By Joseph Erunke, Abuja
The Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations, AHPA, have declared an indefinite nationwide strike, accusing the Federal Government of a prolonged delay and neglect of their 12-year demand for the adjustment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS.
The decision was announced on Friday at the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, MHWUN, National Secretariat in Abuja, following what the unions described as a unanimous resolution of their Expanded National Executive Council.
In a statement signed and read by JOHESU National Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir, the unions said the strike became necessary to notify members across all health institutions, as well as the general public, of an escalating trade dispute with the government.
According to the unions, several letters and reminders had been sent to relevant ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, since the suspension of their last strike on June 5, 2023—an action which they noted was halted only after the intervention of President Bola Tinubu.
Despite signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government on 29 October 2024 at the end of a seven-day warning strike, JOHESU said there had been “no positive response” to key demands, despite assurances from government representatives at multiple follow-up meetings.
At the centre of the dispute is the non-implementation of the High-Level Body Committee report on the adjustment of CONHESS, submitted to the Presidential Committee on Salaries and Wages in 2022.
The unions insist the issue has remained unresolved since January 2, 2014, when the government implemented an adjustment for the medical doctors’ salary structure without a corresponding review for other health workers. They argued this violated the 2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement that established both salary structures.
JOHESU lamented that successive governments had failed to correct what it described as a long-standing injustice. Even after President Tinubu met with a two-man JOHESU delegation in June 2023, the unions said the promised action did not materialise.
They noted that MDAs had frequently blamed the delay on the non-reconstitution of the Presidential Committee on Salaries, yet “since the reconstitution of the PCS, the matter was not given priority attention until probably the last 48 hours,” when the government began making what the unions termed “late attempts” to address the long-standing issue.
Effective midnight of November 14, 2025, JOHESU announced that all affiliate unions, including MHWUN, NUAHP, SSAUTHRIAI and NASU, would withdraw their services from all Federal Health Institutions nationwide. State councils were also directed to issue 15-day strike notices to their respective state governments, in line with labour laws.
While expressing regret that ordinary Nigerians would be affected, the unions said the situation had become unavoidable due to “government inaction.
”They stressed that the unions had consistently prioritised dialogue and demonstrated “maturity, selflessness and patriotism,” but that these virtues had been “taken for granted.”
JOHESU warned against any form of victimisation of members during the strike, emphasising that the action constitutes “a dispute of right” under labour law.
The unions also assured members that communication channels would remain open throughout the industrial action.
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