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Afe Babalola seeks salary raise, improved condition of service for doctors
The Founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has urged government at all levels and other employers of doctors to consider giving them improved working conditions and better salaries.
The eminent lawyer said cleaners who work in hospitals in the Western countries earn more than Nigerian doctors.
Babalola spoke yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, at the seventh induction ceremony of the ABUAD medical doctors by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
Babalola, who bemoaned the poor remuneration of Nigerian doctors, noted that many doctors and nurses leave the country due to meager emoluments paid to them.
The ABUAD founder said the mass exodus of medical professionals has left Nigeria’s health system in a precarious situation.
He added that many public hospitals and healthcare centres were struggling to cope with the shortage of doctors, leading to a decline in quality of healthcare services.
Babalola urged the government to increase the salaries for doctors and ensure prompt payment as well as provide good working environment with modern facilities.
This, the legal luminary said, would help to stem the brain drain in the medical profession and encourage doctors to remain in Nigeria after completing their training.
He said: “The reason many Nigerian doctors and nurses leave this country after completing their training is because the emoluments paid in naira are much less than what cleaners in hospitals in overseas earn.
“Worse still, the doctors in many states and government hospitals have not been paid for many months. I, therefore, appeal to government to increase the salaries of doctors and ensure prompt payment.
“Finally, I congratulate the newly qualified doctors. On our part, we have fulfilled our promise of getting you qualified within the specified time. Do not lose hope, Nigeria will be better.”
According to him, such financial mishandling not only disrupts critical public services and projects but also results in major losses to the nation’s purse—resources that could have been channelled into crucial services and developmental efforts, as laid out in Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution.
Speaker Abbas, thereafter setup a Special Committee to be chaired by Rep. Chinedu Martins to immediately launch a probe into the “Utilisation of take-off grants, bailout funds, and interventions allocated to MDAs, government institutions, and GOEs from 2015 to present.”
The FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike, expressed satisfaction with the progress on the Abuja light rail project, reaffirming its May 29 delivery as sacrosanct.
He made these assurances after inspecting the ongoing construction of access roads to the train stations on Wednesday, from Metro Train Station in the Central Area to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Reassuring journalists accompanying him, the minister reiterated that President Bola Tinubu would commission the rail project on May 29 to mark his second year in office.
The visited stations were Wupa station near Idu and Bassanjiwa station near the airport.
“This is part of our routine inspection of ongoing projects to see the contractors’ progress,” Wike explained.
“We are working day and night to fulfill our promise to President Tinubu and FCT residents. By May, Mr. President will ride on the Metro line.”
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen are currently invading some communities in the Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.
According to sources, the herdsmen armed with AK-47 rifles stormed the community around 04:15pm on Thursday.
“Our lives are in danger this evening, armed Fulani herdsmen, about 600 in numbers have taken over our communities this evening,” a resident told SaharaReporters.
“They’re currently moving around towns in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue state. No security personnel at all, Governor Alia didn’t send security, they said operation will start soon once they (herders) have observed the place.”
The insecurity situation in Benue has been alarming in recent weeks with attacks from gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.
The media had reported that suspected herdsmen again unleashed terror in Benue State, attacking three communities in Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA) on Wednesday, just a day after 11 people were killed in a deadly raid on Otobi community.
The latest victims of the escalating violence were Emichi, Odudaje, and Okpamaju, communities that had previously suffered an attack in February, which left five people dead.
However, the renewed attack has created fear and mass displacement among residents, with women and children fleeing to safety.
Local sources say the death toll from the fresh attack remains unclear, but several casualties are feared.
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