Expectant Mothers Stranded As Strike Cripples Abuja Health Centres  

Since the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) resumed its indefinite strike, all primary healthcare centres in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been shut down.

During a visit to several primary health centres in the FCT, LEADERSHIP Friday found pregnant women stranded outside facilities locked and inaccessible.

In conjunction with NULGE, primary school teachers represented by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) also initiated their own indefinite strike on Monday, March 24, 2025, after receiving their February 2025 salaries without the promised implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage.

One woman, Mrs Gloria Isah, who was left waiting outside the Dutse Alhaji primary health centre, appealed for urgent intervention from the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

She urged him to take decisive action to resolve the ongoing strike by ensuring that local government workers receive the agreed minimum wage.

“The minister should do whatever it takes to ensure that the local government workers are paid the agreed minimum wage of N70,000 so that they will go back to work,” Isah said.

She expressed her frustration over the strike’s impact on essential services: “If NYSC members can be paid N70,000, why can’t the local government workers be paid even more than that amount, when from our observations, they are the ones doing most of the work? It is unfair.”