September 14, (THEWILL) -- Last Friday, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) initiated a five-day warning strike. The doctors want the government to release the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund, settle arrears in salary under the revised Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), pay outstanding accoutrement and hazard allowances and address problems with certification from postgraduate medical councils. The warning strike followed earlier ultimatums and a 10-day deadline which the government failed to meet.
Resident doctors form a crucial part of the country's health workforce. They are medical graduates undergoing specialist training, often responsible for handling emergency wards, specialist departments, teaching hospital rotations and supervision of juniors. NARD claims that around 15,000 resident doctors are part of their membership, out of over 40,000 doctors in the national public medical system.
Hospitals in Lagos, such as the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos University Teaching Hospital and National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi reported full compliance with the strike. Departments outside emergency care have shut down and only life-threatening or urgent cases are being attended to. The doctors say that five months of arrears from the revised pay structure remain outstanding. They also say that specialist and hazard allowances are unpaid.
A similar situation is playing out in the education sector, which is also under severe stress. The Academic Staff Union of Universities has given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum in relation to unmet agreements involving salaries, funding, infrastructure, autonomy and working conditions. Universities have suffered multiple closures. Delays in curricula completion, postponement of practical classes, disruption of research activity and loss of contact hours are among the negative effects.
Extended duration of study arising from repeated academic disruptions is an all too familiar consequence of these strikes. Students in multiple institutions lose almost a semester or more in a year whenever ASUU goes on strike. For example, the 2022 ASUU strike lasted over eight months forcing students to sit at home as valuable study time was wasted away. Repeated interruptions to academic calendars reduce educational outcomes. Students miss lectures and practicals, examinations are delayed, and sometimes whole semesters are condensed or lost. Employers worry about gaps in graduates' preparation. The credibility of some degrees has suffered, especially compared with those from countries where academic disruption is far less frequent.
In healthcare, the moral of resident doctors has been undermined by working conditions. Overwork, poor welfare, inadequate staffing are frequently cited. Many doctors complain that shortage of manpower forces them to shoulder multiple responsibilities without sufficient support and that many exit to practice abroad.
The financial stress on the sector is real, but funds remain undisbursed. The Medical Residency Training Fund, designed to ensure efficient specialist training, is not yet released for many doctors. Allowances such as accoutrement, hazard and others have been delayed for months.
Nigeria's health sector receives less than the 15 percent share of the national budget promised under the Abuja Declaration, a target long missed. Many health facilities lack basic infrastructure, equipment or supplies and dependence on out-of-pocket payments remains high. Patient safety suffers where doctor availability is reduced, local clinics are understaffed and emergency services are disrupted.
Strikes by doctors and academic staff overlap with economic pressures: Inflation, weakening currency, rising cost of food and transport make life harder for students, healthcare workers and ordinary citizens. Where monthly wages are delayed or allowances unpaid, purchasing power drops further. Many of those in the health and education sectors must also pay out of pocket for equipment, materials or even basic transport to work.
Repeated breakdowns in healthcare and education reduce public confidence. When people expect that services may be unavailable, they delay seeking care or shift to private alternatives. Families incur costs that they cannot always meet. Some patients suffer worsening of conditions due to delays in diagnosis or treatment. In education, young people lose time and money, sometimes dropping out or moving abroad for studies. The long-term human cost is large.
The typical government responses, such as a promise to negotiate, occasional disbursements of some allowances, setting up of committees have been overplayed and viewed with suspicion. Many of these have failed to yield full implementation in the past. Agreements made in previous strikes have often remained partly unfulfilled. Trust between unions and government today appears low.
The convergence of these crises in health and education overlaps with security challenges. Regions affected by conflict or insurgency have a harder time maintaining health facilities, transporting patients and keeping schools open. More often than not, displacement worsens shortages of trained professionals. Economic hardship often worsens security risks.
The convergence of these crises, in health, education, economy and security, is pushing Nigeria into a fragile state where one failure in public policy can cascade into a larger breakdown of service delivery and public trust.
Unless the government acts with urgency to meet the essential demands of resident doctors and university staff, the cyclical pattern of crisis will continue. The cost in lives, learning and social trust is rising. Without credible, transparent, enforceable policy change, the warning strike by NARD may become one of many future episodes rather than a turning point.