The Nigeria Labour Congress on Tuesday declared its full support for the nationwide strike by the Joint Health Sector Unions, warning the Federal Government that failure to resolve the dispute could prompt wider labour action across the country.

The strike, which began on Saturday, 15 November 2025, was announced following a unanimous resolution by JOHESU’s Expanded National Executive Council on 14 November 2025.

In a statement signed by the union’s National Chairman, Kabiru Minjibri, JOHESU cited the government’s continued failure to implement the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure and address long-standing welfare concerns for health workers as the primary reasons for the industrial action.

According to the NLC, the delay in implementing CONHESS, which covers salary adjustments for non-doctor health professionals, has left health workers frustrated after years of unfulfilled promises.

While the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure for medical doctors has been in effect since 2014, the CONHESS adjustments for other health staff have repeatedly been stalled despite several agreements between the unions and the federal government.

“The patience of Nigerian health workers has been stretched thin,” NLC President Comrade Joe Ajaero said in a statement. “It is disconcerting that the government treats signed collective bargaining agreements as worthless pieces of paper. By failing to honour these commitments, the Federal Government shows scant regard for the welfare of health workers and, by extension, the health of millions of Nigerians.”

The NLC criticised the Federal Government’s attempts to delay CONHESS implementation by citing issues such as parity and relativity, describing the approach as a further application of salt to an open wound.

The congress reaffirmed its solidarity with JOHESU, emphasising that if the government does not act expeditiously to resolve the dispute, it may mobilise all Nigerian workers to support the strike.

Health sector unions in Nigeria have repeatedly called for the implementation of CONHESS, with previous strikes recorded in 2018 and on several other occasions over the past seven years. The NLC warned that continued inaction could escalate industrial action and affect the provision of health services nationwide.

JOHESU’s strike currently affects hospitals and health facilities across the country, raising concerns over patient care and the management of essential medical services. The union has insisted that the strike will continue until the federal government fulfils its obligations under the 2024 Memorandum of Understanding.

The shutdown of JOHESU-affiliated unions comes at a time when the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors is already on an indefinite strike over unpaid hazard allowance arrears, poor working conditions, and failure to implement agreed welfare reforms. The unions have accused successive administrations of failing to address the long-standing salary disparity among health workers.

“Nothing has been done by successive administrations to redress this infraction. Despite the well-advertised assurances of President Bola Tinubu, GCFR, when a two-man delegation of JOHESU visited him on 5 June 2023 to advance the FG’s resolve to get JOHESU to suspend its strike, this demand remains unattended to,” the health workers said.