Health Sector Faces Fresh Crisis As Resident Doctors Announce Strike Date.

According to Nivo News, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has announced plans to resume its suspended strike action on January 12, 2026, following what it described as the government’s continued failure to adequately address long-standing welfare and professional concerns affecting its members.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

The association disclosed the decision in an update issued after its emergency National Executive Council meeting held on January 2. NARD stated that the strike would officially commence at 12:00 a.m. on Monday, January 12, should its demands remain unresolved.

As part of preparations for the industrial action, the NEC directed all 91 NARD centres across the country to convene congress meetings and subsequently hold press conferences aimed at drawing national attention to the unresolved issues confronting resident doctors. The association noted that the media engagements are intended to dominate public discourse in the days leading up to the strike.

NARD further outlined a phased protest strategy, beginning with centre-based demonstrations scheduled to run from January 12 to January 16. This will be followed by regionally coordinated protests led by caucus leaders, before culminating in a nationwide protest to be organised by the association’s National Officers’ Committee.

The doctors listed nine minimum demands that must be fully implemented before any consideration would be given to suspending TICS 2.0. These include the reinstatement of five doctors at the Federal Teaching Hospital in Lokoja, payment of outstanding promotion and salary arrears, and the full implementation of the professional allowance structure with arrears captured in the 2026 budget.

Additional demands include the restoration of specialist allowances, resolution of delayed house officers’ salaries, official clarification from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on entry-level and skipping issues, as well as the resumption and conclusion of the Collective Bargaining Agreement process.

The association explained that the one-week interval before the strike resumption was deliberately created to allow for internal consultations, sustained media engagement, and statutory notifications to security agencies and hospital managements nationwide.

NARD reaffirmed its commitment to the resolutions reached, assuring members that engagements with relevant authorities would be intensified in the coming days.