Health workers in Nigeria finally suspend 43-day strike

The Joint Health Sector Union on Thursday lambasted the Federal Government for failing to meet its demands. It, however, called off its 43-day old strike, directing its members to resume work on Friday (today).


The directive was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the National Executive Council meeting of JOHESU and Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations in Abuja.

The communiqué read in part, “The various gains from the meetings with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, were presented to the NEC of JOHESU. After exhaustive deliberations and discussions, the NEC in session approved that the six-week-old strike be suspended this day Thursday, May 31, 2018, because of the sympathy the unions have for the suffering Nigerian masses and also to pave way for further negotiations to continue on Monday, June 4, 2018.”

The union maintained that the strike was no political but was based on the principle of fairness and justice.

It, however, had harsh words for the Federal Government for failing to honour its promise of increasing the salaries of health workers.

JOHESU added, “Following a series of meetings with eight members of the Federal Government team under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Federal Ministry of Health and other agencies of the government such as the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Finance, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Department of State Services and others, we note with dismay the insincerity and unseriousness exhibited at the negotiation table by the government’s negotiating team, which led to the breakdown of further negotiations and unnecessarily prolonged the strike action.”