The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has issued a stern ultimatum to the government, threatening to initiate a nationwide strike if their kidnapped colleague, Dr. Ganiyat Popoola, is not released by August 26. This warning comes in response to what the association describes as the government’s inadequate response to the ongoing crisis.<\/p>\n
At a press conference held in Abuja on Wednesday, NARD President Dr. Dele Abdullahi expressed deep frustration over the prolonged captivity of Dr. Popoola, who was abducted on December 27, 2023. Dr. Popoola, a registrar in the Department of Ophthalmology at the National Eye Centre in Kaduna, was kidnapped along with her husband and nephew. While her husband was released in March, Dr. Popoola and her nephew remain in captivity.<\/p>\n
Dr. Abdullahi highlighted the association’s efforts to secure her release, noting that NARD had formally notified all relevant security agencies, urging them to take swift action. “The association notified all security agencies through official written communication following notification of the incident, requesting immediate action towards the prompt rescue and release of our incarcerated colleague,” Abdullahi stated.<\/p>\n
In addition to the security agencies, NARD also reached out to several high-ranking officials and institutions, including the Nigerian Medical Association, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Health, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, the Chairman of the House and Senate Committees on Health, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and the Government of Kaduna State.<\/p>\n
Dr. Abdullahi stressed the critical importance of ensuring the safety of healthcare providers in Nigeria, particularly in a country where their services are vital. “It is essential that the security of these healthcare providers be guaranteed at all times for a nation that has placed a high value on healthcare providers and the need for them to remain within the country,” he said.<\/p>\n
Despite the numerous appeals made by NARD to both the federal and Kaduna State governments, as well as to security agencies, Dr. Abdullahi lamented that no significant progress has been made in securing Dr. Popoola’s release. “We’ve been communicating, but we haven’t really had a chance to speak with the federal or state governments or the security services directly about this unfortunate circumstance,” he added.<\/p>\n
In a bid to escalate their demands, NARD has decided to organize a nationwide news conference and a protest march across all tertiary hospitals in the country. Dr. Abdullahi made it clear that if Dr. Popoola is not released by the August 26 deadline, the association will embark on industrial action, effectively initiating a nationwide strike.<\/p>\n
The association acknowledged the efforts of well-intentioned Nigerians and security agencies in trying to secure Dr. Popoola’s release but called for more decisive action from the government. “It is shocking that in a nation where we support the continued presence of healthcare professionals, one of us has been detained for more than seven months and seventeen days without receiving any kind of assistance or guidance regarding the course of the rescue operation,” Dr. Abdullahi concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has issued a stern ultimatum to the government, threatening to initiate a nationwide strike if their kidnapped colleague, Dr. Ganiyat Popoola, is not released by August 26. This warning comes in response to what the association describes as the government’s inadequate response to the ongoing crisis. At a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":43407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43402"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43426,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43402\/revisions\/43426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}