The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has rejected the alleged agreement between the federal government and the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) to conduct a 6-month job evaluation before resuming the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

NARD calls for the immediate reconvening and conclusion of negotiations on the Medical and Health Workers’ Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

It also demanded the immediate reconvening of the Committee on Special Pension Benefits, in line with agreements previously reached with NARD, to bring the matter to a logical conclusion.

Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, NARD President, Dr. Mohammad Suleiman, observed that the federal government had told the NMA and the Joint Health Sector Unions ( JOHESU) that it will conduct job evaluation for six months before the Collective Bargaining Agreement will commence, adding that while the NMA has accepted the proposal, JOHESU rejected the proposal

Suleiman insisted that CBA should resume while the job evaluation is going on and commended the federal government for the reinstatement of all disengaged colleagues at the Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH) Lokoja.

He, however, frowned at the resolution requiring two of the affected colleagues to seek transfer to other tertiary hospitals, noting that such action would only aggravate the situation rather than resolve it.

Suleiman pointed out that the association is not being confrontational with the government but is being careful not to set a bad precedent.

He said, “When you have union leaders who agitated because of union activities, and then they lost their jobs because of that, there’s a precedent that we should all be careful not to set. The commitment from federal government is to allow all our members to go back to Lokoja. Let it be a record that they have gone back to Lokoja first”.

Suleiman said that the recent intervention of the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, on the disagreement between the association and the government’s negotiation team is already yielding results, adding that NARD believes in the commitment of the Vice President on the matter.

“The Vice President made it very clear that he is acting on behalf of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If there was no belief or respect in his ability and capacity to sort out this issue, we would have been on strike by now. We have timelines we agreed upon. That was why we shelved the strike action to review the situation at the end of January, NEC. So, the commitment from the Vice President is there. We are even aware of a lot of conversations that have happened even after he has seen us”.

“We saw the byproduct of that goodwill from the Vice President. Letters came out, people made progress, and a lot of papers moved from one agency of government to the other. And not only were these papers moving, but were also going to the end point where these things needed to be implemented to confirm that they are in receipt of the letters and some actions have been taken on the matter”.

Suleiman advocated for immediate clearance of the outstanding 25%/35% CONMESS arrears and accoutrement allowance arrears, in line with the intervention of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and the commitments of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMoH&SW).

He called for expedited payment of all promotion arrears already forwarded by the FMoH&SW to the Budget Office and the Federal Ministry of Finance, in accordance with the assurances made by the Minister of Finance.

Suleiman demanded the prompt settlement of salary arrears owed to specific centres, which had been forwarded by the FMoH&SW to the Budget Office and the Federal Ministry of Finance, with formal acknowledgements and assurances of an expedited payment framework.

He called for immediate and concrete steps towards the full implementation of the approved Specialist Allowance and also called for accelerated resolution of all issues affecting House Officers, including outstanding salary delays and arrears, through the ongoing engagements involving the FMoH&SW, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), and IPPIS.

The NARD President emphasised the need to ensure that all the items are captured in the 2026 budget so that we don’t come back later in the year to remind Nigerians that the welfare of doctors or healthcare workers in Nigeria has been ignored. We will continue to engage the National Assembly and other relevant stakeholders regarding the budget.

He demanded for accelerated implementation of all other outstanding demands previously agreed upon