Patients in public hospitals across the country were left groaning, stranded, dejected and frustrated on Wednesday as nurses under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives-Federal Health Institutions Sector commenced a nationwide seven-day warning strike.
The industrial action led to widespread disruption across health facilities in the country as patients were discharged due to a shortage of nurses, many hospital wards were deserted, skeletal services operated in some areas, while others were completely shut down.
Overwhelmed by patient loads, the few available medical staff members struggled to maintain basic operations.
In the Federal Capital Territory, Bayelsa, Benue, Kebbi, Edo, Rivers, Ogun, Gombe, Jigawa, Sokoto, and Borno, scenes at hospitals showed parents clutching their children on benches, patients begging for attention, children returning home with sick relatives, some sitting on the floor, and others leaning against walls in distress.
The NANNM-FHI is demanding from the Federal Government an upward review of shift allowance, adjustment of uniform allowance, creation of a separate salary structure for nurses, an increase in core duty allowance, mass employment of nurses, and the establishment of a nursing department within the Federal Ministry of Health.
Before embarking on the strike, the union had issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, warning of an imminent total shutdown of healthcare services if their demands were not addressed.
At the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, there were long queues at the General Out-Patient Department, Immunisation Section, Consultation Section, and Surgical Out-Patient Department.
Executives of NANNM were at the hospital to monitor compliance with the strike directive.
Speaking during the monitoring at the medical centre, the NANNM chairman, Victor Asu, said, “I am here today (Wednesday) to ensure absolute compliance. Although doctors and other healthcare workers are not on strike, services have become slow, and patients are already complaining.
“I went to the Intensive Care Unit and a patient was agitating to be discharged. We have resolved that no member will attend to patients in the wards or stay with them overnight. Normally, nurses provide 24/7 care, but for now, we are fully on strike.”
Abu Isah, who brought his father to the FMC Abuja, lamented, “I came here with my father at 8 am; this is 10 am, we were still waiting. The roll-call is slow, but we remain hopeful we will get the care we need.”
Similarly, a mother who brought her child for immunisation lamented the long waiting hours.
“The members of staff here are attending to us, but the long wait is frustrating, and I still need to go to the office,” she said.
At the General Hospital, Kubwa, nurses completely deserted the facility.
At the labour ward of the hospital, patients were discharged earlier in the day, as doctors struggled to keep the ward running in the absence of nurses.
A doctor, who requested anonymity, said, “We’re overwhelmed. Without the nurses, our capacity is extremely limited. We can only offer basic care, but beyond that, our hands are tied.”
The strike also took its toll on activities at the National Hospital, Abuja.
The strike also disrupted activities at the National Hospital, Abuja.
Similarly, at Wuse General Hospital, patients in the Accident and Emergency ward were discharged due to the absence of nurses, as doctors were unable to cope with the overwhelming workload.
In other words, doctors and other health workers tried to manage the heavy influx of patients in the absence of nurses, who typically handle vital signs, medication administration, and routine monitoring.
A patient at the hospital, Simon Adebiyi, said, “The doctors are doing their best, but it’s far from enough. We are tired of the unusually long wait, and other people are tired too.”
Chairman of NANNM at the hospital, Joe Akpi, warned that if their demands were not met at the end of the seven-day warning strike, the union would issue a fresh 21-day ultimatum, after which it would embark on a nationwide indefinite strike.
“Since we care about the patients, there is nothing we can do. There is an ongoing meeting, but it has been postponed to Friday,” he added.
The Director of Nursing Division, Hospital Services Department, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dame Okafor, told The Punch that the Federal Government had scheduled a high-level stakeholders’ meeting for Friday over the ongoing strike.
The meeting is to include key ministries and agencies such as the Office of the Head of Service, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Office of the Accountant General, the National Salaries and Wages Commission, and executive officers of NANNM.
Okafor said, “We are in a meeting now with the Honourable Minister and the union leaders, and it is an effort to resolve the situation.”
She added that the Coordinating Minister, Prof Muhammad Pate, was committed to resolving the crisis. “The Honourable Coordinating Minister realises the critical nature of services that nurses render. That is why he cut short his visit to Maiduguri to come and hold a meeting with the leadership.
“Though it may seem late, because this ought to have been held so that they didn’t even put down their tools, it’s better now than never. The ministry is trying to have an in-house discussion with the union leaders.
“On Friday, the government will also meet with the leadership of the nurses and key ministries and agencies such as the Office of the Head of Service, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Office of the Accountant General, the National Salaries and Wages Commission, and other relevant stakeholders.”
She expressed optimism in the minister’s commitment to a swift resolution of the nurses’ demands.
Okafor lamented the situation in hospitals across the country, highlighting the strain on the few available locum nurses.
“I’m in a health facility, I’m just going around, and it is total compliance. Already, the locum staffers are overwhelmed,” she said.
Meanwhile, the strike took its toll on tertiary healthcare facilities in Bayelsa State, including the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, and several general hospitals, which rendered only skeletal services.
NANNM leaders in Bayelsa monitored compliance, and some primary healthcare centres, including the one at Amarata in Yenagoa, shut their doors to patients.
At FMC Yenagoa, some patients moved from ward to ward without receiving care. Those who arrived as early as 8am were still waiting to see doctors.
Patients on scheduled appointments were among those stranded.
Chairman of NANNM at FMC, Liberia Progress, led the enforcement team and confirmed there would be no skeletal services during the strike.
Progress stated, “We have a nine-point demand; in Nigeria, they say nurses should not travel out of the country, and we have been suffering all this while taking care of our patients, and we have been doing our best. At this point, we are asking the government to give us our needs so that we can also take care of our patients.
“Our demands are: the government should gazette our nursing scheme of service. We are asking for the implementation of the Industrial Act 2012, upward review of professional allowance for nurses and midwives, employment of more nursing personnel and adequate provision of health facilities and equipment.
“Currently, if you look at the hospitals, most of the time you don’t have equipment. It’s even harder for the government to provide light for us in the hospital environment. We have been struggling to take care of our patients; we are saying no, enough is enough.
“We are also asking for the creation of a nursing department in the federal ministry: a nursing department is not there. Everything boiled down to one particular department, which I don’t want to mention, but we, the nurses, know that we are the majority in the health sector, and we are not being recognised in Nigeria. In other countries, they recognise nurses, and we are not being recognised here.
“We are also asking for the inclusion of nurses in the headship of health policy. What I mean is that in most of our boards, nurses are not there, and we form the heart of the health sector. And, we are not being included. How do we make decisions? It’s only a few states in Nigeria where they always appoint nurses as the Commissioner for Health.
“We are also asking for centralisation of internship posting for graduate nurses. The Federal Government should take over the internship posting for nurses, as it does for doctors. We are also asking for a consultancy cadre for nurses; there should be nurse consultants and nurse practitioners.
“This strike is a total shutdown: no plan for skeletal services. This strike had to do with federal, state and local government nurses nationwide, and currently, the hospital has discharged so many of their patients. We don’t have patients in the wards, so the patients are suffering now.
The Public Relations Officer at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Mr Akpedi Bernard, lamented the strike, but said the management envisaged the strike and put the house together by mobilising the doctors to see the skeletal services they could provide.
Akpedi said: “With regards to the strike declared by NANNM, it’s unfortunate that as a management here, we are not happy about it, particularly in FMC Yenagoa.
“ It is the only tertiary federal health facility in Bayelsa State, and we have the responsibility of taking care of more than 70 per cent of the healthcare needs of the people. It’s the only principal referral centre that we have here, too, so when a strike occurs like this, it affects us negatively.
“However, the management, envisaging the strike, put the house together by mobilising the doctors to see the skeletal services they could provide. Of course, the very senior nurses, those at the management cadre, will support too, so that those with very critical health needs, we will still be attending to them and maybe some very urgent cases that may come too, while the strike is ongoing.”
Nurses and midwives in Benue also joined the strike.
Speaking to our correspondent on Wednesday, the state chairman of NANNM, Tahav Karshio, who spoke through his media aide, Moses Mhange, affirmed compliance with the strike directive in the state.
Karshio said, “All our members at General Hospitals, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Federal Medical Centre and at all healthcare centres in all the local governments in the state commenced the strike action.”
He added, “We are expecting total compliance across the state as of tomorrow.”
There was also compliance at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Birnin Kebbi, according to an official of NANNM in the hospital, Kasim Attah.
Attah, speaking with our correspondent, said patients with critical conditions were being attended to by the doctors while those with stable conditions have been advised to go home.
“We have joined the strike here in the hospital, and it’s one hundred per cent compliance. Our members here cooperate with us, and the strike is currently ongoing.”
Nurses and midwives of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, also joined the nationwide strike.
Abubakar Usman, a relative of one of the patients at the hospital, appealed to the Federal Government to, as a matter of national interest, attend to the demands of the association.
He described the strike as unacceptable to ordinary Nigerians.
Services at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital were totally down as there were no nurses to attend to patients in the wards.
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A visit to the hospital revealed that patients whose conditions were not so critical were being discharged.
Some did not even wait for their relatives to be discharged before they decided to move to private hospitals to continue treatment.
Grace Friday, who was seen taking her sick mother away from the hospital, told The Pu ch that she had no other choice.
She stated that the incessant strike by medical personnel should have been a thing of the past.
She added, “How can nurses still be going on strike in 2025? The implication is unimaginable. I am taking my mother to another hospital because it is possible to do so.
“Imagine what will happen to those who are critically ill and cannot be transferred or taken out of the hospital. I pray that the few doctors available can handle the situation, or else people will die.”
A patient who pleaded anonymity noted that he has been discharged and is waiting for his family members to take him home.
He said he has not fully recovered but could not stay at the hospital as the nurses were on strike, expressing hope that the industrial dispute would end soon.
At the Edo Central Hospital located at Reservation Road, GRA, some paramedics and community health workers were on the ground to attend to patients.
Asked if they can cater for patients like a trained nurse, a community health worker who simply identified herself as Precious responded in the affirmative.
She said, “Our jobs are similar. For the avoidance of doubt, community health workers support communities in many ways by providing outreach, first aid, maternity support, education, advocacy, and informal counselling.
“Don’t forget there are paramedics. So, overall, patients get the very best Medicare they deserve.”
Nurses and midwives in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital also joined the strike, though the management of the hospital said it has activated a protocol to cushion the effects of the strike.
Chairman of the Association at UPTH, Madonna Wichendu, said the strike may affect patients on admission, adding that others may be transferred to private hospitals.
Wichendu called on the Federal Government to be more sensitive to the plight of health workers across the country, given the critical role they play in the sector, saying their counterparts overseas are better paid with good working conditions.
She stated, “We know what our counterparts outside this country are enjoying by way of remuneration and other things that we are supposed to have as a Nurse in the Hospital.
“There are benefits. It is not just salary, but a good working environment with the consumables that are supposed to be in place, the working materials. You can’t look for this and you see. You strain yourself, improvising left, right and centre. And that is not what healthcare is supposed to be like”.
In his response, the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, UPTH, Datonye Alasia said the nurses’ will affect the scope of services the hospital can offer.
Alasia, however, said its strike response protocol has been activated.
“The first step we have taken today is that, despite the strike, the Nurses Administrators are available to ensure proper handover of patients, access to facilities and all that.”
Our correspondent who visited the UPTH reports that the number of patients in the hospital has reduced as a result of the strike.
Some of the patients supported the strike by the nurses and called on the government to listen and address their demands.
One of them, who gave her name simply as Maurine, said, “I brought my mom here only to find out that the Nurses are on strike and they are not attending to us.
“So we are going back to a private hospital, which we were running away from because of the cost. But I think it is very unfortunate that these kinds of things keep happening; if not doctors, it will be nurses. The government should rise to the occasion and prevent these things.”
At the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, nurses rendered skeletal services.
Our correspondent who visited the facility reports that the nurses wore mufti in place of their uniforms.
The Ogun State Chairman of NANNM, Ajoke Bello, described the strike as successful in the state.
Speaking with our correspondent, Bello said, “The first day of the seven-day industrial action declared by our national body was quite successful in Ogun State. We recorded 90 per cent compliance, and by tomorrow, Thursday, the compliance will be 100 per cent.”
Healthcare services across major health facilities in Gombe, including the Federal Teaching Hospital and the State Specialist Hospital, were disrupted by the strike on Wednesday.
At the FTH Gombe, visibly distressed patients and caregivers could be seen sitting on benches, while some lay on mats, under shades, hoping to get attended to.
Maryam Abdullahi, who brought her elderly father for treatment, said the situation was heartbreaking.
“We came from Dukku for his treatment, only to be told that nurses are on strike. We have been here since morning, and no one has attended to us. This is frustrating,” Abdullahi said.
Similarly, wards were deserted at the State Specialist Hospital, Gombe.
A pregnant woman, Hauwa Ibrahim, who had arrived for her routine antenatal check-up, expressed her disappointment.
Ibrahim said, “I was scheduled for an antenatal check-up today, but I was told to return next week. What if something happens before then? The government should listen to their demands and resolve this matter.”
A patient recovering from surgery at FTH, Musa Aliyu, expressed fears about his condition worsening due to the absence of nursing staff.
Aliyu said, “The nurses were the ones monitoring me and giving me medications. Since they stopped coming, no one has checked on me. I’m worried.”
Reacting, a matron who identified herself as Tani told our correspondent that student nurses, those on internship, are expected to fill in the gap at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe.
“There are alternatives on the ground. Those on locum, internship, and student nurses are being distributed to all wards in the hospital to do skeletal services. The locum nurses are not supposed to go on strike because they are on contract,” she added.
Jigawa nurses, in government facilities, also joined the strike.
Jigawa State Chairman of the nurses union, Mr. Ibrahim Hadejia, said, “We have received 100% compliance from our members working in state and federal facilities in the state. We will obey any direction from our national body on this development.”
When asked if any efforts had been made to suspend the strike, Mr. Babangida Hadejia revealed, “No, the state government has not approached us to suspend the warning strike, but we are waiting for further directives from our national body.”
At the Rasheed Shekoni Teaching Hospital in Dutse, patients’ relatives expressed dismay over the strike.
At the Dutse General Hospital, a relative of a patient, Mannir Bawa, said, “We are worried about the health of our loved ones. We urge the government to find a way to resolve this strike.”
The strike brought healthcare services to a near standstill, with only emergency cases being attended to.
Patients who were supposed to receive treatment were being turned away, while those admitted also expressed their worry.
At the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, students functioned in place of the striking nurses.
Our correspondent, who visited the hospital late Wednesday night, found that the students are being rotated on day and night shifts.
Students of the University of Maiduguri School of Nursing and Community Art were spread across the different units.
A source within the institution explained that the students are scheduled to resume in shifts of 7 am to 2 pm, 2 pm to 8 pm, and 8 pm to 7 am.
“It is not only for people in the hotel, regular students are also involved,” the source added.
Meanwhile, one of the Nursing students who spoke also on the condition of anonymity said there were no nurses available on Wednesday morning.
“This morning, there was no nurse at all.”
When asked if they can conduct critical operations like delivery services, the student nurse said, “We can take delivery. We have assisted in the delivery of babies.”
The source, however, noted the availability of Chief Nurses.
“I heard from those in the afternoon shift that they are Chief Nurses. But our colleagues in paediatrics said no, Nurse at all.
“They distributed us into different Units, some in Paediatrics, some in O and G, obstetrics, trauma. What they use us for is normal service; we help them to work.
“We are not under threat of losing our jobs. All the students are engaged irrespective of the level,” the source added.
The Punch
