'Show Up To Work Or Get Fired', El-Rufai Tells Medical Doctors

Medical personnel in Kaduna State have been warned against taking any strike action, as doing so would mean a termination of appointment.

Governor of the State, Nasir el-Rufai, who made this known said that Kaduna will not “bow to blackmail”.

The governor's Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, in a statement, said that the state governor is ready to protect health workers with a willingness to do their job and that health facilities in the state will continue to run.

El-Rufai described a strike action amidst the COVID-19 outbreak "criminal", this was a response to the notice put up by health workers in the state threatening strike action.

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He said, “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.”