Sanwo-Olu opens up on Lagos doctors’ strike

LAGOS, Nigeria – Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos on Tuesday said the major issue which led to doctors’ strike in the state has been resolved. He attributed the strike to inadequate communication and understanding.

The Governor was responding to reporters at the Infectious Disease Hospital, IDP, Yaba, where he commemorated year 2020 Tree planting day and commissioned a 36 chamber morgue, donated by IHS Towers to the State Government.

Sanwo-Olu said the major issue at stake was the outstanding May and June additional COVID-19 allowance, which has now been paid.

He informed that the allowance was his initiative, stressing, “because we wanted to show leadership at the outbreak of the pandemic.”

The Governor explained that the cause of the delay in payment was because the government had to do enumeration to ensure that only those entitled got paid.

He explained further that the COVID-19 additional allowance is different from hazard allowance, which the government had increased by 400 per cent for all health workers.

The COVID-19 additional allowance, according to him, is only for frontline workers at the isolation centres but it became an all-comers affair, which was becoming a drain on the state’s purse, a development he said informed the enumeration.

On alleged dismissal of doctors, Sanwo-Olu said they were not dismissed but were only redeployed to their primary duty posts after spending about three to four months at the Isolation centres.