President Bola Tinubu has cancelled an existing “No Work, No Pay” order that was instituted against striking members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on August 1, 2023.

President Tinubu invoked the “Principle of the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy” to waive the order which was instituted against the doctors following their industrial action which began on July 26, 2023.

The doctors had embarked on nationwide strike which lasted for two weeks, and grounded activities across healthcare institutions in Nigeria.

The medical practitioners’ strike was to draw the attention of the government to their low hazard allowance, salary increase, poor welfare and general working conditions.

Though the strike was called off by the resident doctors on August 12, 2023, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation was directed by the Federal Government to withhold all salaries.

In a statement issued Friday and signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, Tinubu said he was compelled to revoke the order after “constructive engagements between government and the doctors.”

“Invoking the Principle of the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy, President Bola Tinubu has approved the waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” order that was instituted against striking members of NARD on 1 August, 2023, following the commencement of their industrial action which began on 26 July, 2023,” Ngelale said in the statement.

“After several constructive engagements between the Federal Government and NARD, the Resident Doctors called off their strike on 12 August. The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation was directed to withhold all salaries accrued by striking NARD members during the 17 days of their strike action.

“In view of the faithful implementation of terms which were agreed upon during the fruitful deliberations between the Resident Doctors and the Federal Government of Nigeria, President Tinubu has directed the grant of an exceptional last waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” Order on Resident Doctors, which will allow for the members of the NARD to receive the salaries which were previously withheld during the 17-day strike action,” Ngelale wrote.

The statement also stated that the president granted the waiver with a mandatory requirement that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment must secure a Document of Understanding (DoU) establishing that this exceptional waiver granted by the president would be the last one to be granted to all health sector unions.

The presidential spokesman also stated that the president had approved the waiver of the ‘no work, no pay’ rule for members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The senior university lecturers had also suffered the same fate of “No Work, No Pay” following their long-drawn strike which lasted for several months over their poor working conditions.

The education sector in Nigeria has consistently witnessed protests by lecturers and non-academic staff over “poor welfare conditions, overstretched workforce, poor working environment, among other issues.”

The situation had often led to industrial actions by the workers, including the grounding of academic activities across the nation.

To forestall the frequent strikes by the workers’ unions, the government imposed the “No Work, No Pay” rule, citing Section 43(1)(a) of the Trade Disputes Act.