The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has vowed to proceed with its planned nationwide strike from midnight on November 1, 2025, unless the Federal Government meets its key demands, including the reinstatement of dismissed members, payment of outstanding allowances, and restoration of the value of membership certificates.
Gatekeepers News reports that speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, NARD President, Dr. Mohammad Suleiman, said the government owes about ₦38 billion in unpaid salaries to nearly 50,000 health workers nationwide over the past two years — excluding other allowances.
Suleiman lamented the dwindling number of resident doctors in the country, noting that Nigeria currently has only about 11,000 resident doctors, compared to over 20,000 a decade ago. Of the current figure, 9,000 work in federal institutions, 1,500 in private hospitals, and around 500 in state facilities.
He accused the government of repeatedly failing to address the association’s “legitimate demands,” despite several engagements and extended ultimatums.
“You cannot find a permanent secretary, a director, a minister, a member of the House of Representatives, a senator, even a councillor being owed this way. But essential workers like health workers and teachers are being owed these allowances,” Suleiman said.
“Five presidents before me have engaged the government on these issues. The last time we had a total strike that lasted more than 48 hours was three years ago. We have been dialoguing for three years, and now we have arrived here.”
Suleiman noted that some of the arrears owed to doctors date back over a decade, while the basic salary structure for doctors has not been reviewed in 16 years.
He also condemned the growing casualisation of resident doctors through locum arrangements, which, according to him, deny doctors job security, benefits, and opportunities for career advancement.
NARD is also demanding payment of the 2024 Accoutrement Allowance and the immediate reinstatement of five resident doctors allegedly dismissed from the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, with full settlement of their outstanding salaries and allowances.
“If you assure us that house officers will be fully paid on time, not weeks after every civil servant has received their salaries; if you signal that the collective bargaining agreement will be concluded within a week or two; if you discuss the entry level of doctors into the civil service and stop downgrading it — then we can talk about suspending the strike,” Suleiman said.
He appealed directly to President Bola Tinubu to intervene personally in the matter, urging him not to rely on “sycophants” who may distort the doctors’ position.
“We are doctors who just want to go back to our hospitals, wards, and clinics to see our patients,” he added. “It’s not too much to ask that we are paid our salaries and allowances — things that were already agreed upon.”
