Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors should not have to beg for what has already been agreed upon.

He recalled that the Federal Government had signed a deal on the Professional Allowance Table, only to abandon it.

"This is not governance; it is betrayal," Atiku said in a statement following NARD's announcement of a strike action.

"Our resident doctors are the last line of defence in hospitals that are already collapsing. They work gruelling hours, in impossible conditions, for pay that insults their sacrifice. And now, the government seeks to take away the little that was promised? The Tinubu administration must demonstrate commitment to the issues: 19 months of unpaid Professional Allowance arrears; promotion arrears gathering dust; a Medical Residency Training Fund stuck in bureaucratic limbo; and a government that treats its doctors as an afterthought and remains unconcerned as they flee the country in droves.

"Every doctor Nigeria loses to the UK, Canada, or Saudi Arabia is a failure of leadership, not a failure of patriotism. You cannot ask people to serve a nation that refuses to honour its own word."

Atiku expressed solidarity with NARD, urging the FG to pay what it owes the doctors. "Honour what you signed. Or explain to 200 million Nigerians why their hospitals will go dark on Tuesday," he said.