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President Bola Tinubu has pleaded with organised Labour to give him more time to take a comprehensive look into their demands rather than proceeding with the planned industrial action.
The President's message was delivered by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, after emerging from a meeting with Tinubu on the night of Wednesday, July 26, 2023.
The Speaker had led the House leadership to brief the President on the outcome of their engagement with the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which has declared a nationwide strike action.
Abbas told State House correspondents that Tinubu said he was new in office and needed more time to evaluate the demands put forward by the workers.
He also quoted the President to have said that he was yet to be briefed about the grievances expressed by the organised Labour.
“What he said is that he’s just coming on board. We should ask them and beg them to please give him a little more time.
“The things that they mentioned, he is completely unaware of them; he has yet to be briefed about all those issues.
“But from what he heard from me, he also advised that we should channel those issues to the Chief of Staff to look at one after the other.
“I believe in the coming days, some concerted actions will be taken,” Abbas said.
The Speaker disclosed that the House leadership succeeded in persuading the resident doctors to shelve their planned strike action as earlier threatened.
“Sequel to the meeting we had with them, there were a series of conditions that they gave, that we felt we need to share with the President,” he added.
Abbas said the purpose of the visit to the Presidential Villa on Wednesday night was to update the President on the progress made with the aggrieved doctors.