Health Workers Declare Nationwide Indefinite Strike as JOHESU, AHPA Accuse FG of Ignoring Salary Structure Reforms
Health workers across Nigeria have announced a sweeping, indefinite nationwide strike scheduled to begin on Saturday, November 15, 2025, after prolonged tensions with the Federal Government over unfulfilled salary and welfare commitments.
The Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations, AHPA, said the decision followed what they described as the government’s persistent refusal to implement the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS, alongside other unresolved systemic grievances affecting thousands of health professionals. PulseNets learnt that frustration has been building for months as previous dialogues reportedly yielded no concrete action.
In a statement issued on Friday, the national chairman of JOHESU, Comrade Kabiru Minjibir, declared that health workers had reached a point where industrial action was unavoidable. According to details obtained by PulseNets, union leaders insist they have exercised restraint “far beyond reasonable limits” in the hope that authorities would honour long-standing agreements.
This escalation unfolds while the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, is already observing its own indefinite strike over outstanding hazard allowance arrears, deteriorating working conditions, and the government’s inability to implement agreed welfare reforms. Stakeholders told PulseNets that the overlapping strikes could plunge the nation’s healthcare system into one of its most severe service disruptions in recent years.
JOHESU, which represents major unions such as the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, warned that health facilities nationwide should expect full compliance from their members.
Union leaders emphasised that the non-implementation of the adjusted CONHESS remained the central grievance. However, they noted that several longstanding issues—including welfare shortfalls, structural imbalances, and unmet labour commitments—also contributed significantly to the decision to halt services. A top official who spoke to PulseNets said the government had been repeatedly notified but failed to act decisively.
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In their statement, JOHESU underscored the urgency of the matter, stressing that authorities have ignored a critical report for over two years. “The core of this crisis is the inexplicable delay in implementing the High-Level Body, HLB, Committee’s report on the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure, which has been before the Presidential Committee on Salaries and Wages since 2022,” the unions asserted.
