Resident doctors suspend strike

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its indefinite nationwide strike.

Muhammad Suleiman, NARD president, confirmed the decision to BusinessDay on Tuesday, saying the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) directed members to resume duties at 8am on Wednesday.

The suspension comes just hours after the doctors had embarked on what they described as a “total and comprehensive” industrial action, which began at midnight on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, following an extraordinary virtual NEC meeting held on Saturday, April 4.

At the centre of the dispute is the government’s plan to halt the implementation of the revised Professional Allowance Table (PAT), a key element of agreements reached after the doctors’ 2025 industrial action.

Suleiman said the federal government had now assured the association that the decision to discontinue the PAT from April 2026 would be reversed.

The revised PAT, which includes improved call duty allowances, shift pay, rural posting incentives and non-clinical duty payments, was initially scheduled for implementation in January 2026 but was delayed before being rolled out in February. NARD had alleged that the government’s move to discontinue the scheme amounted to a breach of trust and a direct threat to doctors’ welfare.

The association had listed several demands for calling off the strike, including the immediate reversal of the decision to end PAT implementation, payment of promotion and salary arrears owed to doctors in affected centres, prompt disbursement of the 2026 Medical Residency Training Fund (MTRF), and settlement of 19 months of outstanding PAT arrears.