The Federal Government has appealed to the Joint Health Sector Unions to suspend its one-week warning strike nationwide. The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, made the appeal on Monday during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja. “I use this opportunity to appeal to JOHESU to suspend their strike and go into a negotiation. “The position of the Ministry of Health is that strikes by healthcare workers jeopardise the lives of citizens, especially at such times of global health emergencies as now. “Nigeria needs the service of all our health workers to control the spread of COVID-19. Issues around allowances are multi-sectoral and have always been served with negotiations no matter how long it took,” he pleaded. The minister’s plea is coming hours after JOHESU ...
Mali’s military junta will hold meetings on Saturday to discuss its promised transition to civilian rule after mounting pressure from neighbours to yield power in the weeks since it overthrew the nation’s leader. The West African country has long been plagued by chronic instability, a simmering jihadist revolt, ethnic violence and endemic corruption, prompting a clique of rebel colonels to detain elderly President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last month. They pledged to step down after an undefined transition period, but the putsch has prompted Mali’s neighbours and former colonial ruler France to demand a swift transfer of power, with fears the crisis could impact neighbouring states. The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc has imposed sanctions and closed...