The failure to implement the new hazard allowance that the Federal Government approved has been criticized by nurses and midwives in the Bayelsa State Civil Service.
The non-implementation of the new allowance had an impact on no less than 450 nurses and midwives in the state. For employees who perform extraordinarily risky or physically demanding jobs, hazard allowance is additional compensation.
The hazard allowances for health workers in its healthcare facilities across the nation were raised by the federal government in December 2021.
The raise was announced in a circular from the chairman of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission with reference SWC/S/04/S.218/11/406, dated December 22, 2021.
Concerning the review of the hazard allowance applicable to health workers in the services of federal hospitals, medical centers, and clinics in ministries, departments, and agencies, it stated in part.
For health professionals on the CONHESS salary structure, the hazard allowance was revised to a flat rate that ranges from N5,000 to between N15,000 and N34,000, while doctors on the CONMESS salary structure had theirs reviewed from N5,000 to between N32,000 and N40,000.
According to the new policy, non-clinical and clinical nurses and midwives on GL 01 to 05 are to earn N15,000 and N16,000 as hazard allowance, those on GL 06 to 12 are to earn N30,000 and N32,000, and those on GL 13 to 15 are to earn N32,000 to 34,000.
However, despite the state government’s orders that the hazard allowances be paid right away, research reveals that nurses and midwives in Bayelsa State are still paid N5,000 as the allowance.
Governor Douye Diri instructed the Head of Service, Biobelemoye Charles-Onyeama, to start implementing the revised hazard allowance on May Day, 2023.
“We believe that all medical and health workers who are entitled to call duty and hazard allowances as per our directives may have started receiving them,” Diri said, “and if not, I hereby direct the Head of Service to go into this immediately and ascertain why that directive has not been carried out and implement it.”
According to Fii Samuel, the Secretary-General of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives’ Bayelsa State Council, nurses continue to receive a monthly hazard allowance of N5,000.
“This is despite the fact that they are exposed to a variety of hazards while providing care to the ill, resulting in injuries, burnout, contracting infections and diseases, and occasionally even death,” he said. We are therefore urging the implementation of the new hazard allowance.
Samuel continued by saying that call duty allowance should be paid in accordance with the 2014 revised call duty allowance scale for nurses in specialized fields of practice and those who work across public hospitals.
He continued, “The association’s leadership has made numerous unsuccessful attempts through meetings with the government and letters requesting the implementation of the 2014 revised call duty allowance for specialist nurses but to no avail.
In its resolution, the association requests that the Bayelsa State Government and all pertinent organizations take immediate action to address the problems. This will increase nurses’ motivation and morale and boost the quality of healthcare services.
Biobelemoye Charles-Onyeama, the state’s head of service, responded to a request for comment by saying that the state was working to domesticate the new hazard allowance policy but that no specific date had been set.
“What happens at the federal level is not an automatic thing for the state, so it is when the state domesticates it that they can start earning it,” she said.
