Trade Unions Set 14-Day Deadline for FG, Threaten Nationwide Strike

Nigeria’slabourmovement is bracing for a nation­wide showdown as the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) jointly threatened mass industrial action. The unions, in solidarity with the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), have given the Federal Government a 14- day deadline to meet the demands of aggrieved health workers. Failure to act, they warned, would trigger a coordinated strike across multiple sectors, potentially paralysing eco­nomic and social activities nation­wide.

In a joint statement by the Sec­retary of TUC, Comrade General, Dr. NA Toro and Comrade Benson Upah, Acting General Secretary of NLC respectively, the trade unions said that they reject what they termed the persistent and deliber­ate provocative refusal of the Fed­eral government to implement the report of the Technical Committee ontheadjustmentof theConsolidat­ed Health Salary Structure (CON­HESS) submitted since 2021.

Theunionsinsistedthatthecon­tinued delay in the implementation of the reports “is no longer an ad­ministrative lapse; but a conscious act of injustice, bad faith, and insti­tutional disrespect to health workers and organised labour.

‘’It is, therefore, unacceptable, and a blatant provocation, while the difficulty implementing the adjustment of Consolidated Med­ical Salary Structure (CONMESS) with effect from 2nd January 2014, the same government has willfully refused to implement the same for CONHESS. This selective justice and discriminatory application of policywithinthesamesector expose the insincerity of the government’s commitmenttofairness, equity, and industrial harmony,’’ they said.

Consequently, the trade unions have given the Federal government an “irrevocable fourteen days’ ulti­matum to immediately implement the, without further delay, technical report on the adjustment of the CONHESS in line with the estab­lishedprecedentsinhealthsectoror they will compel organised labour to mobilise all Nigerian workers nationwide, across both public and private sectors, for total and coordi­nated industrial action.’’

The ultimatum effective Janu­ary23, accordingtotherelease,“will include mass protests, picketing of healthinstitutionsandgovernment offices, and a nationwide withdraw­al of services until this injustice is decisively addressed.’’

According to the release, the unions claim that “despite repeated interventions, engagements, andre­straint exercised by the leadership of the TUC and NLC in the interest of peace, theMinistryof Healthhas remainedarrogantlyunresponsive, offering excuses instead of action. This attitude amounts to a gross abuseof trustandadirectchallenge to organized labour.

‘’TheTUCandNLCherebyissue a final and irrevocable fourteen (14) -day ultimatum to the Federal Min­istry of Health and all relevant au­thorities, effective, 23 January 2026, to immediatelyimplement, without further delay or equivocation, the 2021 Technical Committee report on the adjustment of CONHESS, in line with established precedents in the health sector.

‘’Let it be clearly understood that failure to comply within Fourteen (14) days will compel organized la­bour to mobilize all Nigerian work­ers nationwide, across both public and private sectors, for total and co­ordinatedindustrialaction. Thiswill include mass protests, picketing of healthinstitutionsandgovernment offices, and a nationwide withdraw­al of services until this injustice is decisively addressed,’’ they said.