The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has given the Federal Government a 30-day deadline to meet a series of outstanding welfare and policy demands affecting its members.
These demands include payment of salary arrears, promotion entitlements, and reinstatement of sacked doctors.
The resolutions were contained in a communique signed on Sunday by NARD President, Mohammad Suleiman; Secretary-General, Shuaibu Ibrahim; and Publicity and Social Secretary, Abdulmajid Ibrahim, at the close of the association’s 45th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference, held in Katsina State from September 21–26, 2025.
During the meeting, themed “Mitigating health worker migration through extra-remuneration incentives: A strategy for sustainable development”, NARD members deliberated on critical challenges confronting Nigeria’s health sector.
The AGM also marked a leadership transition, with Suleiman elected as President to succeed Tope Osundara, who completed his one-year tenure.
On September 12, NARD began a five-day warning strike. Still, it suspended it after two days, following the release of funds for the outstanding Medical Residency Training Fund, and to allow the Federal Government two weeks to address its concerns.
Against this backdrop, the AGM observed a range of unresolved issues that undermined doctors’ welfare and the health system.
The association highlighted the excessive and unsafe call-duty hours imposed on resident doctors, the stalled review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure for over 16 years, and the persistent non-payment of corrected professional allowances, leading to prolonged salary shortfalls.
It noted that doctors in federal tertiary hospitals are owed months of promotion arrears, worsening hardship and morale, while condemning the casualisation of doctors, the dismissal of five doctors at Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, and delays that violate the Medical Residency Training Act.
NARD also decried worsening brain drain, the exclusion of house officers from the Civil Service Scheme, decaying hospital infrastructure, and the government’s failure to implement agreed pension benefits.
The communique also condemned the creation of consultant cadres for non-medical doctors, the downgrading of postgraduate membership recognition, and the failure to apply CONMESS circulars across all levels of government and institutions.
NARD, however, resolved that effective October 1, 2025, its members should no longer engage in more than 24 consecutive hours of call duty, aligning with international best practices.
The communique noted, “The AGM calls on the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to develop and implement clear, healthy call duty working hours for doctors in line with international best practices. In the interim, the AGM directs that, effective October 1, 2025, members should desist from engaging in more than 24 hours of continuous call duty. The AGM calls on the Federal Government to expedite actions on the activities of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in completing the long-overdue review of CONMESS and calls on the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to clearly state and implement the relativity in professional allowances between the CONMESS and CONHESS salary structures to ensure equity and proper compensation.
“The AGM demands the immediate release of the corrected tables of the professional allowances for medical doctors. The AGM demands that the Federal Government urgently pay all accumulated promotion arrears owed to our members across all federal institutions within 30 days. The AGM calls on the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, to grant Chief Executives of hospitals less encumbered means of employing doctors and replacing those who have left the system to reduce excessive workload on existing members. This can be done through the implementation of a one-for-one replacement policy proposal.
“The AGM gives the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Management of FTH Lokoja 30 days to reinstate the five sacked medical doctors. The AGM demands the prompt settlement of all arrears arising from the 25 per cent/35 per cent upward review of the CONMESS, the 2024 Accoutrement Allowance arrears, and other outstanding salary arrears within 30 days.
“The AGM demands the reversal of the dangerous trend of the creation and employment of consultant cadres of non-medical doctors in the health sector. The AGM urges the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to immediately restore full recognition of West African postgraduate membership certificates to their previous status and calls on the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria to commence immediate issuance of membership certificates to deserving candidates, in line with global best practices.”
The AGM also called for a decentralised and streamlined process for upgrading and promoting doctors, to boost both training efficiency and clinical service delivery in line with the Medical Residency Training Act. It demanded the immediate commencement of specialist allowance payments to doctors, recognising their pivotal role in specialist care.
The AGM also urged the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to ensure smooth and continuous employment of doctors, as a response to the brain drain crisis and to guarantee adequate healthcare services nationwide.
Additionally, it pressed for the inclusion of Medical and Dental House Officers in the Civil Service Scheme, ensuring they receive prompt and rightful payments alongside the timely issuance of payslips.
Specific attention was drawn to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, with a demand to urgently resolve the welfare concerns of resident doctors at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomosho.
The AGM also demanded that all CONMESS circulars be fully implemented across federal, state, and private institutions, including medical colleges, university health services, research institutes, and regulatory bodies. It further endorsed medical entrepreneurship among resident doctors as a way to diversify income and strengthen the healthcare system.
On policy and advocacy, the AGM resolved to intensify engagement with the National Assembly to secure sufficient budgetary allocations for healthcare and training in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
It also demanded the immediate implementation of previously agreed special pension benefits for doctors.
Credit: punchng.com
