Hospitals across Nigeria are bracing for disruption as the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives – Federal Health Institutions Sector (NANNM-FHI) launched a nationwide warning strike on Wednesday, July 31, 2025, after the expiration of a 15-day ultimatum issued on July 14. The strike, expected to last seven days, comes despite last-minute appeals by the Federal Government to avert the action.
Nurses across federal health institutions are demanding a comprehensive overhaul of their welfare package, citing poor pay, lack of structured allowances, and severe understaffing. The union says it has exhausted all channels of dialogue with the government, accusing authorities of non-responsiveness and neglect. “There has been no communication from the government,” said National Chairman Morakinyo Rilwan. “They had more than enough time.”
Among the nurses’ demands are the upward review of shift and uniform allowances, implementation of a distinct salary structure for nurses, increased core duty allowance, mass recruitment to tackle brain drain, and the creation of a dedicated nursing department within the Federal Ministry of Health.
Rilwan emphasized that the strike was not imposed by union executives but was demanded by a frustrated membership across Nigeria’s healthcare system. “This action is a collective cry. It is not something the leadership initiated; our members have had enough,” he stated during a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday.
The union has dismissed the Federal Government’s usual “no work, no pay” threat as ineffective, arguing that nurses are already overworked and underpaid. “They are ready to make that sacrifice because what they earn is already barely enough for survival,” Rilwan said. “Nurses will not be blackmailed into silence.”
This strike follows months of escalating tension between the union and the Ministry of Health. While the government has claimed it is working on a phased response to health sector reforms, frontline workers say they have seen no meaningful engagement or policy shift.
The warning strike is scheduled to end on August 5, 2025, with the union threatening to escalate the action into a full-blown indefinite strike if no concrete steps are taken before then. Already, patients in federal hospitals are experiencing reduced services, with critical wards running skeletal operations as nurses withdraw in protest.
