FG Crisis with Doctors Will be Resolved, Says Uduaghan‏

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Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan,
Thursday disclosed that the federal government
and stakeholders in the health sector are
mapping out amicable ways to resolve dispute
with Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and avert
strike to be embarked upon by the association on
January 6.
A five-day warning strike was embarked upon by
NMA last year as a means of pressing home its
demands.
Uduaghan, who is a medical doctor and  member
of the NMA, was part of stakeholders’ meeting
held at the Presidential Villa yesterday which
was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking to State House correspondents shortly
after the meeting, the governor disclosed that
Jonathan had shifted ground on some of the
issues raised by NMA.
Uduaghan, who warned that allowing the doctors
to embark on full scale strike would be a disaster,
said he and other stakeholders had met the
association yesterday, with a view to convey
Jonathan’s message to them and convince them
on the need to shelve the strike action.
“There are issues that have been raised by the
NMA for which they have threatened to go on
strike. They had a warning strike for about five
days, so the President called a stakeholders'
meeting to look at the issues. We are going for a
meeting now (yesterday) at 5p.m. with the NMA,
at least, there are some things the president has
consented to, and I believe by the time we finish
the meeting this evening, there will be some
resolutions.
“Our determination is to ensure that the strike of
January 6 is averted. Of course we cannot afford
another strike in the health sector. One minute of
strike in the sector by whatever body can be
very disastrous,” the governor said.
On oil theft, he said the scourge had been
reduced in the Niger Delta region, stressing that
a lot need to be done in the area of prosecution,
monitoring and technology to bring an end to
the situation.
“Let me emphasise that the volume of crude oil
theft is reducing. Again, I must explain that at a
time, oil theft was at its peak, there was a shut
down of about 300 barrel of oil as a result of
damage to two major pipelines and at that time,
between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels were being
stolen. That was the time we took some
measures to ensure that the quantity stolen is
reduced. Today, I can tell you that the crude oil
that is being stolen is reduced to about 40,000
barrels per day.
“Those two pipelines are now functioning. So the
300,000 that was shut down as a result of the
damage to the pipelines have now been opened.
Stealing 40,000barrels per day is still on the high
side, but as we go further, in putting a lot of
measures in place, especially in areas of
prosecution, I believe that the quantity that is
being stolen will gradually reduce if possibly to
zero level. Apart from prosecution, we are also
talking of technology and monitoring to deal with
the oil theft,” Uduaghan said.
On Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crises, he said
the president was taking initiatives to restore the
party’s strength.
“I must say this that in politics, anything can
happen. In politics, any person can take any
position. So you must be ready for anybody that
is ready to take any position. Just like people are
leaving the party, people are also coming to the
party. The thing is that as a party, there is no
doubt that we have challenges at the moment
and I think the president is taking the initiatives
to organise various meetings that will quickly
deal with these issues,” the governor added.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu,
and his counterpart in Labour, Chief Emeka
Wogu, were also part of the meeting.