A major nurses’ group in Nigeria has condemned the federal government for allegedly withholding January salaries for nurses, describing the action as discriminatory and unfair amid ongoing wage disputes. The nurses say they continued to work throughout the period and should not have had their pay stopped.
According to the Federal Ministry of Health, the non-payment of January wages was an administrative mistake after the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation applied the government’s “No Work, No Pay” policy too broadly to health workers who were wrongly assumed to have joined a prolonged industrial action.
A memo from the ministry stated that nurses in federal tertiary health institutions did not participate in the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) strike, as their own association — the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) — formally withdrew from that union in 2023.
As a result, the ministry asked for the immediate reversal of the salary ban and instructed the Accountant-General to ensure prompt payment, noting that the delay had caused “undue economic hardship” for nurses and their families.
The forum’s protest reflects broader frustration among health workers over delayed pay and inconsistent implementation of government labour policies, even as the ministry works to correct the payroll record and avert tensions ahead of further negotiations on welfare and conditions of service.