The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations have declared an indefinite nationwide strike starting Saturday, November 15, 2025.
According to the unions, the action follows the Federal Government’s continued failure to implement the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) and address persistent welfare and systemic issues affecting health workers.
The announcement was made in a statement signed by JOHESU National Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir, and issued to our correspondent on Friday.
This shutdown by JOHESU-affiliated unions comes as the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is already observing an indefinite strike over unpaid hazard allowance arrears, poor working conditions, and delays in implementing agreed welfare reforms.
With both doctors and other key health professionals withdrawing services, operations in federal teaching hospitals, specialist centres, and many state-owned facilities are expected to be severely crippled.
JOHESU, an umbrella body representing major unions such as 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 of Educational and Associated Institutions, said the withholding of the adjusted CONHESS remained the core issue.
“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 unions accused successive administrations of ignoring persistent salary disparities in the health sector.
“Nothing has been done by successive administrations to redress this infraction. Despite the well-advertised assurances of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, when a two-man delegation of JOHESU visited him on June 5, 2023, to advance the FG’s resolve to get JOHESU to suspend its strike, this demand remains unattended to,” the statement added.
JOHESU noted that initial delays were attributed to the absence of the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS), which had not yet been reconstituted. Even after its re-establishment, the unions said the matter remained neglected until the past 48 hours, when the government appeared to make belated efforts to address what JOHESU described as “one of the longest and most protracted demands in Nigeria’s labour history.”
Following a unanimous resolution during the JOHESU Expanded National Executive Council hybrid meeting held on November 14, 2025, all affiliated unions across the Federal Health Service are set to commence an indefinite strike until the adjusted CONHESS is implemented.
State chapters across the 36 states and the FCT are also expected to issue their respective governments a 15-day notice in accordance with labour laws.
The unions recalled suspending previous strike actions in June 2023 and October 2024 after presidential intervention and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding—agreements they say the government has failed to honour.
“Unfortunately, there has been no positive response from the Federal Government on some of these issues despite assurances during subsequent meetings with relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies,” the statement stressed.
JOHESU said its members had shown restraint for years but were pushed to the edge by government inaction.
“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,” it said.
The unions urged their members nationwide to fully comply with the strike directive and warned authorities against intimidation.
“JOHESU will not accept victimisation of its members by the government or any employer in public health institutions across the country on account of this strike action, which is a dispute of right. We shall therefore keep all our channels of communication open during this period of the indefinite strike action,” the statement concluded.
