Nigeria’s public health sector is facing the threat of a major shutdown as the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) begins mobilizing healthcare workers nationwide for a potential industrial action over a 13-year-old salary dispute with the Federal Government.
The decision follows an emergency expanded National Executive Council (NEC) virtual meeting held on Thursday, October 29, 2026, which brought together leaders from affiliated unions and state organs across the country.
At the heart of the standoff is the non-implementation of the adjusted Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS). Union leadership warned that health workers are no longer willing to tolerate further delays or excuses regarding their welfare.
In a joint statement, JOHESU National Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Minjibir, and National Secretary, Comrade Martin Egbanubi, declared that the window for action is immediate.
”The season for uninterrupted implementation of the CONHESS adjustment is now or never,” the statement read, adding that the union will resist threats from “meddlesome interlopers” trying to derail the process.
Broken Promises and Bureaucratic Delays
JOHESU recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had promised to resolve the CONHESS adjustment shortly after taking office on June 5, 2023, which led the union to suspend a strike at the time.
Following that commitment, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare forwarded the 2021 High-Level Technical Committee Report on the salary adjustment to the Budget Office of the Federation—the secretariat for the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS).
However, the union accused the government of letting the process stall due to the PCS’s failure to convene. JOHESU warned that it would no longer accept administrative inertia as a valid excuse.
Nationwide Mobilization and Next Steps
Relying on the provisions of the Trade Unions Act (Cap T14, LFN, 2004), which guarantees trade unions the right to negotiate benefits for their members, JOHESU commended the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for backing their cause. The union described the CONHESS adjustment as the longest-standing unresolved demand in Nigeria’s organized labor history.
Health workers across all tertiary and public health institutions nationwide have now been placed on high alert and directed to begin mobilization for industrial action.
Despite the call to prepare for a showdown, union leaders urged members to remain peaceful and orderly while awaiting final directives from the NLC and TUC following the expiration of official ultimatums issued to the Federal Government.
JOHESU represents a significant portion of Nigeria’s healthcare workforce, comprising:
MHWUN (Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria)
NUAHP (Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals)
SSAUTHRIAI (Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions)
NASU (Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions)
AHPA (Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations)
