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Monetisation:
FCT doctors, teachers deplore exemption
By Don Bassey
Correspondent, Abuja
Health and education workers in the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Ministry have taken the Minister, Mallam Nasir
el-Rufai to task for excluding them from the on-going monetisation policy of
the government.
Their grouse, according to a medical
doctor who spoke to Daily Independent on condition of anonymity on
Wednesday, arose from their exclusion in the payment of one-month monetisation
benefits to all staff of the ministry.
According to the source, while other
staff of the ministry smiled home in September with their benefits built into
their salaries, medical doctors, nurses, pharmacist as well as primary and
secondary school teachers were left out.
The source said the National Association
of Resident Doctors (NARD) FCT chapter, the National Association of Nigerian
Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) as well as the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) have
been meeting Wednesday and Thursday to review the minister’s action.
“Today is October 6 and we (medial/health workers) have
not been paid our September salary. This is the third time we would be owed
salaries in recent months and this has not always been the case. Other staff of
the ministry have been paid their wages alongside a month’s monetisation
benefits, but we have been told that he (minister) directed that health workers
and education department should not be paid the benefits. This is unacceptable
to us,” said the medical doctor.
Continuing the aggrieved health workers
said: “We don’t accept the minister’s explanation that he
wants to remove these two departments (health and education) from the ministry
and confer on them the status of a parastatals. Why is he just awarding us that
status many months after the de-merger of the ministry and the Federal Capital
Development Authority (FIDA) was completed.”
To drive home their point, NANNM was
still holding an emergency meeting at the Wuse General Hospital while the NARD
had completed plans to hold its execution council meeting with a view to coming
out with a common position.
But when contacted, Chief Press Secretary
(CPS) to the Minister, Mr. Kingsley Agha, said arrangements have already been
completed to pay the aggrieved staff.
His words: “I was with the Deputy
Director, Finance and he told me they (education and health workers) would be
paid soon. Of course, they had a meeting with the permanent secretary this
afternoon and should therefore have no reason to worry about not being paid
monetisation benefits”.
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