Health workers, under the auspices of Joint Health Sector Unions and the Assembly of Healthcare Professionals, have called on the Federal Government to redress the inconsistencies identified in the new circular on their hazard allowance.
The acting National Secretary of JOHESU, Matthew Ajurotu, in a statement on Wednesday, said the health workers looked forward to a faster and holistic implementation of all outstanding demands from the government.
Ajurotu, in the statement, added that members of JOHESU and AHPA appreciate the Federal Government’s decision to improve on the extremely miserable hazard allowances of N5,000 hitherto paid all health workers since 2009.
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The statement read, “JOHESU/AHPA believes it was impossible for the government at all levels to pay commensurate hazard allowances to all cadres of health workers given the scenario of the lean economy the FG continues to project. This factor motivated the JOHESU/APHA team at the FG – JOHESU/APHA and others parley to show maturity grounded in a sense of responsibility by working in total alignment with government’s budget provision of N44bn which was subsequently raised to N50bn for the payment of hazard allowances to all health workers in Nigeria.
“At all stages and in all circumstances of our negotiations, our minimum benchmark and demand remained that as originally proposed by the FMOH through the Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, all Health Workers would earn the same hazard allowances based on their categorisation as Junior and senior staff. This was the basis of the FG’s original proposal of N12,500 and N25,000 to junior and senior cadres in the health sector.
“We put on record that our members were short-changed as our philosophy for equity and equality which were the watchwords in the payment of hazard allowances for over twelve years were negated in the computation of the final figure reflected by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission circular released a few days ago.”
JOHESU/APHA, therefore, call on the FG to immediately remedy this lapse particularly because nothing has changed in the condition precedent to the employment of the various cadres of health workers in the last 12 years to warrant a discrimination in the payment of hazard allowances.”
