President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to take urgent action to end the ongoing strike by members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and ensure their immediate return to work.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, announced the directive while addressing journalists on Monday in Abuja. He said the President expressed concern over the disruption of medical services across the country and ordered the ministry to do “everything possible and legitimate” to bring the doctors back to duty.
“On behalf of myself, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, and all management staff of the ministry, we regret the inconvenience caused to Nigerians who could not access healthcare in the last 48 hours due to the strike,” Salako said.
“Mr. President has expressly directed that we must ensure the resident doctors resume work without delay.”
Salako explained that the government had been engaging NARD leaders to address their grievances, which included 19 separate demands.
The dispute, he noted, originated from a July circular by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) that created divisions among health workers. The circular was later withdrawn to enable a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) process involving all major health unions — including NARD, NMA, NANNM, and JOHESU.
Since August, the CBA committee has held 12 meetings, but disagreements over remuneration relativity and the appointment of non-doctor consultants stalled progress. To break the deadlock, the ministry engaged a professor of industrial relations as an external mediator.
“That negotiator has met the three unions and submitted an interim report. We’ve reconvened to deliberate further, and government is now preparing recommendations for the CBA,” Salako stated.
He revealed that the Federal Government had recruited over 14,000 health workers in 2024, while the process for another 23,000 across 78 federal health institutions had been approved for 2025.
Additionally, the President approved the upward review of retirement age for clinical health workers to 65 years and released N21.3 billion to settle outstanding arrears, 60 per cent of which has already been disbursed.
Salako assured Nigerians that the government remained committed to sustainable health sector reforms and urged all stakeholders to prioritise dialogue over industrial action.
“There is no slow progress,” he said. “We are taking our time to ensure that every step we take is sustainable. The health sector works as a team — no cadre can function effectively in isolation.”
