Bayelsa health workers protest over unpaid hazard allowance

A coalition of healthcare professionals in Bayelsa is calling on the state government to promptly enforce the recently approved hazard allowance for its members in the region.

They have highlighted that the circular pertaining to the implementation of the updated hazard allowance was released as early as December 2021, but the state government has yet to disburse the funds to the healthcare workers.

During a peaceful demonstration held in Yenagoa on Wednesday, Tonubari Samuel, the Secretary of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), stated that the objective of the protest was to bring government attention to the challenges faced by healthcare workers in the state.

He emphasized that besides the new hazard allowance, the state government has also neglected to enact the revised ‘call-duty’ allowance for healthcare workers, despite the issuance of a circular directing its payment back in 2014.

He said: “Health workers have been working all these while, but those that work are not getting what their colleagues in other states are getting, they are not getting what their colleagues in Federal Health institutions are getting.

“So, is it that Bayelsa State nurses are second class citizens? Or Bayelsa health workers are second class citizens? So, if other health workers in other states and federal institutions are receiving this revised call duty allowance, Bayelsa health workers deserve it.

“The government should begin the process of payment of the new consolidated health salary structure of 2023.

“New entry point for graduate nurses has a circular in 2022, it has not been implemented in the state. Other states have implemented it, same with the Federal Health institutions. Pleads for its implementation.

“Also, Medical Laboratory Scientists and Pharmacists are not properly placed in the state. They should be properly placed and their entry point should be effected,” he said.

Pharmacist Manovie Ambrose Elliot, the Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), conveyed that the protest aimed to voice the discontent of the healthcare profession coalition.

Governor Douye Diri, during the recent Workers’ Day celebration, instructed the Head of Service to investigate the reason for the delay in implementing his directives regarding call-duty and hazard allowances. He emphasized the need for their swift enactment.