Posted on: Wed 30-07-2025

 

Healthcare services across Nigeria have been thrown into disarray as over 25,000 nurses and midwives under the aegis of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Federal Health Institutions (FHI) Sector, commenced a seven-day nationwide warning strike. The industrial action, which began at 12:01 a.m. today, is in response to long-standing grievances over poor welfare conditions, staff shortages, unpaid allowances, and lack of recognition in healthcare policymaking.

The strike follows the expiration of a 15-day ultimatum issued by the union to the Federal Government on July 14. Despite the warning and repeated calls for intervention, union leaders say the government made no efforts to initiate dialogue or negotiation before the deadline expired.

According to the National Chairman of NANNM-FHI, Comrade Morakinyo Rilwan, the strike will lead to a total shutdown of services in 74 federal health institutions, including teaching hospitals, federal medical centres, orthopaedic and neuropsychiatric hospitals, eye centres, general hospitals, and primary healthcare facilities in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The action also affects the 774 local government areas across the country.

“Private hospitals are not involved in the strike,” Rilwan clarified. “That’s because private practitioner nurses are not yet spread across the country.”

Critical Services Affected

Rilwan emphasized that no services will be available during the strike — not even emergency care. He listed departments to be affected, including:

• Operating theatres
• Intensive Care Units (ICUs)
• Labour wards
• Accident and emergency units
• General outpatient clinics
• Neonatal care

Specialized units such as dialysis, oncology, fertility, ophthalmic, neuropsychiatric, antenatal clinics

In-patient wards and central sterile supply units

“We want to draw urgent attention to our unresolved demands. Nurses have not embarked on a strike like this in 40 years — the last was in 1984,” he said.

Key Demands

Among the nurses’ major demands are:

• Gazetting of the revised nurses’ scheme of service approved in 2016
• Implementation of a 2012 National Industrial Court judgment in favour of nurses
• Upward review of professional allowances and call-duty benefits
• Employment of more nursing staff to ease the burden on existing personnel
• Creation of a nursing department in the Federal Ministry of Health
• Inclusion of nurses in top-level health policy-making bodies and boards
• Centralised internship postings and recognition of consultancy status for senior nurses
• Withdrawal of the new circular on revised allowances for nurses

Rilwan expressed particular concern about the widespread misinformation regarding the availability of nurses in the country. “The government keeps saying there are no nurses in Nigeria. That is false. We have over 10,000 qualified but unemployed nurses — most of them working in private hospitals for peanuts.”

He decried the failure to adjust the current shift allowance, which he said remains at 8.6% instead of the approved 30% of the basic salary. The union is also demanding a 200% increase in all nursing allowances.

Mounting Pressure Amid Doctor’s Strike

The nurses’ strike comes on the heels of a separate three-day warning strike by doctors in Lagos State, organized by the Medical Guild. That strike, which began on Monday, July 28, was prompted by what doctors described as “illegal and disrespectful” deductions from their July salaries and non-payment of 12 months’ arrears to honorary consultants.

The convergence of these strikes has thrown Nigeria’s already strained health system into further crisis. Patients in Lagos were seen being turned away, with hospital departments deserted and emergency units shut down.

Reactions from Experts and Practitioners

Medical practitioners and public health experts have expressed concern over the government’s handling of the situation. Dr. Rukayat Hassan described the simultaneous strikes by doctors and nurses as a disgrace. “Health is central to national development. That doctors and nurses are on strike simultaneously is a damning indictment of the government’s priorities,” she said.

Another physician, Dr. Adeniyi Kolawole, criticized the government’s failure to meet the demands of essential workers. “The irony is that top officials travel abroad for healthcare using public funds, while neglecting those who serve the masses,” he remarked.

Oyekanmi Blessing, a nurse, added a personal perspective: “Our only crime is choosing to stay in Nigeria and care for Nigerians. In other countries like Saudi Arabia, nurses are respected and adequately paid.”

Government Response

Efforts to obtain an official response from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare have so far yielded no results. When contacted, the ministry’s Head of Information and Public Relations, Alaba Balogun, requested a message via WhatsApp but had not responded as of the time of filing this report.

What’s Next?

With talks between NANNM and the Federal Government reportedly ending in deadlock on Tuesday, union leaders have warned that if no meaningful progress is made during this seven-day warning strike, they will issue a fresh 21-day ultimatum, after which an indefinite strike could follow.

For now, Nigerians seeking care at public health institutions are left stranded, with critical services suspended and frontline health workers demanding not only better conditions but recognition, respect, and representation in shaping the country’s health policies.

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