The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has warned that it will declare a nationwide solidarity strike if the ongoing industrial dispute at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC) in Ile-Ife is not urgently resolved.
The warning follows an indefinite strike declared on June 22 by OAUTHC’s resident doctors over longstanding welfare concerns, including unpaid allowances, accommodation disputes, meal coverage for on-call doctors, and allegations of workplace intimidation and victimization by hospital management.
NARD revealed it had written to the Federal Ministry of Health as far back as March, requesting a stakeholders’ meeting to address the deteriorating situation, a request that went unanswered with any meaningful urgency despite follow-up interventions in June.
The association described the crisis as avoidable, blaming hospital management’s “combative” and “dismissive” approach for pushing doctors toward industrial action.
The dispute arrives at a particularly sensitive moment. NARD is simultaneously locked in a broader standoff with the federal government over systemic issues affecting resident doctors nationwide, including the release of the 2026 Medical Residency Training Fund, unpaid salary arrears, and deteriorating welfare conditions, with a 21-day ultimatum to the government now nearing expiration.
NARD is calling on the Federal Ministry of Health to convene an urgent high-level meeting between all parties and direct OAUTHC management to address outstanding grievances immediately. The association warned that continued inaction risks disrupting patient care, emergency services, and residency training across the country.
With two ultimatums running concurrently and no resolution in sight, Nigeria’s public health system faces the very real prospect of a widespread shutdown, one that patients can least afford.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Nigeria’s resident doctors are exhausted, ignored, and out of patience. NARD warned the government months ago, and nobody listened.
Now, with two separate ultimatums running out simultaneously, a nationwide hospital shutdown is no longer a threat; it is a near certainty if authorities fail to act immediately.
The real victims, as always, will be patients who have no alternative but to depend on a public health system that the government continues to neglect.
