Nigerian health workers to sue FG over Surgeon-General appointment

Health workers in the nation's tertiary health institutions have threatened to employ all options available to them, including legal action, to thwart President Goodluck Jonathan's decision to appoint a surgeon-general of the federation.


The leaders of the health workers, under the aegis of the Assembly of Health Workers and Joint Health Workers Union (JOHESU), disclosed this yesterday when they paid a courtesy visit to the corporate headquarters of LEADERSHIP Newspapers Ltd in Abuja.

However, the minister of health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, had defended the post of a surgeon general, saying it would help to fill the lacuna in the constitution which provides for fitness certification of governors in office.

The President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Olumide Akintayo declared that all actions including legal will be taken to restrain the President from creating such position.

He said, "Sometimes, you cannot help but imagine that there are elements that are bent on turning Nigeria to a Banana Republic. I have been reviewing various comments of key government officials in the last few hours especially Nigeria's minister of health. It is clear that our liberties are being threatened because the body language is clear that government is going ahead with the appointment of a surgeon general. The conventional propriety dictates that we have a chartered liberty to exercise our rights. I will in consultation with relevant stakeholders in the health sector take a decisive action including legal action to preserve our liberties in the days ahead."

Source: LEADERSHIP