Health services across the country are set for major disruption as the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations have announced an indefinite nationwide strike beginning Saturday, November 15, 2025.
This declaration follows rising tension within the sector over unresolved welfare and salary issues.
The unions say the shutdown became unavoidable after the Federal Government failed to implement the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), a demand they have pushed for over several years.
The announcement was made in a statement signed by JOHESU’s National Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir, and circulated on Friday.
According to the unions, the delay in applying the new salary structure has stretched on since 2022, despite multiple high-level assurances.
They noted that the report that should have triggered the adjustment has remained untouched by the relevant government committees.
Their decision comes at a time when the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is also on an indefinite strike over unpaid allowances and worsening work conditions.
With both doctors and other health workers now off duty, services in federal teaching hospitals, specialist centres, and several state-owned facilities are expected to be heavily affected.
JOHESU, which brings together major health unions such as the Medical and Health Workers’ Union and the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, explained that the salary delay is only one part of the problem.
The unions say a long list of unresolved welfare issues also influenced their stand.
“The crux of the matter in the present circumstance is the long delay in the implementation of the High-Level Body (HLB) Committee’s report on the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure since its submission to the Presidential Committee on Salaries and Wages in 2022,” the statement read.
The Health Workers accused successive administrations of ignoring the widening salary disparity in the sector and failing to honour previous commitments. They recalled that despite assurances given during a 2023 meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the main demand remains unattended to.
The unions added that even after the Presidential Committee on Salaries was reconstituted, the issue was not treated as a priority until the past few days.
They described the delay as “one of the longest and most protracted demands in Nigeria’s labour history.”
Following a unanimous resolution at JOHESU’s Expanded National Executive Council meeting on November 14, members across the Federal Health Service have been directed to withdraw their services indefinitely until the adjusted CONHESS is implemented.
All 36 states and the FCT are also expected to issue a 15-day notice to their respective governments.
The unions noted that they had suspended previous strikes in 2023 and 2024 after presidential intervention and the signing of various agreements.
However, they say none of the resolutions have been fully honoured.
They expressed frustration that years of dialogue and patience had yielded no meaningful progress.
“There is no doubt that we have exhibited maturity, selflessness, and patriotism even in the face of extreme provocations and long delays by the government, and we think that our maturity and patriotism have been taken for granted,” the statement added.
JOHESU has now instructed its members nationwide to fully comply with the strike directive.
They also warned the government not to intimidate or penalise any worker over the industrial action, stressing that the strike is within their legal rights.