Medical doctors in the service of Ondo State government, South-west Nigeria, have condemned what they described as insensitive comments made by the state’s governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, over the backlog of salaries owed the state’s workers including doctors.
The doctors, under the aegis of the state’s chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA), in a statement issued at the weekend, said they received their February salary in June.
They insisted on receiving their full salary despite the recent statement by Mr Akeredolu, which suggested part-payment of salaries for all categories of workers in the state.
Akeredolu’s comment
Mr Akeredolu had, in a television interview on June 3, 2021, queried what he described as the audacity of the doctors in the state to insist on full payment of their salaries.
He said other workers had agreed to receive part-payment of their salaries pending when the finances of the state would improve and the full salary payment would be restored.
In a short clip of the video of the interview obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the governor said the doctors were not better than teachers, civil servants and other categories of workers, whom he said have agreed to receive partial payments.
He said; “I think the doctors are not even in the country. How will they say others can receive such a salary but they cannot. Do they have two heads?
“They would say their children are in school as if children of the teachers are not in school. I think they need to be talked to by well meaning people of the state.”
NMA kicks
The doctors’ association in a statement signed by its president and secretary, Stella Adegbehingbe and Olorunfemi Owa respectively, said the governor’s statement was disparaging and dehumanising to the medical profession.
