Health workers in Katsina State launch week-long strike — Premium Times Nigeria

In Katsina State in northern Nigeria, health workers have begun a one-week warning strike over a dispute with the state government regarding pay and welfare. The action has disrupted the provision of healthcare services at public hospitals, while patients and their caregivers have voiced concerns about access to treatment, Premium Times Nigeria reports.

On Saturday, only a few patients were near the surgical ward at the Turai Yar’Adua Mother and Child Hospital in Katsina city. A caregiver of a patient, Aina’u Abdulmajid, said that he had complications after surgery and called on the authorities to restore the normal operation of medical facilities. Another caregiver, Sulaiman Mansir, said he had brought a sick child to the hospital but faced the consequences of the strike.

Workers’ demands

The strike was declared by the Assembly of Health Workers, which includes the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, and the National Union of Allied Health Professionals.

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The assembly’s chairman, Ibrahim Balange, said that on October 7 the unions gave the government a seven-day strike notice, but their demands had not been resolved by the end of that period. According to him, the dispute has continued since 2024, when the state authorities announced their intention to review health workers’ allowances in order to align them with payments to federal service employees.

Negotiations with the government

Balange also said that workers had raised complaints about the implementation of the minimum wage: in their view, the pay structure approved for them differed from what they actually received. A committee that reviewed the complaints submitted recommendations in March 2025, but, according to the assembly chairman, they have still not been implemented.

Initially, the Public Service Reform Office offered workers 10% of the difference between their salaries and the pay of colleagues in federal institutions. After the strike began, the authorities increased the offer to 15%, but the unions rejected it. The state’s head of civil service, Masa’ud Banye, confirmed that negotiations were being held with representatives of the strikers and expressed hope for a swift resolution of the dispute.