Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has said that Nigeria could ill afford another prolonged episode of industrial action by medical practitioners.

He stressed that the nation just coming out of the over five-month nation-wide strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which was suspended only a couple of days ago, must as a matter of urgency, take every possible step to nip the ongoing strike by doctors in the bud.
Uduaghan, who stated this yesterday, while playing host to a delegation of judges in Delta State at the Government House Annexe Warri, disclosed that he had just returned from Abuja where he had been putting heads together with other stakeholders to seek a quick end to the doctors' strike.

He said that the losses suffered by the nation due to such strikes could never be quantified, adding that he was passionate about working with the aggrieved medical practitioners and other relevant stakeholders to resolve the problem promptly.

"As we speak here, practically every government hospital in the country is shut down - or at best offering only skeletal services - because the doctors are on strike. And, being in that profession, it is a lot of concern to me.

“So, from Wednesday when the strike began, I have been in Abuja trying to mediate between the doctors and Federal Government. We are working hard to avert long strike; the nation certainly cannot afford another ASUU-type strike in the health sector. Hopefully, very soon, we should be heading somewhere desirable", he said.
However, Uduaghan noted that the judges in the state deserved commendation in many areas, including their courageous execution of their statutory functions even in the face of otherwise daunting challenges.

Uduaghan thanked the judges drawn from the High Court and Customary Court of Appeal, led by the Delta State Chief Judge, Justice Abiodun Zai-Laye Smith, for ensuring speedy dispensation of justice in the state.

He also thanked them for their commitment to the promotion of law and order in the state as well as their "patience even in the face of challenges, especially in the light of security challenges" experienced in the state, in which some judges were personally victimised.

The governor said that it was gratifying to note that "Across the country, Delta State has the highest number of prosecuted cases of kidnapping".

He said that this was in spite of the fact that Delta does not record the highest number of kidnap cases in the country, noting that the disposition of the judges would go a long way in enhancing his administration's policy of Delta State Beyond Oil.

He noted that the importance of the role of the judiciary particularly as it relates to legal issues of investment in agricultural and other sectors as well as infrastructural development could not be over-emphasized.

Earlier, the Chief Judge, Justice Smith commended Uduaghan for the giant strides recorded by his administration in many areas, saying that good governance was bound to enhance peace and security as well as other aspects of the tripartite development agenda of the state government including human and capital development.