Why would health workers in Nigeria continue to strike?

Wikipedia simply described strike as  work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work.

Historically strike as a weapon for seeking redress for labour grievance became common during the Industrial revolution.

This line of action has becoming a common tool for resolving labour dispute among Nigeria labour force without only one variant –general strike being popular and arguably the worst. The health workers have not been left out of this even though the moral expectation would have dictated otherwise.

For various reasons health workers bordering on the nature of work of the health most people would not encourage or expect them to use strike to settle labour dispute. Such include the fact they deal with human lives and  is an essential service. However, they are labourers who have sacrifice so much to attain their level of technical competence especially doctors and their income is tie to their hard earned technical competence and not the priests of the old they are bond to behalf like a other workers. They are human being too!

But why would health workers in Nigeria continue to strike?

• The Government which employs most them appears to be insensitive to their need.In some locations across the country, Government own as much as 98% of the Primary Health Centres. Strike is the last weapon by any reasonable set of worker. Apparently it very uncommon to have strike with this set of workers without notice to the Nigerian Government. But the general attitude of  the Government lean towards in action until the workers really embark on strike. The Government as a contracting partner have a right to prevent the strike in the first place in most of the cases.

• To get improvements where they work in the presently shattered health system. Obviously the Government is not ready for a change due to the obvious deficit in the Health system financing in Nigeria. For example most PHC facilities are in various level of disrepair, with equipment and infrastructure being either absent or obsolete, the referral system is almost non-existent and poorly staffed.  The total health expenditure ( as percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) from 1998 to 2000 was less than 5%, which is below THE/GDP ratio in other developing countries such as Kenya (5.3%), Zambia (6.2%), Tanzania (6.8%), Malawi (7.2%), and South Africa (7.5%).It is not surprising there is persistent healthcare infrastructural deficit which would continuously be irking the health workers.

• For more money; CONMESS and CONHESS was about that. And as inflation which would surely come like day and night as the Earth remains eroding the present negotiated packages they would ask for more and more in the future.

But should it always be like this!

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