President Bola Tinubu, on Friday, approved the waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” order instituted against striking members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) last 1st August, following the commencement of their industrial action, which began five days earlier.
A statement signed on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, read: “In view of the faithful implementation of terms which were agreed upon during the fruitful deliberations between the resident doctors and the Federal Government of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu has directed the grant of an exceptional last waiver of the ‘No Work, No Pay’ order on resident doctors, which will allow for the members of the NARD to receive the salaries which were previously withheld during the 17-day strike action”.
Following several engagements between the Federal Government and NARD, the resident doctors called off their strike on 12th August 2023.
The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation was directed to withhold all salaries accrued by striking NARD members during the 17-day action.
However, President Tinubu, invoking the Principle of the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy on Friday, 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 establishing that the exceptional waiver granted by the President would be the last one to be granted to the NARD and all other health sector unions.
The President also approved the partial waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” Order instituted against striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) following the commencement of their eight-month strike which began on 14th February 2022, and was terminated on 17th October 2022.
Ngelale said that the waiver “will allow for the previously striking members of ASUU to receive four months of salary accruals out of the eight months of salary which was withheld during the eight-month industrial action undertaken by the union”.
However, President Tinubu directed the grant of the waiver with a mandatory requirement that the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment must secure a Document of Understanding establishing that this exceptional waiver granted by the President will be the last one to be granted to ASUU and all other Education Sector Unions.
Invoking the Principle of the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy, Ngelale said the president sought to “mitigate the difficulties being felt during the implementation of key economic reforms in the country, as well as his recognition of the faithful implementation of terms which were agreed upon during the deliberations between ASUU and the Federal Government of Nigeria”.
