Resident doctors have handed the Federal Government a two-week ultimatum to settle a backlog of welfare and professional demands, warning that failure to act within the window could trigger fresh industrial action in public hospitals.
The National Association of Resident Doctors said the deadline was contained in resolutions adopted at its 46th Annual General Meeting, held on Sunday, 27 September 2026, in Calabar, Cross River State. The association’s national president, Dr Ogar Emmanuel Idoko, read the resolutions at the meeting, which also produced a new National Executive Council.
At the centre of the grievance is what the doctors describe as the slow pace at which the government has honoured earlier agreements. They said the prolonged delays had become unacceptable and pressed for immediate movement on remuneration, career progression, professional allowances, excessive workload, manpower shortages and general welfare.
The association also asked the government to conclude a long-pending review of the salary and professional structures for doctors, arguing that the current framework no longer reflects prevailing economic realities. On workload, it called for standardised templates and reliable data to justify compensation for members carrying duties beyond their normal responsibilities because of staff shortages.
Beyond pay, the resolutions touched on the safety and shrinking numbers of medical personnel. NARD raised concern over attacks on health workers and demanded full implementation of anti-assault measures meant to protect doctors on duty. It also pointed to the continued migration of doctors abroad, which it said had deepened manpower gaps and piled more work on those who remain.
The association urged the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to tackle the drivers of that migration, and called on state governments to prioritise the welfare of health workers in their own institutions. It further asked the National Assembly to strengthen budgetary provisions for healthcare, describing adequate funding as central to fixing the sector’s problems.
On the electronic clocking systems being introduced in some hospitals, NARD clarified that it was not opposed to the technology. Its position is that such systems should be used for accurate attendance and data management, not as a tool to punish medical personnel. The doctors also demanded prompt payment of salaries and entitlements owed to house officers, and their inclusion in relevant welfare arrangements.
This is not the first flashpoint this year. In April 2026, the association suspended a planned indefinite nationwide strike after receiving fresh government commitments on outstanding allowances, salary arrears and funding for residency training. That suspension followed an emergency National Executive Council meeting and renewed talks with officials, with the doctors saying at the time that they were acting on assurances of progress. Earlier, in January, the National Industrial Court in Abuja had moved to restrain resident doctors from proceeding with industrial action.
The recurring pattern is instructive. Successive ultimatums, suspensions and reconciliation meetings have kept the health sector in a cycle of near strikes, with resident doctors repeatedly citing the same unresolved items: salary structure reviews, arrears and residency funding. NARD itself noted that several agreements reached with the government had remained unimplemented despite repeated meetings and assurances.
Resident doctors form the backbone of service delivery in Nigeria’s teaching hospitals and federal medical centres, handling a large share of emergency, ward and clinic duties while undergoing specialist training. Any full withdrawal of their services tends to paralyse public healthcare quickly, pushing patients towards private facilities that many cannot afford, which is why their ultimatums carry weight beyond the profession.
The government’s room for manoeuvre is shaped by wider fiscal pressures. The doctors’ demand for a salary review “reflecting prevailing economic realities” comes against a stretch of high living costs, with food inflation rising to 20.31 per cent in July 2026 even as headline inflation eased to 15.43 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That gap between falling headline figures and stubborn food prices is part of what health workers point to when they argue that existing pay no longer stretches far enough.
For now, the association has framed the notice as a chance to avert disruption rather than a strike declaration. It urged the government to use the two weeks to address the outstanding issues and preserve industrial harmony, and asked its incoming leadership to keep pushing for implementation of the resolutions while sustaining engagement with the authorities.
What happens next rests largely on the government’s response within the deadline. The Ministry of Health had not issued a public reply at the time of writing, and the association has not spelt out the exact form any action would take should the demands go unmet. Whether this becomes another suspended threat or a full walkout will likely turn on how much of the long-standing agreement the government is able to implement before the clock runs down.