The Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Monday revealed that about N38 billion in salary arrears is owed to about 50,000 healthcare workers across the country, including administrative staff, over the past two years. This amount does not include the allowance arrears.

It lamented that the country, which 10 years ago had over 20,000 resident doctors, now has barely 11,000, with 9,000 at the federal level, 1,500 at the private hospital level, and about 500 at the state level.

NARD stated that there is no going back on its planned nationwide strike unless the government reinstates its members who were unjustly dismissed, pays some of the arrears of allowances and benefits owed, and restores the value of membership certificates.

Consequently, the association has declared a total, comprehensive, and indefinite strike starting from 12:00 a.m. (midnight) on Saturday, November 1, 2025.

NARD President, Dr. Mohammad Usman Suleiman, who made this declaration while briefing journalists on Monday in Abuja, directed all Resident Doctors in Federal and State tertiary health institutions nationwide to withdraw their services completely and indefinitely until the federal government and the affected state governments demonstrate genuine commitment to addressing the association’s demands.

Suleiman decried the federal government’s persistent failure to address the legitimate demands of the resident doctors, noting with utter disappointment that, despite several attempts to engage the Federal Government and repeated extensions of ultimatums as a show of goodwill from the association, the government has consistently failed to respond adequately to their demands.

Suleiman, who observed that some of the arrears owed by the government span over 10 years, added that there has been a failure to review the basic salary of doctors in this country for 16 years.

He said, “You cannot find a permanent secretary, a director, a minister, a member of the House of Representatives, a senator, even a councillor at the world level, who owed this amount of arrears. But then, essential workers, like health workers, teachers are being owed this series of allowances”.

“Five presidents before me engaged government in these conversations. I can tell you that, on this issue, this is the first time NARD has declared a total action after three years. The last time we had a strike that lasted more than 48 hours was three years ago. It was three years ago, so we were ready for that. We’ve been dialoguing for three years, and we have arrived here”.

He recalled that following the suspension of the five-day warning strike on 14th September 2025, the last NARD Annual General Meeting (AGM), held in Katsina State, graciously extended the two-week ultimatum given to the federal government by an additional 30 days to address the 19-point demands as outlined in the AGM communiqué.

Suleima noted that the grace period has since elapsed, yet the federal government has failed to demonstrate the political will necessary to address the legitimate concerns of Nigerian resident doctors.

He stated that on Saturday, October 25, 2025, NARD convened an Extraordinary National Executive Council (E-NEC) meeting via Zoom to review the report of the National Officers Committee (NOC) on the status of implementation of our demands by the federal government and affected state governments and observed with dismay the Federal Government’s failure to fully settle outstanding arrears of five (5) months from the 25%/35% CONMESS review, and upgrade arrears to residents in training since 2024, despite repeated assurances.

Suleiman expressed deep concern over the federal government’s continued failure to pay the 2024 Accoutrement Allowance arrears, despite several assurances and commitments to do so, and also noted with grave concern that five members who were unjustly terminated from employment have not been reinstated, despite repeated engagement with the government on this.

He expressed serious concern about the prolonged working and call duty hours to which resident doctors are subjected, adding that the current unsustainable practice of spanning duties across several days poses serious risks to physicians’ well-being and patient safety.

Suleiman lamented that doctors continue to work excessive hours far beyond international standards without adequate rest, in clear contravention of established guidelines and international best practice, stressing that the government’s failure to enforce call duty regulations and work-hour limits is exploitative, inhumane, and dangerous to public health and safety..

He observed with concern the catastrophic manpower shortage in Nigeria’s public health system, leading to increased workload and burnout among existing staff, and pointed out that the non-implementation of the policy on the one-for-one replacement of existing doctors in federal and state tertiary health institutions has worsened this.

Suleiman drowned in the increasing casualisation of resident doctors through abusive locum arrangements, stressing that many state governments and some federal Institutions now rely heavily on locum doctors to fill permanent positions, thereby denying resident doctors job security, benefits, and career progression opportunities.

He called for an end to this exploitative practice and expressed dissatisfaction over the continued exclusion of resident doctors from the payment of specialist allowances, despite their critical and central role in delivering specialist care in health institutions across the country. “This deliberate withholding of deserved allowances constitutes a gross injustice and a disincentive to doctors working in Nigeria”, he said.

“The NEC expressed deep frustration at the continued re-categorisation of membership certificates by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and the non-issuance of certificates post Part 1 by the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN). This practice discourages doctors from pursuing postgraduate medical training in Nigeria. The government’s failure to compel these regulatory and examination bodies to act with urgency demonstrates a disturbing lack of commitment to resolving this long-standing issue.”

He demanded immediate commencement of specialist allowance payments to all doctors, in recognition of their pivotal role in delivering specialist medical care across healthcare institutions nationwide, and immediate payment of outstanding 25%/35% CONMESS arrears and other pending financial entitlements owed NARD members.

Suleiman urged the federal government to, without further delay, pay the outstanding arrears of the 2024 Accoutrement Allowance due to doctors. He also called for the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of the five resident doctors unjustly terminated from FTH Lokoja, with full payment of all outstanding salaries and allowances for the period of their unlawful disengagement.

He demanded that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare immediately constitute a Task Force to develop and implement a clear and humane “working-hours policy for doctors practising in Nigeria in line with international best practices to safeguard both physician wellbeing and patient safety.

On conditions that the government must meet before the association can call of the strike, he said, “If you assure us that you completely pay house officers, not two or three weeks after every civil servants have received their salaries, if you give us the signal that the collective bargaining agreement will be rounded up within a week or two, so that we begin to go into the implementation process, look at budgetary provisions, how we can work towards it so that Nigeria can absorb whatever shock that may come from that. If you sit down and talk about addressing the entry level of doctors into civil service, why downgrade it?.

Suleiman, who made a passionate appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the matter, said, “Mr. President, you are presiding over a nation where doctors have not received their rightful duty, even before you became President. And these people are coming to you to tell you, these boys, don’t mind them. They are lying to you. Mr. President, I can tell you, they are planning so many dubious things.

“We are doctors who just want to go back to our hospitals, our wards, our clinics to see our patients. But while we are doing that, it’s not asking too much to collect the minimum salaries and our allowances. We are not asking for new things. These are things we have agreed on. No one will come and tell you that what they are asking for is illegitimate. They will show you papers telling you that we have agreed, they will tell you the federal government does not have money”.

“Mr. President, they have been paying themselves their own salaries and allowances. It is we who are in the field working that they are not paying. I hope you will listen to this passionate campaign, and I hope you will use your goodwill. You are the father of the nation. Come into this matter, weigh in on it, and solve it for us”, he’s added.