The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Healthcare Professionals have issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to resolve their outstanding welfare issues or face a nationwide strike.
The unions announced that their members would resume their suspended strike on October 25, 2024, if their demands remain unmet. The ultimatum was issued following a unanimous resolution of JOHESU’s Expanded National Executive Council and conveyed in a memo dated October 9, 2024, addressed to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate.
The memo, “Notice of 15 Days Ultimatum and Resumption of Suspended Strike Action,” was signed by Kabiru Minjibir, JOHESU’s national chairman and Martin Egbanubi, the union’s national secretary.
JOHESU, an umbrella body comprising various healthcare unions including the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria and the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, listed several unresolved issues. These include the adjustment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) as was done with the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) since 2014, the implementation of a consultant cadre for pharmacists in federal health institutions, and the extension of the retirement age for health workers from 60 to 65 years, with consultants’ retirement age set at 70.
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Other demands involve the payment of CONHESS review arrears, tax waivers on healthcare workers’ allowances, the payment of COVID-19 inducement hazard allowances for omitted health workers, and the immediate suspension of the planned National Health Facility Regulatory Agency (NHFRA) and its activities. Additionally, the unions demand the withdrawal of the Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) Standard Operating Procedures by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
In the memo, JOHESU stressed that the strike, originally suspended after President Bola Tinubu’s intervention following a walkout between May 19 and June 6, 2023, could resume if their demands continue to be ignored.
Despite their patience and patriotism, they highlighted the government’s failure to meet their earlier promises that they would embark on an indefinite strike if they failed to act after the seven-day warning strike.
“Honourable Minister Sir, you will agree with us that JOHESU has always exhibited maturity, selflessness, and patriotism even in the face of extreme provocations and the government’s long delay in meeting these demands of workers under JOHESU and we think that our maturity and patriotism have been taken for granted,” the union said, demanding speed.
“This 15-day ultimatum is necessitated by the non-response of the Federal Government to the plight of our members, despite our benevolence.”
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