Health workers have asked the Federal Government for upward review of their retirement age from 60 to 65.
The workers, under the aegis of Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), stated approval of the new retirement age of 65 for teachers by the government should also be extended to health personnel.
President of MHWUN, Dr Biobelemonye Josiah, said this at the 9th quadrennial state delegates conference 2021, in Abuja on Thursday.
Represented by the union’s Deputy President, Kabir Minjibir, Josiah re-echoed calls for the implementation of the upward review of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure for health workers as done for the medical doctors.
Josiah also called for the payment of the COVID-19 special inducement and hazard allowance as well as the arrears to health workers.
He admonished the health workers to be careful when handling patients, citing the rise in coronavirus infections in the country.
Josiah said: “For the same reasons that informed government’s timely approval of a new retirement age for teachers, an extension of such gesture to health professionals shall ensure the harnessing of their experience.
“Our demand for the review of our retirement age from 60 to 65 cannot therefore be better appreciated than the experience in the current circumstances.”
The Chairman, Federal Capital Territory Council of MHWUN, Shanabo Abubakar, pleaded with the government to pay the allowances due to health workers to motivate them.
He lauded the FCT Administration for restoring the CONHESS to the union members in the Abuja Environmental Protection Board.
Abubakar said: “We eagerly await the same action for our members in the Social Development Secretariat.
“We also appeal to the Administration to kindly give the FCT council of MHWUN a plot of land to erect our own secretariat.”