Resident Doctors Begin Indefinite Nationwide Strike

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has launched an unlimited countrywide industrial action starting from midnight on this Saturday, November 1, 2025.

This industrial action, anticipated to disrupt operations within public hospitals throughout the nation, stems from the national government’s purported neglect in addressing a 19-item agenda of requests that the group has labeled as its “minimum expectations.”

During a media briefing conducted in Abuja, the NARD leader, Dr. Muhammad Suleiman, explained that the choice was made following a prolonged five-hour urgent session of the group’s National Executive Council (NEC) from the previous week.

He indicated that the group had shown considerable forbearance and tolerance even amid ongoing governmental neglect regarding vital well-being and compensation matters impacting physicians and additional medical staff.

“There are allowances pending for over two years, some for 18 months, seven months, four months, and even as far back as 10 years. The basic salary of doctors in this country has not been reviewed for 16 years”he said

Furthermore, he noted that the national government is indebted to healthcare professionals for roughly N38 billion in built-up compensation and back payments, as numerous medical facilities persist in functioning amid substandard environments resulting from insufficient financial support and insufficient personnel.

Key elements among NARD’s primary requests encompass prompt disbursement of the unresolved 25–35% Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) back payments along with the 2024 equipment allowance. Clearing of every outstanding monetary obligations due to physicians and fellow medical employees, plus the restoration of five trainee physicians removed from the Federal Teaching Hospital in Lokoja, complete with reimbursement of their due wages and compensations.

Additional items encompass the adoption of a compassionate schedule policy aligned with global standards of excellence, enhanced independence for leading hospital administrators to recruit substitutes pursuant to the one-for-one substitution guideline, and disbursement of expert compensations to every physician alongside rectification of initial position assignments.

The group further urged swift finalization of the Collective Bargaining Agreement Committee’s efforts concerning the long-delayed update of CONMESS and associated compensations, application of wage proportionality between CONMESS and CONHESS, and execution of mutually settled retirement advantages for physicians.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli