Nigeria’s health sector faces a major shutdown as the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations commence an indefinite nationwide Saturday, November 15, 2025.

The strike action is over the government’s failure to implement the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) and address long-standing welfare issues.

The unions announced the decision in a statement signed by Kabiru Minjibir, JOHESU’s National Chairman, on Friday, noting that the action had become necessary after years of unfulfilled promises and repeated delays by the federal government.

JOHESU comprises major health worker groups, including the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, as well as the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions.

According to the statement, one of the major reasons for the shutdown is the government’s refusal to implement the High-Level Body Committee report on the adjusted CONHESS, which was submitted to the Presidential Committee on Salaries and Wages in 2022.

“The crux of the matter in the present circumstance is the long delay in the implementation of the High-Level Body Committee’s report on the adjusted CONHESS since its submission in 2022,” JOHESU said.

The unions accused successive governments of allowing salary disparities in the health sector to linger for years without any meaningful effort to address them.

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“Nothing has been done by successive administrations to redress this infraction. Despite the well-advertised assurances of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, when a two-man delegation of JOHESU visited him on June 5, 2023, to advance the FG’s resolve to get JOHESU to suspend its strike, this demand remains unattended to,” the statement added.

JOHESU said the delays were initially blamed on the non-existence of the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS), which had not been reconstituted at the time. But even after its reconstitution, the unions said the matter still did not receive priority until the last 48 hours, when government began showing signs of action to resolve the long-running dispute.

The unions described their demand for adjusted CONHESS as “one of the longest and most protracted in Nigeria’s labour history,” insisting they would not back down until the government carries out full implementation.

The decision to down tools followed a unanimous resolution during JOHESU’s Expanded National Executive Council hybrid meeting on November 14, 2025. All affiliate unions across federal health institutions are expected to join the strike.

The fresh shutdown follows the ongoing indefinite strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) over unpaid hazard allowance arrears, poor working conditions and failure to implement agreed welfare reforms.

With both doctors and other health professionals now off duty, services across public hospitals are expected to be severely crippled.

JOHESU, had urged all its members nationwide to comply strictly with the strike directive and warned the government against any form of intimidation or sanctions.