The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its nationwide strike, ending nearly a month of service disruptions across federal and teaching hospitals.
The industrial action, which began on November 1, was formally called off on Saturday following an Extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held to assess negotiations with the Federal Government.
Confirming the development, NARD Secretary General, Dr. Shuaibu Ibrahim, said the strike was stepped down after both sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) spelling out seven outstanding demands the government must address.
According to him, the unresolved issues include:
- Recall of dismissed resident doctors in Lokoja
- Release of the Professional Allowance Table
- Payment of promotion and salary arrears in designated hospitals
- Upgrading doctors who passed Part I examinations
- Enforcement of the correct entry point for new intakes
- Implementation of specialist allowance
- Clarification of matters relating to Membership Certificates
Shuaibu confirmed that two of the items have already been implemented.
“The Professional Allowance Table has now been released, and the Head of Service has been instructed to adopt CONMESS 3 as the entry level for doctors. With these fulfilled, we have suspended the strike,” he said.
The remaining five conditions are expected to be completed within four weeks under timelines agreed in the MoU.
He warned, however, that the union will not hesitate to resume industrial action if the government defaults.
“If the outstanding commitments are not met within the specified period, we will resume the strike,” he stated.
The strike had severely strained public hospitals nationwide, with about 11,000 resident doctors across 91 teaching hospitals withdrawing their services in protest over poor working conditions and delayed entitlements.
