The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) on Sunday put a hold to its planned indefinite strike nationwide earlier scheduled to commence today, and directed all its members nationwide to remain calm and continue in their civic duties.

According to a statement issued Sunday evening, the decision to suspend the strike was based on a mediatory meeting held by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, with the association and the Minister of Health,  Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, late on Friday night.

The mediatory meeting was followed by an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union on Saturday where a decision was finally taken to stop the strike and give another seven days ultimatum to the government to implement their demands.

"Therefore, we call on all our members nation-wide to remain calm and continue in their civic duties of caring for the sick and wounded, while we see to the full implementation of our well deserved victory at the National Industrial Court," the statement signed by the NANNM President, Abdrafiu Alani Adeniji, and the Acting General Secretary, Yusuf-Badmus, W.G said.

The statement added: "Therefore, it becomes reluctantly necessary that NANNM through an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, which was held on the February 22, 2014 should give the Federal Government another seven days to implement our demands, or face an indefinite industrial action. You may be aware that in every industrial dispute, dialogue cannot be overruled."

At the meeting, the parties agreed that since the National Council on Establishment was going to have a meeting in Ilorin, the Kwara State Capital, the Federal Ministry of Health should produce a Unified Scheme of Service that shall be presented to the National Council on Establishment through the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF).

This is intended to do away with dichotomy in the nursing profession, as only the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (N&MCN) has powers to determine and register nurses in Nigeria.

To this end, "Nursing, like every other regulated profession is to be practised based on the enabling laws, and implementing the unified scheme of service for nursing, inter alia the demand for the implementation of the court judgement; NANNM also requested  in specific terms the creation of a Directorate of Nursing Services in the Federal Ministry of Health with full autonomy, rather than the subservient role of reporting to the Director Hospital Services in the ministry," the statement added.

Part of the mediatory understanding, according to the statement, was the setting up of a committee to look into the full implementation of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) award which nurses have maintained patience for 34 years since May 7, 1981 and the National Industrial Court (NIC) judgement.