In a latest development, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors , NARD, has declared a five-day warning strike over the failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands. The resident doctors said the strike will commence on Wednesday, May 17, and end on Monday, May 22. The doctors made this known after their extraordinary National Executive Council meeting held virtually on Monday.

The association had, on April 29, issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement the agreements or face industrial action. The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 percent of the current gross salary of doctors and the new allowances included in the letter written by the association to the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, on July 7, 2022.

The NARD also demanded the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund in line with the agreements reached at the stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Federal Ministry of Health, as well as demanding the commencement of payment of all salary arrears owed to its members including 2014, 2015, and 2016 salary arrears including areas of the consequential adjustment of the minimum wage.