The Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has ordered immediate employment of 30 medical doctors and 100 nurses in the state civil service within the next two weeks, to boost the state’s healthcare sector.

Amosun gave the directive on Tuesday during the 2019 Treasury Board Meeting in preparation for the 2019 budget held in Abeokuta.

Amosun said the employment would provide a temporary succour for the shortfall in the health sector before the 2019 budget was passed which would allow more employment in the sector.

He added that an additional provision of at least 100 medical doctors and 300 nurses would be accommodated in the 2019 budget.

He said the employment would add more to the wage bill of the state which the state was currently struggling to pay, adding that he would comply with whatever minimum wage agreed upon by the negotiating team.

He said, “On the minimum wage, we will meet somewhere because I am not part of the team negotiating.

“What labour is saying is not salary adjustment, what they are saying is that there is no worker in Nigeria that must collect below N30, 000. I don’t know what figure they are going to arrive at but whatever figure they arrive at, it would be binding on me and we have to pay.

“It is easy for me to come here and say take 400 doctors but when I am struggling to pay the N18, 000, where would the money come from? Clearly, now, I have given an instruction that we are not waiting for this budget, what we would do immediately is that I would give approval for immediate employment of 100 nurses and 30 doctors.” – Punch

– Nov. 7, 2018 @ 18:15 GMT |