment of their allowance and non-payment of adjusted wage COMES 2019 salary scale. The FG choice to quash the strike vie the National Industrial Court, but failing it resorted to invoking the barbaric rule of “no work, no pay” policy.

Recall that in the year 2020, the same FG through the minister for Labour and Employment Chris Ngige threatened the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) with no-work, no-pay during their strike over government failure to implement the agreement it reached with the union.

In the same regard, the NARD strike was a result of delays in the payment of salaries and allowances due to the doctors by the Buhari regime. The ASUU strike in March 2020 is another point to demonstrate that the FG inflamed the cry for a strike by workers. Government neglect of the education sector as well as non-implementation of the agreement it entered with the union resulted in the shutting down of universities across the country.

The Movement for a Socialist Alternative condemns this act of government neglect of the welfare of hardworking Nigerian men and women and their policy of “no work no pay” when workers demand their entitlement through strike actions. At this point, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) should step forward to mobilize the whole of the working class in a solidarity strike action with workers in the health and education sector.

Such a Solidarity strike will aim to draw public attention to the government’s insincere attitude towards workers’ plights and welfare. It is scandalous that a lot of strikes are in reality called to protest the non-implementation of previously negotiated agreements.

The deplorable working conditions of health workers is mindboggling, from lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) to poor welfare packages and dilapidated health facilities. The challenges faced by health workers are enormous. These challenges are enough to make any government whether federal or state immediately respond, without protest or strike by workers. It is ridiculous not to now talk of workers moving into action for government to irresponsibly respond with “no work no pay rule”.

To think that the health workers won’t resist poor welfare packages, delays in their wages or poor infrastructural facilities at the workplace is unthinkable. The Nigerian health sector is grossly underfunded with budgetary allocation to the sector still below expectation. The unproductive ruling elites in Nigeria prefer to seek medication attention abroad than in Nigeria. This explains why its allocation to the health sector is embarrassingly poor.

Despite the April 2001 declaration by the African heads of state to all dedicate at least 15% of their national budgets to health care, the Nigerian government over the years is yet to reach half of that benchmark. In 2020, the Buhari regime allotted a mere 4.14% of the national budget to the health sector and that is over 10% short of what is recommended. While the 2021 budget came on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic and got about 7% allocations, the proposed 2022 national budget for the country’s health care sector got N711.2 billion representing 4.4% of the national budget.

CONSEQUENCES OF POOR FUNDING

Poor funding of the health sector is destroying the healthcare system of the country. With over 200 million Nigerians, the proposed budget earmarked translates to about N3500 to cater for the health needs of each citizen yearly. According to the International Centre for Investigative Reporting ICIR, Nigeria has lost about 9,000 of its doctors to the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries between 2016 and 2018.

In August 2021, we saw on television and in the daily newspapers how hundreds of Nigerian-trained doctors crowded the venue of a Saudi Arabian recruitment exercise in Abuja for an interview for a mere seven slots. The comical irony from it is that, while the rest of the world are attracted and interested in our trained doctors, the Nigerian ruling elites are interested in foreign medical care.

According to the World Health Organization’s report in November 2015, Nigeria doctor to patient ratio is 1 doctor to 5000 patients, while it has 5 hospital beds for every 10,000 persons. The ideal global recommendation for a doctor to patients is 1 doctor to 600 people.

Under a planned health system, put in place by a Workers’ and poor Farmers Government. It will ensure all the health facilities in the country is improved with all the best modern medical facilities. The medical health officers, doctors and nurses will be paid attractive wages to meet all their basic needs and minimal luxury possible.

This will be possible when the key sectors of the economy are nationalized and put under the democratic control and management of workers. This would guard against profligacy and as a result help to contribute to the health sector which would definitely address the ratio of a doctor to patient ratio by first to 1 to 1000, then to 500 and ultimately to 100 or less.

This is more than possible, given that the wealth and resources of the country would have been brought under public ownership, not only will the health sector be upgraded and improved, but all other sectors of the economy.

WORKERS TO THE RESCUE

The country is not only rich with crude oil and gas, there are various other minerals and natural resources, this is aside from the huge human resources and assets of the working class that runs into over a hundred million-plus. This is the class to rescue the country from the unproductive ruling elites.

The working masses both in the trade unions and outside of it must urgently organize and build a pan working-class political alternative armed with a socialist program. And this is not a task that must merely be abandoned to the labour leaders and bureaucrats, but for socialists, rank and file workers, and the entire mass of the oppressed strata of the working masses.

It is the working masses organized in their political platform that can take on the ruling elites to bring an end to capitalism and end the free looting of the wealth of society either directly or through their fat allowance and jumbo pay. And with power in the hands of the working class, the poor state of the health sector currently drowned in a pool of underfunding would be brought to an end.

A Socialist programme that will nationalize the commanding sector of the economy placed under democratic workers’ control is required to guard against wastage and proliferation. A worker’s government with a planned socialist system of the economy will put every worker’s representative on a salary scale of average skilled workers. This will save enough resources that will be used to develop the health sector as well as other sections of the economy.