House Of Reps Threatens To Arrest Health Minister Over Doctors' Strike

The House of Representatives yesterday threatened to issue warrant of arrest against Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, if he failed to appear before the House within 48 hours to resolve the ongoing doctors' strike in the country.

According to National Mirror report, while briefing the lawmakers on the floor of the House, the Chairman, House Committee on Health, Hon. Godwin Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta), said it seems like Chukwu and his officials do not want the doctors' strike to end any time soon, as they failed to attend a meeting with the Committee on Health, which was rescheduled to Thursday from Monday.

Elumelu explained that after holding a partial meeting with stakeholders on Monday, they agreed that the Head of Service, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Minister of Finance, the Salaries and Wages Commission and the Budget Office of the Federation should appear on Thursday for continuation of the meeting but Thursday's meeting could not continue because the Minister of Health and his deputy were not in attendance. Therefore, the event had to be adjourned indefinitely.

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Asked his opinion on the matter by the Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Elumelu said the minister and other stakeholders should be summoned again, adding that if any of the ministers fail to appear, appropriate sanction should be applied.

Tambuwal later ruled that Health Minister Chukwu should appear before the committee to resolve all contentious issues, threatening that they would invoke the relevant House rules and the constitution to compel the minister to honour the invitation.

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The House is empowered by Section 189 of the 1999 Constitution to issue arrest warrants for recalcitrant public officers or government officials, who shun invitations by the lawmakers. Section 188 empowers the House to summon all public officers, including the Head of Government, to appear before it.

The Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, had embarked on an indefinite strike on July 1 following the expiration of a 2-week ultimatum given to the Federal Government to meet its 24-point demand, which include a hike in remuneration and certain benefits.

However, many concerned citizens have reacted negatively to the ongoing strike by medical doctors under the NMA.

Source: Legit.ng