Tensions High: Nigerian Docs Face Tough Call on Strike Today
By: Abudu Olalekan
The clock is ticking. Today is the day. The fate of Nigeria’s public hospitals hangs in the balance, and it all comes down to a single meeting. Reportersroom gathered that the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is holding its National Executive Council meeting this very Wednesday. The agenda is grimly simple: to decide whether to plunge the nation’s already crippled healthcare system into a full-blown strike.
This isn’t a sudden move. It’s the boiling point. The doctors had issued a stark 10-day ultimatum to the Federal Government. Their message was clear: meet our demands or we walk out. That deadline has come and gone. And from what we’re hearing, the silence from government quarters has been deafening. Now, these frontline physicians, the very backbone of our teaching hospitals, are left with no choice but to make the toughest call.
Let’s be real, the system is on its knees. We’re talking about a healthcare structure that’s been fraying at the seams for years. There’s a massive doctor shortage, crumbling infrastructure, and emergency rooms that are more like overcrowded marketplaces. And the resident doctors? They’ve been through this song and dance before. They’ve had to down tools repeatedly. It’s never their first choice. But when you’re dealing with unpaid wages for months on end, terrible welfare, and working conditions that would make anyone quit, what option do you really have?
Experts are sounding the alarm, and it’s a scary one. Another shutdown wouldn’t just be an inconvenience—it would be a catastrophe. It would cripple healthcare delivery entirely. Imagine patients with critical conditions being turned away. Imagine those who can’t afford the steep bills of private clinics being left with nowhere to go. The human cost doesn’t bear thinking about.
So what exactly do they want? It’s not exactly a luxury list. Reportersroom gathered details from a communiqué they released back on September 1st. It was signed by their President, Dr. Tope Osundara; General Secretary, Dr. Oluwasola Odunbaku; and Publicity guy, Dr. Omoha Amobi. Their demands are painfully basic. They’re asking for the immediate payment of the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund that’s just sitting there. They want the five months’ arrears they’re owed from a salary review—money already promised to them. And that’s just the start. There’s also the 2024 accoutrement allowance arrears, the prompt payment of specialist allowances, and getting the West African postgraduate membership certificates recognized again. It’s all just paperwork and promises that haven’t been kept.
They also threw in a plea for the National Postgraduate Medical College to just, you know, actually issue certificates to people who’ve earned them. To implement the 2024 salary structure. To fix the mess in Kaduna State and sort out the ongoing issues for their colleagues at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital in Ogbomoso. This isn’t about asking for the moon. It’s about getting what they were already promised.
Dr. Osundara spoke with Reportersroom yesterday, and the frustration was palpable. He said the NEC meeting is it. The final decider. “We will review whether the government has made any meaningful progress,” he told us. “If there is a positive response, it will guide our decision. But if not…” He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. The implication was clear: the gloves are coming off.
Echoing that sentiment was NARD’s First Vice-President, Dr. Tajudeen Abdulrauf. He confirmed the meeting was a go. His tone was one of exhausted resignation. “The outcome depends on the government’s response. If they are not addressed, we cannot guarantee industrial harmony.” He reminded everyone that they’d already extended an ultimatum once before in July, giving stakeholders three more weeks to talk. And what came of it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. “When we meet tomorrow,” he said, “we will review the government’s response. And then we decide.”
So today, while the rest of the country goes about its business, a group of tired, overworked doctors will sit in a room and make a decision that will affect millions. The nation holds its breath. And waits.
