The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) commenced a seven-day warning strike on Monday, in protest of the continued abduction of their colleague, Ganiyat Popoola, who has been held captive for the past eight months.
Abubakar Hassan, the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Kogi State, pointed to the escalating insecurity in Nigeria as a primary reason for the increasing exodus of doctors from the country.
In an interview in Lokoja, Hassan revealed that medical professionals have become frequent targets for criminal elements, despite their vital role in society.
He expressed deep concern over the impact of frequent kidnappings on healthcare services, both within Kogi State and across the nation.
Hassan highlighted that many instances of doctors being kidnapped remain unreported, noting that in one North Central State, at least two doctors are currently in captivity—one for over a year and the other more recently.
“Insecurity is a significant factor driving doctors to leave Nigeria for other countries,” Hassan emphasized.
He criticized the federal government for its failure to ensure the safety of medical practitioners, describing the insecurity as a major obstacle to effective medical practice in the country. “Down tooling was our last resort to press our demands,” he added.
Jimoh Umar, President of the Association of Resident Doctors at Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja, confirmed full compliance with the strike in Kogi State.
He voiced concerns over the deteriorating security situation for doctors and urged the government to urgently address their demands.
The strike comes in the wake of the abduction of Ganiyat Popoola, a registrar in the Department of Ophthalmology at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna, who was kidnapped in December 2023 along with her husband and nephew.
