Ngige, Gambo Dori and our health sector conundrum

The advent of the social media has no doubt increased our vulnerability to disinformation, either in form of barefaced falsehood or manipulating information out of context. It is within the second category that I will situate the opinion article by Gambo Dori, published in the August 30, 2021 edition of the Daily Trust Newspaper, titled, […]

The advent of the social media has no doubt increased our vulnerability to disinformation, either in form of barefaced falsehood or manipulating information out of context. It is within the second category that I will situate the opinion article by Gambo Dori, published in the August 30, 2021 edition of the Daily Trust Newspaper, titled, ‘Our health sector conundrum’.  

Dori, a columnist, used two videos that trended in the social media to create an imagery of the poor state of the health sector in Nigeria. The first video was the very recent recruitment of Nigerian medical personnel by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) at Sheraton Hotel Abuja. The second emanated from an interview that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, granted Channels Television in 2019 where he purportedly said Nigeria had surplus doctors and could afford to export some. The interview was anchored by Maupe Ogun.   

Regarding the first video, I have no issues with Dori for expressing outrage over the attempt by the Saudi authorities to take advantage of the strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to poach some of our doctors who are eager to leave the country in search of greener pastures overseas. However, I take exception to his attempt to mislead the readers by presenting an interview that Ngige granted two years ago to Channels TV as his reaction to the recent saga of Nigerian doctors seeking for Saudi jobs.    

When this interview initially trended in 2019, the minister immediately reacted through his media aide, Nwachukwu Obidiwe, saying he was misquoted. The details of Senator Ngige’s rebuttal to the video in 2019 are there on the archives and the internet for everybody to access.  

While not disputing the fact that columns and op-ed pieces allow writers to include their own voice and express an opinion, for a column to be successful, it must be grounded in research. This is because columns are expected to inform and educate the readers and make them to know the current situation of the country and their problems. They find solutions to problems. Unfortunately, none was proffered by Gambo Dori in his half-page article.   

Also, columnists, as the people who mould public opinion, must present facts as they are. The facts must not be intentionally or unintentionally distorted or twisted for whatever reason. If Mr. Gambo Dori had done some research, he would have discovered that all the assertions made by the minister in the 2019 interview represented Nigeria’s existential realities as clearly stated in his rebuttal.  

Dori stated that “Ngige is at the centre of the negotiations with the leadership of NARD, who have had a number of strikes before the present one, all bordering on the same issue of better pay and improved working conditions.” This assertion clearly exposed his shallow knowledge of labour management. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment is not the employer of the doctors.  Their employer is the Federal Ministry of Health. What happens is that whenever the doctors take any matter to their employer, there is always a breakdown of the negotiation. When there is a breakdown of negotiation, the labour ministry steps in. This applies to labour disputes in both public and private sectors. In the case of the public sector, it is not Ngige’s job to implement agreements but the parent ministries.      

It is wrong of Dori to blame the minister for the 21-day ultimatum issued by NMA. This shows that he did not even make any attempt to see the latest MOU that the federal government signed with NMA and its sub-associations before writing his jaundiced opinion. If he had done so, I am sure he ought to have directed his blame elsewhere.

Article X of the MOU explicitly stated that the NMA should facilitate the withdrawal of the suits by the Medical and Dental Specialist Associations in Basic Medical Sciences (MEDSABAMS) against the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) and the Accountant General of the Federation to ensure the amicable resolution of the issues. NMA has not executed this task, yet it issued an ultimatum. So, who is complicating the matter?  

I will conclude by reminding Gambo Dori that many young journalists look up to columnists as their role models in the pen profession. In writing he should please endeavour to uphold the highest ethical standard, being somebody saddled with the responsibility of shaping public opinion on social, political, economic and related matters.  

 Emmanuel Nzomiwu wrote from Abuja