Nurses working at the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday, protested against an alleged exclusion from the 2023 promotion carried out by the health institution.
The nurses under the aegis of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) also expressed displeasure over what they described as harsh working conditions.
They asked the management of the hospital to address their promotion arrears, shortage of staff, among others.
The aggrieved carried placards with various inscriptions including “Stop selective promotion”; “Nurses workload is enough for promotion”; “Nurses’ lives matter”; “Give us our promotion”; “Healthy workplace, healing spaces, nurses demand both”; “Improve nurses’ working environment”.
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The NANNM Chairman, Olufimilola Adekunle, said the protest was to demand the papers of the promotional examination which the hospital claimed the nurses failed.
“We are tired, we are really tired. Before, we used to do three shifts but because of the shortage, we have to collapse it to two shifts.
“We have written to the management several times for remuneration for this long hours work we are doing but no response.
“The only thing we enjoyed from this management is this promotion and now our members were not beneficiaries. They said we failed, we want to see the script,” she said.
Responding, the Head of Clinical Services of the hospital, Dr Kunle Adediran, said the issue regarding the promotion was beyond the management because the decision was taken by the Federal Ministry of Health.
He, however, promised that the hospital would write to the Federal Government to review some of the decisions and also address other issues raised by the nurses.
