Nurses at the National Hospital Abuja on Wednesday joined the nationwide warning strike called by the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Federal Health Institutions Sector,
The union had earlier, on July 14, 2025, issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, demanding immediate intervention to avert a total shutdown of healthcare services.
When The Guardian visited the General Outpatient Department (GOPD) of the hospital, nurses were completely absent, while health assistants and doctors were seen attending to patients.
At the hospital’s emergency unit, a caregiver, Madam Mabel Isoje, who was caring for her 21-year-old son, told The Guardian that the hospital is providing optimal care and attention to patients in the unit despite the strike.
She appealed to the government to address the demands of the nurses, considering the crucial role they play in saving patients’ lives.
At the Pediatric Surgery unit, Francis Ebenezer told The Guardian that his four-year-old daughter had a major surgery and is recovering fast, but expressed anxiety over the ongoing strike by the nurses.
He stated that, although the nurses took care of the patients and administered drugs in the morning before proceeding with the strike, their absence from duty was already being felt, considering that they usually came to the ward to care for the patients and also play with them for several hours.
Ebenezer observed that the importance of nurses in the health care system cannot be underestimated, adding that they are the ones closer to the patients and appealed to the government to increase their welfare package and bring a permanent solution to the incessant strike in the health sector.
The leader of the Nursing Union in the hospital, Comrade Joseph Awujah Akpi, told The Guardian that the strike started at the hospital at 10 am on Wednesday and will last for seven days.
Akpi lamented that nurses constitute over 60 per cent of the healthcare workforce but are being neglected and not involved in policy-making in hospital boards.
He observed that the nurses are concerned about the well-being of their patients but have no option, considering that strike is the only language they understand.
Akpi said that the issues that led to the strike has to do with the gazette on the scheme of service that the federal government approved since 2016 which has not been implemented, adding that union is agitating for an upward review of call duty allowance, shift duty allowance, increase in core duty allowance, mass employment of nurses, and the establishment of a nursing department within the Federal and introduction of retainership allowance.
He noted that there is a high incidence of burnout syndrome among its members due to a serious shortage of nurses, adding that in some wards at the hospital, only one nurse is attending to over 20 patients. He called for the employment of more nurses in the hospital to ensure effective service delivery.
Akpi said, “There are so many nurses that graduated over five years ago but have not done their internship, we are calling for decentralisation of the process of selecting nurses for internship.”
He disclosed that at the end of the seven-day warning strike, the nurses will return to work and restrategize, after which another 21-day ultimatum will be given to the government, followed by an indefinite strike if the government fails to meet their demands.
Speaking with The Guardian, the Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Maijamaa Adamu, who described the strike as disturbing, said that nurses constitute the bulk of the hospital workforce, adding that some services are affected because of the strike.
He, however, stated that necessary adjustments have been made as other categories of health workers are being mobilised to fill the huge gaps created by the strike.
He expressed the hospital’s commitment to offering patient-centred care and hoped that the issues that led to the strike will be resolved quickly and amicably, enabling the nurses to return to work.
