National Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Nurses & Midwives (NANNM), Morakinyo-Olajide Rilwan, has maintained that its ongoing strike will persist until the federal government show commitment towards the actualisation of its demands.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, Rilwan said that the striking nurses will continue to turn a deaf ear to calls by Nigerians to suspend their strike if key demands are not met by the government.

The strike, which followed the expiration of a 15-day ultimatum issued by NANNM to the federal government, disrupted healthcare services across Nigeria. Patients, particularly at federal health institutions, were left stranded as nurses, under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), began a seven-day nationwide warning strike.

Irked by the government’s failure to look into the welfare of nurses in the country, Morakinyo hinted that the union opted to carry on with the industrial action on Wednesday despite holding a meeting with the Minister of Labour on Tuesday at the expiration of its 15-day ultimatum issued on 14 July, 2025.

The Nurses are at loggerheads with the federal government for ignoring its demands, which include gazetting of the scheme of service for nurses, upward review of allowances, speciality allowances for specialist nurses, employment of more nurses by the government, enhancement of nurses’ remuneration, creation of a department at the federal ministry of health, among others.

She added that the union offered the government enough time to respond to their demands before embarking on the 7-day warning strike, but nothing positive came out of it..
“We are not comfortable with that. We have to make sure that parts of the demand are attended to before we can suspend the strike at all.”

Morakinyo stressed that although it is not in the nurses’ nature to embark on strikes, the industrial action became their last resort to get the government’s attention.

“It’s not actually in the nurses’ attitude to embark on a strike, and we have been patient enough because we are compassionate. Nurses are empathetic with their patients; we love our patients and don’t want anything to happen to them. But we waited for a long time for all these demands to be met. So, this strike happens to be the last option we have to get the government’s attention, she said.

Minister of Labour, Muhammadu Dingyadi, had on Wednesday, appealed to the nurses and midwives to suspend their ongoing strike, urging the Association to embrace dialogue while the government continues to work on addressing their concerns.

Barring any last-minute hitches, the meeting will continue on Friday at the Ministry of Health, as the government works out a resolution to the dispute.