Doctors’ Strike And Matters Arising

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has once again placed the country’s healthcare system on the brink of collapse with its announcement of an indefinite strike commencing January 12, 2026.

This latest threat follows a depressingly familiar pattern: agreements signed, strikes suspended, promises broken, and the cycle repeating with predictable regularity.

The association cites the federal government’s failure to implement a 19-point Memorandum of Understanding signed barely two months ago, in November 2025, following a 29-day strike that paralysed hospitals nationwide.

That the government could not sustain its commitments for even 60 days before doctors felt compelled to return to the picket line speaks volumes about the credibility crisis at the heart of Nigeria’s health sector management.

According to Dr Mohammad Suleiman, the National President of the association, the decision followed the government’s continued delay and selective implementation of the 19-point agreement, which led to the suspension of the previous strike on November 27.

The Federal Government had insisted that 19 out of the resident doctors’ 20 demands had been met.

But NARD identified the unresolved issues as five-year arrears and unpaid allowances across multiple hospitals, unimplemented specialist allowances, salary shortfalls linked to IPPIS, non-reinstatement of dismissed doctors at FTH Lokoja, stagnant promotions and workforce shortages, delayed Medical Residency Training Fund payments, and poor working conditions driving brain drain

Others include implementing a humane working-hours policy in line with international best practices, granting greater autonomy to hospital chief executives to hire replacements under the one-for-one replacement policy, and paying specialist allowances to all doctors, as well as correcting entry-level placements.

The association also called for the urgent completion of the Collective Bargaining Agreement Committee’s work on the overdue review of CONMESS and related allowances, the enforcement of salary relativity between CONMESS and CONHESS, and the implementation of agreed-upon pension benefits for doctors.

Sadly, this newspaper notes that over the years, NARD’s and health workers’ incessant industrial actions have contributed to the nation’s parlous healthcare delivery.

We recognise that Nigeria’s health indices are poor, marked by high maternal/child mortality, low life expectancy (around 54 years), and significant burdens from both infectious diseases (malaria) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs like hypertension, diabetes).

Other key issues include poor access/quality, health worker brain drain, underfunding, low health insurance coverage, and geographic disparities, leading to preventable deaths and increased suffering, especially for women and children in rural areas.

Unfortunately, with industrial action, government hospitals across the country will operate at skeletal capacity, consultants will be overstretched, and thousands of patients will remain stranded.

The government’s response has been characteristically evasive. The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, noted that NARD’s demands have been reduced from 19 to nine. At the same time, some remaining items are limited by existing civil service rules and service schemes.

He noted that while the government would be pleased to raise health workers’ pay significantly, it must balance such demands with obligations to other sectors, including education, security and national infrastructure, within the limits of available revenue.

Dr Salako explained that past negotiations were often fragmented, with different health professional groups engaging with the government separately, leading to conflicting agreements on pay parity and relativity and triggering repeated industrial actions.

While highlighting a N90 billion annual increase in health workers’ allowances as evidence of its commitment to industrial harmony in the sector, the minister stated that to address this, the ministry initiated and adopted a collective bargaining approach, ensuring that doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists, and other health workers negotiated together.

Also in reaction to the proposed strike by the NARD, a full page advertorial in most of the National Dailies by the Concerned citizens of Nigeria ( CCN), accused the association of political sympathies even as it said some members of NARD  were known associates of particular political interests in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and may be acting in pursuance of a political end as the campaign season nears.

In our view, resident doctors are not asking for luxury. They are requesting salaries and allowances they have already earned, promotions that are long overdue, humane working conditions, and for the government to respect its own agreements.

These are reasonable demands that any functioning government would meet without drama. That Nigeria’s government cannot or will not meet them says everything about the institutional rot that defines public administration in this country.

The government should implement the November 2025 agreement in full and immediately. It should reinstate the dismissed Lokoja doctors, clear the backlog of allowances, address IPPIS-related salary shortfalls, implement specialist allowances, and complete the CONMESS review.

It should stop negotiating in bad faith and start treating health workers as the essential professionals they are. And if it cannot do these things—if revenue limitations or civil service rules genuinely constrain it—then it should say so honestly and work with NARD to find realistic timelines and solutions rather than signing agreements it has no intention of keeping.