Tag: Resident doctors

• NARD cites national interest, high-level presidency intervention, others

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its planned nationwide strike.

The union said it took the action following what it called significant progress recorded on its demands through sustained engagements with the Federal Government and other key stakeholders.

The decision to suspend the action, it said, was taken at a virtual Emergency National Executive Council (E-NEC) meeting held yesterday.

During the meeting, the union said it reviewed the status of its demands and assessed recent developments.

It said the suspension followed direct presidential intervention, led by Vice President Kashim Shettima on behalf of President Bola Tinubu.

The suspension, the NARD Secretary-General, Dr. Shuaibu Ibrahim, said, was strategic and conditional.

He said it allowed the NEC to review tangible progress at its January meeting, scheduled to start on January 25

A source familiar with the negotiations said significant progress had been made behind the scenes in the past week, altering the Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors’ (NARD) stance.

Read Also: We’re not intimidated by court order-Resident doctors

“In the last week, a lot of progress has been made. Most of all of the progress was at a very, very high level, at the level of the presidency, as a matter of fact,” the source said.

The source noted that tensions escalated over the handling of the issues by the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, particularly by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, prompting political intervention.

“To emphasise the seriousness of the issue, I learnt that Minister Pate was called to order and appeal to, trying to balance the things,” the source said.

According to the source, several stakeholders were drawn into the talks, including hospital chief executives and top political actors.

“The Committee of CMDs met him (Pate) a couple of times and he also had intervention from, I think, the top officials of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). At one time, they started to fly the kite of political undertones and opposition involvement.

“So, this led to APC leadership coming in to intervene and ascertain the facts,” the source said.

The engagements, the source added, helped decision-makers to better understand the doctors’ grievances.

“So, they are trying to get information from those at the receiving end of the agitation, the resident doctors,” the source said.

The insider said the interventions have translated into concrete actions, including directives on outstanding payments.

Explaining why the union may shelve the strike, the source said industrial action is only a means to an end.

“Strike, in the real sense, is not just about down-tooling. It’s like a tool to get something,” the source said.

Despite the progress, the NARD leadership said it was under pressure from members kept in the dark about the talks.

“We are getting a lot of bashing from our members because there is so much information that we can still not reveal to them,” the source said.

The insider also expressed confidence that the anger would subside once results become visible.

The source added: “By the time they start to see that the issues are being addressed, anomalies corrected and outstanding pays received, the members would appreciate the efforts.”

But in a summary of the union’s NEC meeting yesterday in Abuja, NARD’s Secretary-General, Dr. Ibrahim, stated that the lingering crisis at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, was resolved following the implementation of the report of an earlier committee set up by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

Besides, a new reconciliation committee comprising Chief Medical Directors, the ministry and NARD has been constituted to ensure all resident doctors remain at the hospital and to broker lasting peace between the Association of Resident Doctors  as well as the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria at the facility.

Stating the union’s stand ob the outstanding 25 and 35 per cent Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) arrears, the NARD said verified lists had been forwarded to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

It added that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment had written to the Ministry of Finance and the IPPIS to facilitate payment.

Similar progress was reported on the accoutrement allowance.

NARD also said the lists of promotion and salary arrears had been transmitted by the Health Ministry to the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office.

The union stressed that the Minister of State for Finance had acknowledged receipt and that engagements were ongoing to agree on a clear and expedited payment plan.

Also commenting on entry-level placement, the NARD said the Director of Hospital Services would communicate with hospital chief executives to reinforce a clarification from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation recognising CONMESS 3 as the entry level for doctors.

It also announced that a multi-stakeholder committee comprising the Health Ministry, Chief Medical Directors, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), and NARD had been set up on locum practice and work-hour regulation, with preliminary activities already underway.

Concrete steps were also said to have been taken towards full implementation of specialist allowances.

Commenting on house officers’ welfare, NARD said the Ministry of Labour had intervened, while the health ministry would formally engage the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and IPPIS on salary delays and arrears.

The NEC also noted progress on membership re-categorisation, professional allowance implementation, and efforts to ensure salary and allowance gains at the federal level are reflected in state and private health facilities.

Based on what it described as firm commitments from critical stakeholders, including the Ministries of Health, Labour and Finance, the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, IPPIS, the Budget Office, the National Assembly, the Department of State Services and the Vice President, NARD said it unanimously resolved to suspend the resumption of its planned strike action, tagged TICS 2.0.

• ’NARD not intimidated by court order’
• NMA threatens indefinite strike in Edo over abductions

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Abuja has issued an order restraining the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and its members from embarking on the strike they planned to commence on January 12.

Reacting to the court order obtained by the Federal government, NARD said it would not be intimidated.

Justice Emmanuel Subilim issued the order on Friday while ruling on a motion ex parte filed by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) in a suit marked: NICN/ABJ/06/2026.

Justice Subilim gave the ruling after listening to the Director of Civil Litigation (Federal Ministry of Justice), Mrs Maimuna Lami Shiru, who led a team of lawyers from the ministry, moved the motion ex parte.

Listed as respondents to the motion and defendants to the substantive suit are NARD, its National President, Dr Mohammad Usman Suleman, and the association’s Secretary General, Dr Shuaibu Ibrahim.

Justice Subilim, in a copy of the “enrollment order” seen on Friday, said after painstakingly listening to the submission of the lawyer to the claimants and going through the documents submitted and the rules of the court relied on, he was satisfied that the ex parte motion was meritorious and should be granted.

The judge added that he was “satisfied that this is a proper case for the grant of an interim injunction.”

He proceeded to issue an interim order of injunction “restraining the defendants respondents, their members, servants, agents, privies, and or any other person acting on their behalf or at their directives from calling, directing, organising, participating in or embarking upon any form of industrial action, including but not limited to strikes, work stoppages, go-slows, picketing or any other form of industrial protest or disruption.”

The judge also restrained NARD, its National President and Secretary General, from “taking steps preparatory to or in furtherance of any industrial action, from the 12th January, 2026, until the hearing and determination of the motion on notice” filed by the claimants.

Justice Subilim held that the orders made “shall remain in force pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice fixed for the 21st of January, 2026.”

He ordered the claimants/applicants (FRN and the AGF) to serve the defendants with the orders made, “within seven days of the date hereof.”

The judge added that “the defendants/respondents (NARD, Suleman and Ibrahim) shall be at liberty to apply to discharge or vary this order within seven days after services of this order.”

The NARD had earlier this month announced plans to resume its previously suspended “total, indefinite and comprehensive strike with effect from January 12.” The group claimed that its decision was informed by the Federal Government’s alleged failure to fully implement agreed resolutions.

It said the decision to resume its strike was taken at an emergency virtual meeting of the association’s National Executive Council (E-NEC) held on January 2.

A statement by the group said its NEC directed all centre presidents across the association’s 91 accredited centres to convene congress meetings and thereafter address the media, to saturate public spaces with information on the planned industrial action within the next seven days.

The association said it would resume the strike alongside a series of coordinated protests, beginning with centre-based demonstrations scheduled to hold from January 12 to January 16.

Read Also: BREAKING: Court bars resident doctors from embarking on strike planned for January 12

It added that this would be followed by regional protests to be led by caucus leaders, while a nationwide protest would subsequently be organised by the NARD NOC.

NARD stated that the suspension of the renewed strike would only be considered after the full implementation of what it described as its minimum demands.

These include the reinstatement of the five resident doctors disengaged from the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, Kogi State, the payment of outstanding promotion and salary arrears, among others.

‘NARD not intimidated by court order’

The association of the resident doctors said it would not be intimidated by the court injunction restraining industrial action, insisting that its planned nationwide strike remains on course, unless the Federal Government demonstrates genuine and practical steps toward meeting the doctors’ demands

Speaking on a national television evening magazine programme on Friday, NARD President Dr Mohammad Suleiman said resident doctors had anticipated the government’s no work no pay policy and court action long before the injunction was issued

“Indeed, I can tell you that my members are not perturbed, my members are not shaking at all. We actually envisioned this

“Even when we went on the NARD strike, total independence and comprehensive 1.0 at the latter part of last year, we anticipated no work, no pay, or even a court injunction. These things were factored into the decision to embark on this action,” he said.

He dismissed the injunction as neither new nor unexpected, citing past confrontations between resident doctors and previous administrations.

Suleiman said the resolve of resident doctors remained firm despite threats of sanctions, adding that the issues at stake justified the action.

“They should go ahead and throw the no-work-no-pay. They are throwing court injunctions, we are looking at it, probably even mass sacking of doctors will follow, but the resolve of my members is not shaking at all,” Suleiman affirmed.

However, the NARD president said the association was not closed to dialogue and would be willing to reconsider its position if the government shows concrete evidence of good faith.

“We have nothing but respect for the Honourable Coordinating Minister for Health, Professor Mohammed Pate and the Honourable Minister of State for Health, Adekunle Salako; these are senior colleagues in the profession.

“But let us dwell on the issues; we suspended our action based on the Memorandum of Understanding we signed. After that, we wrote a reminder letter in the middle of December. We made several visits to many agencies of government, but nothing moved,” he noted regrettably.

He explained that the association only began hearing of government action after it announced the resumption of the strike, raising concerns about the sincerity of the response

“After we declared that we are resuming the strike, we started hearing in newspapers and on social media that movements were being made. Up until now, a lot of things are still in the process and in the pipeline,” he added.

According to him, NARD has 16 outstanding demands, and the National Executive Council NEC insists they must be resolved conclusively, noting, “What the NEC is saying is take these issues to finality. There are 16 items on that table, and these issues must be resolved.”

Responding to government claims that seven of the demands had been met, including payment of arrears, Suleiman disputed the figures. Suleiman disagreed, explaining, “We still have over 2000, almost 3000 of our members that are yet to be paid the 25 to 35 per cent arrears

“These arrears were said to be put inside the service-wide vote in 2023; they were not paid. In 2024, they were put there, they were not paid, in 2025, they were put there again,” he noted, stressing that resident doctors were tired of waiting for special presidential interventions to access payments

“The demand is to capture it in the budget; it is no retreat, no surrender,” he added.

Suleiman criticised the timing of the court injunction and the no-work-no-pay threats, describing them as hostile tactics while negotiations were ongoing

“When we are discussing and we are at the negotiating table, we should do it in good faith. By the time you begin to bring out armouries and arms like this, you do not want to negotiate,” he noted.

Addressing concerns about the impact of the strike on patients, Suleiman said the suffering of doctors and the health system could no longer be ignored.

“Are we ignoring the suffering that doctors are going through in this country? Are we ignoring the suffering patients go through because doctors are exhausted, frustrated and tired?” he asked.

The NARD President, however, disclosed that talks with the government were still ongoing and expressed cautious optimism that tangible actions could lead to a shift in NARD’s position.

“Right now, we are in conversations with the federal government team. I would hope that from tonight to Sunday, a lot of things will be done properly.

“If these conversations lead to palpable things on the ground, the NEC will favourably look at it. Once those gains drop, I can tell you NEC will review its position,” he assured.

Suleiman also dismissed allegations that NARD was acting on behalf of political interests

“I am a clinician, I am a doctor, I have never been involved in politics. We are resident doctors, and we only serve Nigerian patients,” he emphasised.

NMA threatens indefinite strike in Edo

However, the Edo NMA has protested the abduction of its members, threatening to embark on an indefinite strike action beginning from Saturday, January 10th, 2026.

Two of its members, Dr Abu Babatunde and Dr Stephen Osamaye, are currently in the kidnappers’ den.

Babatunde works at the Edo State University Teaching Hospital, Auchi, while Osamaye works at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua.

They were abducted separately on January 1st and January 2nd 2026.

A statement by the Chairman of Edo NMA, Dr Eustace Oseghale, said the kidnappings raised concerns about healthcare professionals’ safety in Edo State, as well as undermining healthcare delivery.

The Edo NMA demanded the immediate release of the doctors, enhanced security protocols for Edo State residents, and regular engagement between NMA Edo and the Edo State Government on security concerns.

Oseghale said doctors would withdraw services statewide if the demands were not met.

“A safe working environment is crucial for healthcare providers. We’ll continue to withhold services until our demands are met and colleagues are safe.

“We urge a swift resolution and the safe return of our colleagues. Security operatives should take this seriously, as they’ll be held responsible for the consequences of our action.”

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is set to resume its suspended nationwide industrial action on January 12.

The body warned that its members will return to full-scale protests and service withdrawal if the Federal Government does not fully implement its longstanding demands.

The decision followed an expanded National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Friday, January 2,  after which members were briefed via the association’s official X platform, where the President, Dr Muhammad Suleiman, addressed medical and dental trainees and signed off on behalf of the National Officers Committee (NOC).

In the update, the president unveiled a renewed action plan tagged TICS 2.0 with the slogan “No Implementation, No Going Back.”

According to the resolution, NARD will resume TICS 2.0 at exactly 12.00 a.m. on Monday, January 12, 2026, unless its minimum demands are fully met.

The NEC said the suspension of TICS 2.0 would only be considered after full implementation of the nine minimum demands.

These include the reinstatement of the five doctors from the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja; payment of outstanding promotion and salary arrears; and full implementation of the professional allowance table, with arrears captured in the 2026 budget.

Read Also: Resident doctors suspend strike

Other demands are official clarification on skipping and entry-level placement issues by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to chief executives; reintroduction and implementation of the Specialist Allowance; resolution of house officers’ salary delays and arrears with issuance of a formal pay advisory; re-categorisation of membership certificates and issuance of certificates after Part I by the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria; commencement of locum and work-hours regulation committees; and resumption and timely conclusion of the Collective Bargaining Agreement process.

NARD explained that the one-week window before the resumption of action was deliberately designed to allow proper congress meetings, extensive media engagement and statutory notifications to security agencies, including the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, as well as hospital managements across the country.

The NOC said it fully aligns with the NEC resolutions and assured members of its commitment to implementing all directives, noting that engagements with relevant authorities would be intensified in the coming days.

As part of preparations, the NEC directed presidents of all 91 NARD centres nationwide to convene congress meetings and immediately follow up with press conferences to explain the grievances and resolutions to the public.

The association said the objective is to dominate public discourse on doctors’ welfare across the country within the next seven days.

In addition, the NEC approved centre-based protests to run from January 12 to January 16, 2026.

These will be followed by regional protests coordinated at caucus leaders’ level, culminating in a national protest to be organised by the NARD National Officers Committee.

The association urged doctors to remain calm, united and focused as it presses ahead with what it described as a decisive phase in the struggle for improved welfare and a more functional health system.

• New timelines from Fed Govt

Resident doctors have called off their indefinite nationwide strike after 29 days.

This temporarily halts one of Nigeria’s most protracted health sector standoffs in recent years.

The industrial action, led by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), followed weeks of unresolved welfare disputes, unpaid arrears, and stalled reforms, despite presidential directives, multiple interventions, and partial financial releases aimed at ending the crisis.

What began as a routine ultimatum in late August evolved into a national standoff that has strained major hospitals, intensified public concern, and exposed deep fissures in longstanding welfare disputes between doctors and the Federal Government.

The dispute escalated after resident doctors issued a 10-day ultimatum in late August, when they demanded the immediate payment of the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund, settlement of arrears under the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) review, recognition and proper classification of postgraduate certificates, outstanding accoutrement allowances, and the release of delayed promotions.

The ultimatum expired on September 10, but at the last minute, NARD extended the deadline by 24 hours after late-night engagements with officials from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

When the minimum demands remained unmet by September 12, the doctors began a five-day warning strike.

The union said the government failed to pay the residency training fund arrears or address other welfare backlogs despite several weeks of notice.

The strike lasted 48 hours before it was suspended as a goodwill gesture, but the core grievances remained unresolved.

By late October, tension resurfaced with only days left before another deadline. At a briefing in Abuja, NARD President, Dr. Muhammad Suleiman, appealed directly to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing senior government officials of misrepresenting the state of negotiations.

Suleiman said resident doctors had endured years of unpaid arrears estimated between N35 billion and N38 billion, downgraded entry points, unrecognised postgraduate qualifications, obsolete equipment, overwhelming workloads and an alarming rate of brain drain that had reduced the number of resident doctors from more than twenty thousand a decade ago to fewer than eleven thousand nationwide.

He warned that Nigeria’s public hospitals were approaching a breaking point, saying: “They (government officials) are not telling you the truth. We are not enemies of the government. We are doctors who simply want to return to our hospitals to care for our patients.”

Without any breakthrough, NARD began a nationwide strike on November 1.

Read Also: Tinubu, First Lady, Shetimma, hail PFN at 40

The Federal Government immediately announced the release of about N12 billion to clear the arrears owed to health workers, besides the earlier disbursement of N10.6 billion for the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Adekunle Salako, also announced a presidential approval for massive recruitment across federal tertiary hospitals.

He said more than 20,000 health workers were employed in 2024 and another 15,000 positions were approved for 2025.

To strengthen mediation, the government engaged an industrial relations expert, Prof. Dafe Otobo, to help resolve pay relativity and other disputed items.

On November 3, President Tinubu directed the Ministry of Health to take urgent steps to end the strike with Dr. Salako saying more than 60 per cent of arrears tied to the CONMESS review had been either paid or processed and insisted that most of the union’s nineteen demands were already at various stages of implementation.

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) also explained that the council only undertook a categorisation exercise for additional qualifications, such as fellowships and memberships, classifying them from categories A to D, based on the awarding institution, specialty, and qualification type.

The council advised doctors whose certificates were wrongly classified to resubmit them for correction and urged new colleges to formally notify the Council for proper recognition.

NARD immediately disputed the claims in a rebuttal by Dr Suleiman and other national officers, where the association said the funds released had not reached resident doctors and that none of its nineteen demands had been fully met.

It said the strike was about survival and insisted that industrial harmony required sincerity, transparency and enforceable commitments.

The dispute deepened on November 20 after the Ministry of Labour announced that the Federal Government had met a significant percentage of NARD’s demands.

The association rejected the announcement, calling it misleading and disconnected from the lived reality of doctors across tertiary hospitals.

At an extraordinary NEC meeting held on November 17, NARD reviewed the government’s submissions and concluded that the claims amounted to promises, newly formed committees and unfulfilled decisions rather than concrete deliverables.

The association also rejected claims that it declined to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, stressing that it refused to endorse an MoU without timelines, accountability mechanisms or guarantees of implementation, while insisting that previous agreements were routinely ignored after signatures were appended.

NARD suspended the strike on November 29, following another extraordinary NEC meeting where the union reviewed recent concessions.

NARD’s Secretary General, Dr. Shuaibu Ibrahim, confirmed that both parties signed an MoU capturing seven outstanding items.

Two demands were met immediately, including the release of the long-awaited Professional Allowance Table and the formal directive adopting CONMESS 3 as the approved entry level for doctors.

The remaining five items are expected to be completed within four weeks. They include reinstatement of the dismissed doctors in Lokoja, settlement of promotion and salary arrears, upgrading doctors who passed Part I examinations, implementation of specialist allowances and resolution of issues surrounding membership certificates.

The NARD president warned that the union would not hesitate to resume industrial action if the government failed to honour the agreed timelines.

The suspension has brought temporary relief to public hospitals that have operated for weeks without roughly 11,000 resident doctors across 91 teaching institutions, but with trust already frayed and milestones now tied to strict deadlines, the coming weeks will determine whether the fragile truce holds or whether Nigeria’s health system will again face a renewed shutdown.

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) last night  suspended the five-day warning strike it launched on Friday.

They are expected to  return to work this  morning across the country, the President of the association, Dr Tope Osundara said.

Osundara said the call off was  ” a sign of goodwill and to assist Nigerians who are seeking healthcare in our various facilities”.

The warning strike  followed the expiration of the 24-hour extension of the 10-day ultimatum given to the Federal government to meet its demands, including the minimum demand of the immediate payment of the outstanding 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), among others.

Read Also: BREAKING: Resident doctors commence five-day warning strike

Osundara had said on Friday that the association was left with no choice after the federal government failed to act within the 10-day ultimatum given it to pay the outstanding 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF).

He said  the strike would continue until the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) reviewed the government’s response to its demands and decides on the next course of action, if the warning strike runs its full duration.

“Unfortunately, the minimum demands were not met within the given extension of 24 24-hour period, and the strike commenced this morning as directed by the NEC of the association,” he said in response to a text message from The Nation.