The Department of State Services (DSS) has disproved media reports that it disbanded a long line of doctors in Abuja, who went to tender their credentials before a Saudi Arabia recruitment panel at the Sheraton Hotels.
As a result of the poor working conditions, strike action and irregular workforce pay of Nigeria’s skilled health practitioners, a large number of Nigerian doctors have gathered at designated spots in Abuja and Lagos in the past week, to tender their resumes to a team of Saudi Arabia recruiters in other to seek greener pasture.
However, on Friday, August 27, some media platforms reported that DSS operatives stormed the Sheraton Hotels venue of the Abuja recruitment exercise to disperse the doctors.
However, Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesperson, said the reports are a bunch of lies.
His statement reads: “The attention of the Department of State Services has once again been drawn to a falsehood being circulated in the media that it dispersed doctors attending a Saudi Arabia organised job interview at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, yesterday August 26, 2021.
“Though this is illogical and does not add up, sections of the media that reported it did not care to verify the news before going to print. No further evidence was also adduced to prove that the DSS carried out such an operation at the hotel.
“It is obvious that the news is only designed to embarrass the organisation.
“Journalists and other media practitioners are enjoined to cross-check their facts and ensure that they do not use their platforms to mislead the public or undermine national security.”
Labour Minister Chris Ngige who is a medical doctor himself also stated that there is nothing wrong with Nigerian doctors abandoning their nation and fleeing to better run countries.
“We have a surplus in the medical profession here. It’s my area. Who says we don’t have enough doctors in Nigeria? We have more than enough. Quote me. There is nothing wrong with our doctors leaving.
“They go out, sharpen their skills, they earn money and send them back home here. We have foreign exchange earnings from them- not from oil,” Ngige said.
The minister also added that if there is nothing wrong with Indians and Pakistanis coming to Nigeria to teach, no one should criticize the federal government if Nigerian doctors emigrate abroad, adding for emphasis that Indians taught him.
