Group Accuses Resident Doctors Of Political Agenda Over Planned Strike

The Concerned Citizens of Nigeria (CCN) has alleged that the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is in alliance with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to destroy the country’s health system.

The group, in a statement on Wednesday signed by its convener, Abdullahi Mohammed, expressed concern over the “militant approach” of NARD despite the federal government’s 70 per cent response to their demands.

The group’s remark comes amid a recent standoff between the federal government and NARD arising from unmet demands of the association.

On November 29 2025, NARD suspended its previous strike, which lasted for 29 days, after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government.

The group, in the statement, lamented that common folk of Nigeria are assaulted again with a situation that could threaten the lives, health, safety, and well-being of many Nigerians following the recent threat of an indefinite strike by NARD.

It said their strikes are not necessarily legal from an industrial-dispute standpoint since NARD is not a registered labour union, even though the federal government had engaged them out of courtesy on labour matters.

The group identified the association’s demand to include payment of seven months’ arrears of CONMESS, payment of 2024 accoutrement allowance to medical officers, reinstatement of the five disengaged doctors at Lokoja, review of working hours by FTH, Implementation of one-to-one replacement policy, payment of outstanding promotion arrears to medical officers in both state and federal institutions, reinstatement of house officers to the Scheme of Service.

Others include the universal application of CONMESS to both state and federal ministries, immediate release of the professional allowance table, stoppage of casualisation of resident doctors through locum, payment of specialist allowance to their members working in the hospital, and demand that MDCN/ NPMCN should address the issue of re-categorisation of membership certificates and non-issuance of certificates.

Demand for the correct placement of medical officers on CONMESS 3, demand for the completion of CBA, demand that arrears be paid to their members in the following institutions: FUHSTH Otukpo, FMC Owo, UITH Ilorin, OAUTHC, and UUTH Uyo, improvement of infrastructure and obsolete equipment in the hospitals, Review of the policy of appointing other health workers as consultants, and implementation of pension benefits as signed with NMA.

It also observed that the federal government has met 70 per cent of the demands, which include full payment of the seven months’ arrears of 25 per cent /35 per cent of CONMESS, except for some omissions and bank errors, already being addressed, and full payment of the 2024 accoutrement allowance to medical officers.

Over N10 billion has been paid in the past three months for Nigeria’s Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), which is a government initiative established under the Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) 2017 to support resident doctors with training costs like books, exams, and allowances, funded by federal/state budgets and institutions, aiming to improve healthcare by ensuring doctors can advance their careers without excessive financial burden.

Others are, a setup of a committee comprising FMOH, NMA, and RLDO, chaired by DHS, is to be inaugurated soon, on the shortage of manpower, more than 23,000 waivers have been granted for the recruitment of health professionals in federal hospitals

Also, in furtherance of retaining specialised skills, boosting manpower and ensuring employment security, the group noted that the federal government approved the upward review of retirement age of skilled clinical health professionals in federal tertiary hospitals and centres from 60 to 65 years of age, or 35 to 40 years of service (whichever comes first).

On promotion arrears to medical officers in both state and federal institutions, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is said to have received a compiled list and has forwarded it to the Ministry of Finance, but the ministry is still working on a supplementary list to be sent soon for payment.

The group, having considered the positions of NARD and the federal government and after observing that their demands are being reasonably met, queried the belligerence stems from the political apathy.

“We wonder if this belligerence stems from political sympathies, as some members of the leadership of NARD are known associates of certain political interests in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and may be acting in pursuance of a political end as the campaign season nears”, the group said.

It urged the government to take the overall demands of NARD seriously and invest even more in expanding manpower and infrastructure in the health sector, while calling on the association to shelve its planned action, as the federal government has shown good faith in meeting other demands.

The group also called on the federal government to take measures and negotiate to avert the impending strike, citing that it is often said that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.

It further stressed that in this case, the masses who cannot afford to travel abroad for medical treatment will bear the brunt of this action.

The group further urged the government to implement the no-work-no-pay policy if NARD insists on inflicting suffering on Nigerian patients by embarking on the strike.