Nigerian Doctors Halt Nationwide Strike

THE Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has halted its nationwide strike, bringing an end to nearly a month of disruptions in federal and teaching hospitals.

The industrial action, which started on November 1, was formally suspended on Saturday after the association’s Extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) met to review negotiations with the Federal Government.

NARD’s Secretary General, Dr Shuaibu Ibrahim, confirmed the decision to suspend the industrial action.

Shuaibu said the union stepped down the strike after both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining seven outstanding issues the government must address.

The issues, according to him, include recalling the dismissed resident doctors in Lokoja, issuing the long-awaited Professional Allowance Table, settling promotion and salary arrears in designated hospitals, upgrading doctors who passed Part I examinations, enforcing the correct entry point for new intakes, implementing specialist allowance, and resolving concerns around Membership Certificates.

He noted that two conditions have already been implemented, “The Professional Allowance Table has now been released, and the Head of Service has been instructed to adopt CONMESS 3 as the entry level for doctors. With these fulfilled, we have suspended the strike,” he said.

The remaining five items, he explained, are expected to be completed within four weeks under the timelines agreed in the MoU. Shuaibu warned that the association will not hesitate to down tools again if government agencies fail to deliver.

“If the outstanding commitments are not met within the specified period, we will resume the strike,” he said.

The industrial action had left hospitals nationwide overstretched, as roughly 11,000 resident doctors across 91 teaching hospitals withdrew their services in protest over poor working conditions and delayed entitlements.