RESIDENT DOCTORS ISSUE 30-DAY ULTIMATUM TO FG OVER WELFARE DEMANDS
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has given the Federal Government 30 days to meet a series of outstanding welfare and policy demands or risk renewed industrial action.
The association issued the ultimatum in a communiqué signed by its President, Dr. Mohammad Suleiman; Secretary-General, Dr. Shuaibu Ibrahim; and Publicity and Social Secretary, Dr. Abdulmajid Ibrahim, at the end of its 45th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference in Katsina State, held from September 21 to 26, 2025.
The demands include the payment of salary arrears, settlement of promotion entitlements, reinstatement of five sacked doctors at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, and the implementation of corrected professional allowance tables.
NARD also called for an urgent review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), which has been stagnant for over 16 years, as well as the immediate payment of accumulated promotion arrears owed to doctors in federal institutions.
The communiqué further directed that, effective October 1, 2025, resident doctors should no longer engage in more than 24 consecutive hours of call duty, insisting that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare must enforce healthy working hours in line with international best practices.
“The AGM demands the prompt settlement of all arrears arising from the 25 per cent and 35 per cent upward review of CONMESS, the 2024 Accoutrement Allowance arrears, and other outstanding salary arrears within 30 days,” the statement read.
The doctors also decried worsening brain drain, exclusion of house officers from the Civil Service Scheme, poor infrastructure in hospitals, and the government’s failure to implement agreed pension benefits.
NARD condemned what it described as “the dangerous trend of creating consultant cadres for non-medical doctors,” while urging the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to restore full recognition of West African postgraduate membership certificates.
The AGM pressed for a decentralised and streamlined process for upgrading and promoting doctors, the inclusion of Medical and Dental House Officers in the Civil Service Scheme, and a one-for-one replacement policy to reduce workload caused by mass emigration of health workers.
The association also urged Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to urgently address the welfare concerns of resident doctors at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomosho.
On policy advocacy, NARD resolved to engage the National Assembly for adequate healthcare funding in the 2026 budget and demanded immediate implementation of previously agreed special pension benefits for doctors.
The meeting, themed “Mitigating Health Worker Migration through Extra-Remuneration Incentives: A Strategy for Sustainable Development”, also marked a leadership transition, with Suleiman elected as President to succeed Dr. Tope Osundara, who completed his one-year tenure.
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