“If You Embark On Strike, You Will Lose Your Job” – Governor El-Rufai Warns Kaduna Health Workers

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai says medical doctors and other health workers who embarks on industrial action in the state, would lose their jobs.

The governor stated this a statement on Thursday night by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, while reacting to an alleged planned strike by the Congress of Health Workers Unions and Associations in the State.

El-Rufai said his administration would not “bow to blackmail”, adding that it is “criminal” to declare a strike action amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

He said he would keep the health facilities in the state running and protect workers who are willing to work with the mandatory donation of 25% salary by all civil servants to fund the provision of palliatives for vulnerable people impacted by the lockdown.

“The government rejects the strike threat and will regard persons who fail to show up at their assigned places of work as having forfeited their employment. Every health worker that is willing to work is required to sign the register at the Ministry of Health and the health institutions to which they are deployed.

“The Ministry of Health has the mandate of the government to ensure that residents of Kaduna State are not deprived of public health services.

“Every effort will be made to ensure that health facilities keep functioning, staffed by willing workers who will be guaranteed free and safe access to health facilities. Those who are not willing to work are strongly warned against criminal actions such as attempts to impede access to workplaces, harass willing workers or to sabotage facilities and equipment.

“The state government will not be misled into granting health workers a special status amongst public servants. The consequences of concessions made along such lines by previous governments have created a sense that some public servants are more precious than others,” he said.

This is coming barely two days after Lagos Doctors begun indefinite strike over police harassment of health workers during COVID-19 curfew.