Deal With Health Workers’ Strike As National Emergency, PSN Urges FG
As the week-long industrial action by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Health Care Professional Associations (AHPA) lingers, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has expressed concern about the situation, demanding government intervention immediately.
The President of PSN, Ayuba Ibrahim Tanko, who made the remark during a courtesy visit by a delegation of PSN to the Secretary to the Federal Government, Senator George Akume, described the ongoing JOHESU/AHPA strike as a ‘’national emergency that must not be allowed to linger.”
He advised the government not to relent in the efforts it initiated on the wake of the strike, towards stopping the action by the professional bodies.
“We are concerned because all 73 Federal Health Institutions (FHIs) and even non-hospital-based facilities where JOHESU members are domiciled have been paralysed by the effect of this strike.’’
“We strongly recommend that the unprecedented momentum generated in the last 24 hours preceding the strike by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy be sustained to break this logjam immediately.”
The unions under the aegis of JOHESU/AHPA are demanding an upward adjustment of the Consolidated Health Salary Scale (CONHESS), as done for the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) since 2014, 2017 and 2018; and according to him, the unresolved issues have lingers for twelve years.
The agitation basically hinged on an almost twelve year recurring demand of adjustment of the CONHESS as was done for CONMESS first in 2014, then 2017 and 2018.
‘’The CONHESS is the operating wage payment platform for JOHESU/AHPA members and nurses who together constitute over 95 percent of the entire healthcare workforce in Nigeria,’’ he said.
Tanko stressed that the health workers have gone on strike because of the matter in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2025.
JOHESU comprises the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), Senior Staff Association of Universities, and the Teaching Hospitals Research and Academic Institutions (SSAUTHRAI), the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) and the Non-Academic Staff of Universities and Research Institutions.
‘’Since 2022 the high level body chaired by the Chairman of the National Salaries and Wages Commission (NSIWC) had recommended that this fund be paid health workers and this report was sent to the office of the Director General, Budget Office in line with protocol,” he added.
He announced a plan by PSN to launch a N5 Billion Endowment levy.
According to him, the initiative will be “dedicated to promote Pharmacy Education and some level of research as we advance Pharmacy to new levels and frontiers in the quest for more serious global reckoning.’’
