Health unions begin indefinite strike today

The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations have declared an indefinite nationwide strike, effective today, November 15, 2025.

This was confirmed in a statement issued by JOHESU’s National Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir.

According to the unions, the government has repeatedly failed to implement the revised Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), despite several engagements, ultimatums, and assurances. They added that long-standing concerns over working conditions, career stagnation, and unresolved systemic gaps had further fuelled the decision to down tools.

Their withdrawal of service comes at a time when the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is also on strike over unpaid hazard allowances, harsh working conditions, and unfulfilled welfare agreements.

With both doctors and allied health professionals now off duty, services in federal teaching hospitals, specialist facilities, and many state hospitals are expected to suffer severe disruption.

JOHESU, an umbrella body representing major health unions — including 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 — said it had exhausted all avenues for dialogue.

The unions insisted that the delayed implementation of the adjusted CONHESS remained the central grievance, but stressed that a host of unmet demands had made the continuation of full services impossible.