The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ekiti State Chapter, has warned that it will shut down all government-owned health facilities in the state if the Federal Government does not address the national body’s call for the reversal of the recently introduced unfavourable allowances for doctors.
NMA Ekiti State Chairman, Dr Ifedayo Oreyemi, revealed in a chat with journalists in Ado Ekiti on Thursday that the state branch “is fully ready to join the proposed industrial action that would be called by the national body after the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum.”
The NMA’s national body had earlier given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to withdraw a circular issued by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission on June 27, 2025, with reference number SWC/S/04/S.218/11/646.
NMA had described the circular as “an obnoxious and insensitively provocative circular.”
Oreyemi said that the circular was “a flagrant contravention of the previous Collective Bargaining Agreements that emphasised the existence of relativity in the remuneration of doctors with other health care workers.
The action of the Federal Government clearly demonstrated the insensitivity and hypocrisy of the government to keep to terms with the agreements previously entered into with the NMA.”
Oreyemi, who mentioned that Nigerian doctors were among the best physicians and surgeons anywhere in the world, implored Nigerian leaders and politicians “to endeavour to invest in the country’s health sector as done in countries where they always run to for medical assistance”.
The state NMA chairman listed the association’s demands, which he said must be met to avert the strike to include “the immediate withdrawal of the circular on review of allowances for medical/dental officers in the federal public service dated 27th June, 2025, and immediate correction of consequential adjustments in line with the agreements of 2001, 2009, and 2014 CBAs”.
He said that the demands included “Immediate correction of the relativity agreed between CONMESS and CONHESS, and compliance with relativity in all professional allowances with the 2001 CBA, particularly regarding calk duty allowances, and the payment of all accrued backlogs, and immediate payment of Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) for 2025 and upward review of the MRTF to reflect prevailing economic realities, and Immediate convocation of the long – overdue Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations on CONMESS.”
“Immediate release of circular on clinical duty and other allowances for honorary consultants as agreed in January 2024, implementation of scarce skills allowances for medical consultants, approval of specialist allowances for all doctors, approval of excess workload allowances for all doctors and compliance with CBA of 2021 on hazard allowance and a few others.”