The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its indefinite strike which commenced about 29 days ago.
According to official information, the decision to suspend the strike was taken at an ‘extraordinary’ National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Saturday, November 29, 2025.
Confirming the development in a statement posted on his X handle Saturday night, NARD President, Muhammad Suleiman, said the strike has temporarily been suspended for four weeks.
Suleiman explained that the suspension followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government outlining the status of NARD’s 19-point demands.
He said key outstanding issues, including payment of promotion and salary arrears, implementation of specialist allowance, and the reinstatement of the ‘Lokoja five’, are scheduled to be completed within two to four weeks.
He said that, “The outstanding issues at the stage of implementation are as follows: Promotion Arrears: Compilation hasn’t been completed by CMDs/MDs, and as such, the deadline for payment is in four weeks”.
“Salary Arrears: Deadline for payment has been agreed at four weeks; Specialist Allowance: Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) has issued a clear direction on this and NSIWC to take appropriate action with a view to implementation.
“On Lokoja five: The committee report recommended reabsorption back into Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja, to be fully implemented within two weeks.”
The NARD President explained that NEC in its wisdom reviewed the issues and decided to suspend the strike for four weeks as a gesture of goodwill, allowing time to monitor the implementation of their demands.
He further wrote thus: “Progress has been made, significantly. This is simply because of the efforts and convictions of NARDites across the country.
“Mistakes have also been made, kindly rest those mistakes solely on my shoulders as President”.
He said NARD will use the four-week window to intensify engagement with Nigerians and the Federal government on the best way forward.
Forefront News notes that over 91 healthcare facilities nationwide have been overstretched due to the strike action embarked upon by the 11,500-member strong NARD.
The Resident doctors constitute a significant portion of the country’s 56,000 registered medical practitioners, who withdrew their services in protest over poor working conditions and delayed entitlements.
