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LUTH Resident Doctors Protest Alleged Five-Month Salary Arrears
The Association of Resident Doctors, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba , staging a peaceful protest on Wednesday , at the commencement of their two-day warning strike.
The Association of Resident Doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, on Wednesday staged a peaceful protest as they commenced a two-day warning strike.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the protest, over nonpayment of five months’ salary and other grievances, held within the hospital premises.
Some of the other demands include lack of resident doctors, lack of security and electricity within the premises at night and non-payment of residency training fees.
President, LUTH ARD, Dr. Kayode Makinde, said the association had, on several occasions, stepped into the role of the hospital’s management, which was not its duty.
Makinde said, “In some instances, we pay electricity bills of the hospital doctors’ lounge and other issues concerning the welfare of doctors.
“It is no longer news that the recent events at the LUTH portend a grave danger.
“For so long, we have remained calm, reasonable and understanding with a hospital management that had refused to be responsive to our yearnings.
“The question is, how difficult is it for a hospital that prides itself as one of the leading tertiary hospitals in Nigeria to address the yearnings of her doctors?
“We asked for a minimum requirement to ensure that we have some element of safety in our hospital environment, which is to light up the hospital, especially the dark portions.
“This means that our lives and safety do not matter to those at the helm of affairs.’’
According to him, the painful death of their “dear brother and colleague,” Dr. Stephen Urueye, is still very fresh in their memory.
“How do you explain to our family and loved ones that we provide care to the sick and are vulnerable that our life can be cut short, even in the line of duty due to inadequate security?
Makinde said the last time LUTH recruited doctors was in 2016, and this had resulted in an acute shortage of medical doctors of all cadres.
“Our members have gone for update courses and conferences, they have written examinations, yet no single exam and update fee has been paid on behalf of resident doctors since 2014.
“One then wonders how other teaching hospitals are able to offset some of these monies and LUTH keeps giving the same excuse of no money every year.
“We cannot be silenced, we cannot be subdued, we cannot be gagged, we will continue to ask the right questions and demand a better life for ourselves and others.
“After this two-day warning strike, (if there is still) no response from the management, we will go on indefinite strike,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the protesting doctors displayed placards with various inscriptions including: “Enforce our security, we do not feel safe;” “LUTH is not safe for all;” “I have been working for four months without pay;” “Pay my salary;” “Light up LUTH;” and “LUTH management, stop spying on residents’ privacy,” among others.
When contacted, the Chairman of Medical Advisory Committee of LUTH, Prof. Olufemi Fasanmade, who spoke on behalf of the hospital’s management, said the ARD warning strike had nothing to do with salary.
“They decided to go on strike because some of their members were given query; the resident doctors do not want query to be served on their members or (for same to be) withdrawn if given.
“LUTH management is not spying on resident doctors because some of us have children in the association and we tend to see some of their conversations on WhatsApp group chat.
“Queries given to some of their members were as a result of what they said on their WhatsApp group chat such as malicious comments.
“The main reason why they are going on strike is to prevent discipline, so issue of non-payment of salaries is not true,’’ he said.
“LUTH management does not pay salaries, but it is being paid by Federal Government to the workers through Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
“I am not aware of anybody being owed up to five months’ salary; but I know of a month; and about security issue, we have adequate security and light everywhere.
“They should be aware that security is a joint responsibility of everybody,’’ Fasanmade said.
(NAN)
The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to setting the power sector on the path of sustainability and bankability, by prioritising the different reforms being undertaken in the sector. This is critical to the economic growth and development of the nation.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu disclosed this on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Mission 300 Stakeholders Engagement meeting, held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, where he announced that the estimated investment required for the Mission 300 Compact is $32.8 billion, with $15.5 billion expected from the private sector. The Mission is to provide electricity to 300million unserved people in Africa.
He said the stakeholders meeting would provide an opportunity for them to align, strategize, and to build the partnerships needed to move from Nigeria Energy Compact, to concrete results, as he called on development partners, the private sector, philanthropic actors, the public sector, and the civil society organizations to rally around this mission.
“Mobilizing this level of financing will demand innovation, coordination, and a shared commitment.
“In this room today are many of the institutions and individuals who can help us shape the future of Nigeria’s energy sector. Let us take this opportunity to ask hard questions, identify the practical solutions, and develop actionable plans that will make universal access a reality not just in the policy space, but in the daily lives of our citizens by powering our hospitals, our schools, our industries, and our homes”, Adelabu said.
He announced the priorities of the government in power sector reforms to include “adressing the market liquidity issues and initiating required sector reforms”.
“Currently”, he added, “there’s a huge outstanding debt to the Power Generation companies in the form of unpaid government subsidies which stands at about ₦4trn as of December 2024. The Federal Government is already working out modalities to defray this obligation and to ensure that further obligations are not accrued going forward, the government is working on a plan to transition the sector to a fully cost-reflective regime while implementing targeted subsidies for the economically vulnerable citizens in the country.
“Improving our power generation through recovery of idle capacities and expanding energy mix to ensure energy security, and to dilute the power pool with cheaper and cleaner energy sources”.
Other areas he identified included “Expanding transmission infrastructure to deliver more power, ensuring stability of the national grid to put and end to several grid disturbances and collapses previously observed on the grid, and to further strengthen the coordination and management of the national grid.
“Ensuring viability and performance improvement of the distribution segment of the power sector through strategic programs like the Presidential Metering Initiative and the World Bank-funded Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP)”.
The Minister also said that the Power Ministry is pursuing increased renewable energy through its rural electrification and energy transition drive, to provide a reliable power supply to unserved and underserved communities.
Through its training institute, the Ministry is also working to improve human capital and local content development in the sector to reduce import dependence, stimulate jobs, and build a homegrown energy industry.
“I assure you”, he continued “that the Federal Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is fully committed to this vision and through the Federal Ministry of Power, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, we will continue to champion reforms, promote innovation, and partner with all stakeholders to deliver a sustainable energy future”.
He expressed the appreciation of the Federal Government to the World Bank Group under the leadership of Mr Ajay Banga and the African Development Bank under the leadership of the out going Managing Director of the Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), and Sustainable Energy for All for taking on this mission to connect 300 million people across Africa to electricity by the year 2030 through the Mission 300 initiative, saying, “this ambition reflects our shared belief that energy access is a fundamental issue that must be urgently addressed to unlock economic potential of the continent”.
According to Adelabu, in January 2025 at the Dar es Salaam Africa Energy Summit, President Tinubu joined eleven other African Heads of State in endorsing the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration and formally committing to the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Mission 300.
“We presented our National Energy Compact, a bold statement of intent and ambition to fast-track access to both electricity and clean cooking for all Nigerians with the aim of achieving universal access by 2030 by increasing the rate of electricity access from 4 percent to 9 percent per annum and raising access to clean cooking from 22 percent to 25 percent per annum”, he said.
The Minister of Finance, Chief Wale Edun, who spoke through zoom from Brazil also said that the reforms the government was undertaking in the power sector were critical towards unlocking the full potentials of the economy as it would lead to job creation. He said the reforms have led to over 40 percent increase in power distribution in the first quarter of 2025.
Present at the meeting were the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Geoffrey Nnaji, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, the World Bank Officers, head of agencies in the Power Ministry, and partners of the sector.
During the plenary on Tuesday, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, clarified the Senate’s position, underpinning that the upper chamber has been diligent in attending to bills forwarded by the House.
Responding to recent claims that the Senate had failed to act on over 140 House-passed bills, including several sponsored by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the Senate leader disclosed that the Senate considered no fewer than six concurrence bills just last week.
The Senate President said, “We cannot joke with concurrence bills from the House of Representatives, we are committed to working together in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. It takes two hands to clap.”
This reaction by the Senate leadership followed a slight tension experienced at the House of Representatives last week when members of the green chamber resolved to suspend further consideration of bills originating from the Senate, citing what it described as persistent delays in legislative concurrence from the red chamber.
But Bamidele, while presenting one of the bills from the House during plenary on Tuesday, explained that the Senate has remained consistent in processing concurrence bills in line with constitutional responsibilities.
He said, “For the record, we have been doing what we are supposed to do. Only last week, the Senate concurred on six bills from the House of Representatives. We know we have the principle of reciprocity that governs our operations, but this does not necessarily mean garbage in, garbage out.
“We have the duty, as the foremost democratic institution in the country, to exercise due diligence on the bills. We will continue to consider concurrence bills from the House of Representatives in the same way they considered our bills. We will ensure that it is given attention in overriding public interest. I just want to say this for the record.”
The leadership assured the public that the Senate remained committed to a productive and cooperative relationship with the House of Representatives, underscoring that legislative harmony is essential for national progress.
Governor Alia was represented at the official inauguration of the squad by his Deputy, Dr Sam Ode.
The QRS is a joint operation comprising personnel from the Civilian Protection Guard (CPG), Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), local hunters, and the Joint Task Force (JTF).
The squad is designed to respond swiftly and effectively to threats, particularly in vulnerable communities across Benue.
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