By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent
NURSES ON strike under the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) – Federal Health Institutions Sector have declared they will not return to work until the Federal Government addresses key parts of their demands, despite ongoing negotiations.
The union’s National Chairman, Morakinyo-Olajide Rilwan, reaffirmed this stance during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, stating that the government’s usual appeal for workers to suspend industrial action before any resolution would not be entertained without concrete steps toward meeting the union’s requests.
Rilwan explained that the government had been given ample time to respond following a 15-day ultimatum issued on 14 July 2025, but failed to act, prompting the ongoing strike which commenced on Wednesday.
“We are not comfortable with that. We have to make sure that parts of the demand are attended to before we can suspend the strike at all,” he said when asked what the union would do if the government asks them to resume while reviewing their demands.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Labour, Muhammadu Dingyadi, appealed to the association to suspend its strike, stressing that industrial action was not the appropriate approach to resolving disputes.
The minister urged the union to embrace dialogue, announcing that further talks would continue on Friday at the Ministry of Health.
Rilwan, however, maintained that dialogue without tangible outcomes was insufficient. He said the union had demonstrated patience and restraint, describing the strike as a last resort forced by longstanding inaction from the government.
“It’s not actually in the nurses’ attitude to embark on a strike, and we have been patient enough because we are compassionate. Nurses are empathetic with their patients, we love our patients and don’t want anything to happen to them. But we waited for a long time for all these demands to be met,” he stated.
He emphasised that genuine commitment must be shown before the warning strike would be suspended. According to him, “Based on the insincerity and insensitivity on the part of the government, I believe some parts of these demands must be met before we can suspend the strike.
We have to see serious commitment from the government before taking that step.”
The union’s demands include the gazetting of the scheme of service for nurses, upward review of allowances, payment of specialty allowances to specialist nurses, increased recruitment of nursing personnel, enhancement of remuneration, and the creation of a nursing department in the Federal Ministry of Health.
Despite holding meetings with government representatives earlier this week, Rilwan disclosed that the talks had yielded no concrete resolution.
He confirmed that a session held on Tuesday with the Minister of Labour ended in a deadlock, as crucial stakeholders, including the Minister of Health and the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, failed to attend.
“The minister of Labour invited the leadership on Tuesday which was the last day of that ultimatum but the meeting ended in a deadlock because those that were supposed to be on ground at the meeting were not there, especially our mother ministry, the minister of health was not there, head of service of the federation was not there,” he said.
Rilwan also stated that another meeting was held with the Coordinating Minister of Health on Wednesday, but it too ended inconclusively. He said further discussions were expected to resume on Thursday or Friday.
When asked what was causing the continued deadlocks, he responded, “That means there is no tentative agreement met.
We have to reach an agreement before we can say the meeting is conclusive. There has to be an MoU signed by the stakeholders before we can say the meeting is conclusive.”
