Reactions were mixed as some Nigerians reacted to Monday's sack of 788 striking doctors by the Lagos State Government.
Founder, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr Frederick Fasheun, on Tuesday in Lagos told NAN that there was a need for the government to have a rethink and go back to the drawing board with the doctors.
“My appeal is for the state to provide grounds for fresh dialogue in consideration of residents that are in dire need of the services of the doctors,'' he said.
Fasheun, himself a medical doctor, however, condemned the incessant strikes by doctors, pointing out that the doctors should have employed dialogue in consideration of the lives they swore to protect.
A human rights lawyer, Mr Bamidele Aturu, described the sack as “unconstitutional, illegal and very unfair“ to labour practice.
“It is illegal to frustrate a pending case. The case between the state and the doctors is billed for Wednesday, May 9; the state should have waited for the matter to be resolved before the sack,’’ Aturu said.
The Chairman, Lagos State chapter of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Mr Ehi Omokhuale, advised the new doctors employed by the state not to accept the jobs of their sacked colleagues.
Omokhuale said that the CLO was disappointed by the sack of the doctors because the state should have kept its agreement with them.
“This agreement was entered since 2009. It is only wise that our leaders learn to keep their promises,'' he said.
However, Mr Akinola Obadia, Lagos State Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Party (CNPP), said the union was in support of the action of the government.
“The indisputable facts remains that the doctors main duty is to save lives; abandoning that for money is unacceptable,'' Obadia said.
Obadia said that the sack should be a lesson to everyone in the medical practice, advising that they should take their oath of saving lives more seriously. (NAN)