Strike: TUC, NLC Issue 14-Day Ultimatum to FG

The lingering strike action by health workers in the country under the umbrella of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) may assume a wider dimension as the Trade Union of Nigeria (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have jointly threatened to mobilise Nigerian workers on nationwide industrial action if the Federal Ministry of Health fails to meet the demand of the aggrieved workers.

In a joint statement by the Secretary of TUC, Comrade General, Dr. NA Toro and Comrade Benson Upah, Acting General Secretary of NLC respectively, the trade unions said that they reject what they termed the persistent and deliberate provocative refusal of the federal government to implement the report of the Technical Committee on the adjustment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) submitted since 2021.

The unions insisted that the continued delay in the implementation of the reports “is no longer an administrative lapse; but a conscious act of injustice, bad faith, and institutional disrespect to health workers and organised labour.

“It is therefore unacceptable, and a blatant provocation, while the difficulty implementing the adjustment of

Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) with effect from 2nd January 2014, the same government has wilfully refused to implement the same for CONHESS. This selective justice and discriminatory application of policy within the same sector expose the insincerity of the government’s commitment to fairness, equity, and industrial harmony,’’ they said.

Consequently, the trade unions have given the Federal government an “irrevocable fourteen days ultimatum to immediately implement the, without further delay, the technical report on the adjustment of the CONHESS in line with the established precedents in health sector or they will compel organised labour to mobilise all Nigerian workers nationwide, across both public and private sectors, for total and coordinated industrial action.’’

The ultimatum effective January 23, according to the release, “will include mass protests, picketing of health institutions and government offices, and a nationwide withdrawal of services until this injustice is decisively addressed.’’

According to the release, the unions claim that “despite repeated interventions, engagements, and restraint exercised by the leadership of the TUC and NLC in the interest of peace, the Ministry of Health has remained arrogantly unresponsive, offering excuses instead of action. This attitude amounts to a gross abuse of trust and a direct challenge to organised labour.

“The TUC and NLC hereby issue a final and irrevocable fourteen (14)-day ultimatum to the Federal Ministry of Health and all relevant authorities, effective , 23 January 2026, to immediately implement, without further delay or equivocation, the 2021 Technical Committee report on the adjustment of CONHESS, in line with established precedents in the health sector.

“Let it be clearly understood that failure to comply within Fourteen (14) days will compel organised labour to mobilise all Nigerian workers nationwide, across both public and private sectors, for total and coordinated industrial action. This will include mass protests, picketing of health institutions and government offices, and a nationwide withdrawal of services until this injustice is decisively addressed,’’ they said.

“The TUC and NLC will no longer tolerate empty promises, bureaucratic sabotage, or the continued marginalisation of health workers whose labour sustains the nation. The Federal Ministry of Health will bear full responsibility for the consequences of its inaction.”

They declared that consequently, all affiliates, the 36 state councils, and FCT of TUC and NLC are placed on red alert and directed to commence mobilisation for a nationwide action.

They further advised the government to avert an avoidable national industrial action by doing the needful within the ultimatum period.