The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared total and unwavering support for the indefinite strike action declared by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), accusing the Federal Government of repeatedly violating negotiated agreements and neglecting the welfare of health workers.

In a press statement personally signed by its President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, and dated 25 November 2025, the Congress said the government’s failure to implement the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) had pushed JOHESU into another round of industrial action.

Ajaero recalled that JOHESU’s National Executive Committee had met on 14 November 2025 and resolved to begin an indefinite strike following the Federal Government’s refusal to implement the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with health unions on 29 October 2024.

Among JOHESU’s major demands is the implementation of CONHESS — a demand the NLC described as long overdue. Despite repeated agreements, Ajaero said, “there is no doubt that the patience of Nigerian health workers has been stretched thin.”

The NLC noted that while the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for medical doctors has been fully implemented since 2014, CONHESS for other categories of health professionals has been paused, delayed, or ignored by successive administrations.

According to Ajaero, the Federal Government’s attitude toward labour agreements has become deeply troubling.

“It is disconcerting that the government treats signed collective bargaining agreements as worthless pieces of paper,” he said, warning that the trend shows “scant regard for the welfare of health workers and, by extension, the health of millions of ordinary Nigerians.”

Ajaero also criticised the Ministry of Health’s position that the implementation of CONHESS would be subject to relativity and parity, describing it as an attempt to evade a straightforward agreement already reached with unions. He added that such a stance is “akin to further application of salt to an open injury.”

The NLC further dismissed a recent memo from the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare to the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, saying it only confirmed what unions had long believed about the government’s lack of sincerity in honouring its commitments.

In a direct warning to the Federal Government, the NLC said it would not hesitate to escalate action if the issues are not addressed without delay.

“The Congress warns that if the flagship demand of CONHESS implementation, amidst other legitimate and cogent issues bothering health workers in Nigeria, are not resolved expeditiously, the Congress would mobilise all Nigerian workers to identify more robustly with the current strike action declared by JOHESU as injury to one is injury to all,” Ajaero declared.

The statement ended with the NLC’s longstanding rallying cry: “Solidarity Forever!”