The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has announced that it will resume a total and indefinite nationwide strike from January 12, 2026, citing the Federal Government’s failure to fulfil agreed welfare commitments.
The association said the decision was reached at an Extraordinary National Executive Council meeting held on January 2. The resolution was made public in a statement signed by NARD President, Dr Mohammed Suleiman, and shared on X on Friday.
According to the statement, the industrial action, tagged TICS 2.0, is scheduled to begin at exactly 12:00 a.m. on January 12 and will continue until the government fully implements the association’s demands.
The statement read, “NEC resolved to resume TICS 2.0 tagged ‘No Implementation, No Going Back’ with effect from 12th January 2026 by 12:00 am.”
Suleiman said centre presidents across the association’s 91 centres nationwide had been instructed to convene congress meetings and engage the media within the next seven days.
He said, “NEC has also mandated every centre President from the 91 centres to hold a congress meeting and, at the end, do a press conference. We want 91 press conferences to saturate the spaces over the next seven days.”
The association also announced that protests would accompany the strike. It stated that centre-based protests would hold between January 12 and 16, 2026, followed by regional demonstrations and, subsequently, a national protest to be organised by the National Officers Committee.
Suleiman said the strike would only be called off after the full implementation of NARD’s minimum demands. These include the reinstatement of the “FTH Lokoja Five”, payment of promotion and salary arrears, full implementation of the professional allowance table with arrears captured in the 2026 budget, as well as the reintroduction and implementation of the specialist allowance.
Other demands listed are clarification of entry level and skipping issues by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, resolution of house officers’ salary delays and arrears with the issuance of a pay advisory, recategorisation and issuance of membership certificates after Part I by the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, commencement of locum and work hours regulation committees, and the resumption and timely conclusion of the collective bargaining agreement process.
Explaining why the action was scheduled to begin after a one-week window, Suleiman said the period was intended to allow for congress meetings, media engagements and statutory notification of security agencies and hospital management about the planned protests.
The association recalled that it had warned on December 28 of a possible nationwide shutdown of medical services if the Federal Government failed to honour a Memorandum of Understanding. NARD had suspended its 29-day strike on November 29, 2025, after the government promised to meet its demands within four weeks, a deadline the association said passed without any tangible progress.
As of press time, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had yet to issue an official response.
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