The Federal Government and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors on Wednesday told the National Industrial Court, Abuja that they were open to negotiations in order to end the ongoing strike action.
They disclosed this to Justice Bashar Alkali when the matter came up in court.
The counsel for the resident doctors, Femi Falana (SAN), prayed the court to direct the parties to return to the negotiation table.
The counsel for the Federal Government, Tochukwu Maduka (SAN), responded that the matter at hand is of a special breed.
He told the court that the parties were earlier sent to an industrial arbitral panel but the arbitral process failed.
However, Maduka told the court that the Federal Government was still open to negotiations.
Consequently, the court fixed its ruling on the ongoing dispute between the Federal Government and the resident doctors for September 17.
Justice Alkali made the adjournment order after listening to submissions from both parties.
Falana had raised the issue of the court’s jurisdiction and had sought that his application challenging the court’s jurisdiction be taken.
However, Maduka stated that the issue of contempt was yet to be taken and argued that the issue of contempt should take precedence over the issue of jurisdiction.
