Nigeria sacks doctors over 'illegal strike'

Lagos, 10 May – (ANA) - Hundreds of doctors in Nigeria's economic capital Lagos have been dismissed after going on an "illegal" strike over pay, Lagos state officials have said. Almost 800 doctors, on strike for nearly three weeks, have been replaced by about 400 junior doctors. The doctors were dismissed for refusing to answer queries about why they had been absent from work without leave and for breaking rules guiding industrial action in the state's public service, Lagos government official Adesegun Ogunlewe said. More than 1,000 doctors went on strike on 16 April, saying that the state government had failed to implement a pay increase promised by Governor Babatunde Fashola at the end of 2010. The Nigerian Medical Association has condemned the dismissals. (ANA)

FA/ANA/10 May 2012---------