Health Workers Mobilise for Showdown with FG over 13-year Salary Adjustment Delay

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) have begun mobilising health workers nationwide for possible industrial action over the federal government’s failure to implement the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) adjustment. This demand has remained unresolved for about 13 years.

The union, which warned that it would resist any attempt to frustrate the salary adjustment, said it was no longer prepared to tolerate further delays in implementing the agreement.

This was part of the resolutions reached at an emergency expanded National Executive Council (NEC) virtual meeting held on Thursday, October 29, 2026, attended by its affiliates and organs at federal and state levels.

In a resolution jointly signed by the JOHESU National Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Minjibir, and National Secretary, Comrade Martin Egbanubi, JOHESU said the season for uninterrupted implementation of the CONHESS adjustment was now or never, warning that it would not accept threats from what it described as meddlesome interlopers over the welfare and future of health workers.

The union recalled that President Bola Tinubu had, on June 5, 2023, promised to actualise the adjustment while appealing to JOHESU to suspend its strike after assuming office.

It also recalled that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had, on the same date, forwarded the 2021 High Level Body Technical Committee Report on the adjustment to the Budget Office of the Federation, the secretariat of the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS).

However, JOHESU accused the government of allowing the process to stall because the PCS could not meet, warning that any further attempt to use the committee’s failure to act as an excuse would meet resistance.

The union commended the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) for taking decisive steps to secure the adjustment, describing it as the oldest demand in organised labour history.

It also reminded the federal government of the provisions of the Trade Unions Act, Cap T14, LFN, 2004, which permits trade unions to negotiate benefit packages and collective bargaining agreements on behalf of their members.

JOHESU consequently placed its members on alert and directed the commencement of mobilisation across health institutions nationwide for a possible industrial action and what it described as necessary but unparalleled resistance should the government yield to attempts to frustrate the demand.

The union, however, urged members to remain peaceful while awaiting further directives from the NLC and TUC, following the ultimatum and timeline issued to the federal government.

JOHESU comprises the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN); Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP); Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI); and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), including its technical arm, the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA).