A labour dispute between the Federal Government and the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) has paralysedpublic hospitals across Nigeria after two conciliation meetings failed to resolve disagreements over workers’ pay. The nationwide strike, which commenced at midnight on November 14, is over the government’s failure to implement the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), a wage review that health workers say has been pending for several years.
The ongoing industrial action has withdrawn about 85 per cent of Nigeria’s public health workforce from duty, severely disrupting hospital operations nationwide and raising concerns about workforce management, labourrelations, and service delivery. Speaking on the standoff, the JOHESU National Secretary, Comrade Martin Egbanubi, said the union would not suspend the strike until the agreed salary adjustment is fully implemented.
At the Ogudu Primary Healthcare Centre in Lagos, the impact of the strike was evident, as the facility was completely deserted, with no staff or patients present. Similar shutdowns have been reported in public hospitals and primary healthcare centres across the country.
In an interview, Egbanubi said the strike centres on a single unresolved issue—the implementation of the adjusted CONHESS. He explained that the union is not making multiple demands, adding that the salary adjustment has remained unpaid since 2014, despite the existence of an official circular, an approved salary table, and a payment plan. “We are asking for the implementation of what has already been agreed,” he said.
He confirmed that two conciliation meetings, chaired either by the Minister of Labour or the Permanent Secretary, ended without an agreement. According to him, JOHESU represents pharmacists, physiotherapists, laboratory scientists, health technologists, and administrative staff, a breadth of membership that accounts for the widespread shutdown of health services.
At the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, said almost all activities at the facility had been grounded. He warned that the health sector could not withstand repeated industrial actions without serious humanitarian consequences, and urged both the government and the unions to resolve the dispute in the interest of workers and patients.
The union said the dispute reflects years of delayed implementation and unfulfilled commitments. Egbanubistated that the Federal Government had failed to implement the CONHESS adjustment despite assurances from the High-Level Body Committee in 2022, and commitments made by President Bola Tinubu during a meeting with union leaders in June 2023. He added that earlier strikes were suspended in June 2023 and October 2024 after agreements that were not honoured.
Egbanubi said JOHESU had exercised patience for years but now feels ignored. He stressed that union members would return to work only when the salary structure adjustment is fully implemented, describing the strike as a matter of workers’ rights and fair compensation.
