Despite the sacking of 788 doctors on May 4, 2012, the face-off between the Lagos State government and the Medical Guild continues unabated. Rather than wane, the discord between the two parties appears to be waxing stronger.

Like the common saying “all things work together for our good,” so it was for 32-year-old single mother, Mrs. Kikelomo Ilori, who after making several attempts to abort a pregnancy, ended up giving birth to a boy in a Cherubim & Seraphim Church, clinching a Holy Quran in his right hand.

The week has been a very busy one but not in the sense of national re-birth or national development. It was a mélange involving former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidency, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, also jumped into the fray, while the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Buhari’s political party chose not to be left out.

Most Nigerians have congratulated the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) over the recent introduction of per-paid meter as the new way of the payment of power bills.

In 2005, a new phase of meter was introduced in the country as a way of addressing issues pertaining to electricity billing system in the country. While the deployment of the new pre-paid meter introduced in 2005 was still on in the Lagos district, further distribution had been suspended in the Ikeja distribution zone since July last year.

Reactions have been trailing the employment of what Lagosians have termed ‘baby doctors’ in place of the sacked doctors in Lagos State Government hospitals. Lagosians especially those seeking medical attention in the state hospitals have expressed doubts over the appointment of newly graduated doctors, raising questions if they would be able to proffer solutions to critical situations.

When the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo came with the readiness of combating the problem of energy in the nation, it generated loud ovation and the enthusiasm that descended on the country was that the problem of energy would soon be a thing of the past.

What started as a three-day warning strike over sundry issues whereby government issued queries to them and also ordered that they appear before a disciplinary panel to explain their action, the medical doctors in Lagos State-owned hospitals then embarked on indefinite strike which led to their mass dismissal, as both parties are now in court.

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris who confirmed that the government is tired of strikes in an interview with Sola Ogundipe & Chioma Obinna, in this concluding part of the interview said the sacking of 788 striking doctors was a difficult decision for the government but was taken in the overall interest of the health sector.

PRIOR to the inception of the present administration in Osun State, no one would ever have thought that the tremendous reformation being witnessed in the education system in the state today could be possible.

This government is tired of strikes. Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris who confirmed this in an interview with Sola Ogundipe and Chioma Obinna, was only echoing the thoughts of millions of Lagosians and Nigerians as a whole.

TODAY, a visit to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH and several other state government hospitals in Lagos shows empty casualty departments.

TRIBALISM/ethnicity/sectionalism: It is my contention that tribalism, ethnicity and sectionalism played the most part of Nigeria’s political instability. Most of the military interventions experienced in Nigeria were inspired by tribal and ethnic tendencies inherent in the country’s social diversity.

As part of the restructuring of the Lagos healthcare system, new doctors are daily being recruited to replace the sacked doctors. Chief Medical Director, LASUTH, Ikeja, Professor Adewale Oke sheds light on ongoing efforts to restore sanity into the system.

If heaven knows no rage like a woman scorned, members of the House of Representatives’ ad-hoc Committee probing the near collapse of the Nigerian Capital Market, saw first hand last week, the rage that can be displayed by big ladies who chose to go after one another’s jugular. This was no ordinary rage.