Deborah Akinyosoye
The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress have issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Ministry of Health and all relevant authorities, effective from January 23, 2026, to implement, without further delay, the 2021 Technical Committee report on the adjustment of CONHESS, in line with established precedents in the health sector.
The unions warned that they will no longer tolerate empty promises, bureaucratic sabotage, or the continued marginalisation of health workers whose labour sustains the nation, adding that failure to comply within 14 days will compel organised labour to mobilise all Nigerian workers across both public and private sectors nationwide for a total and coordinated industrial action.
In a statement jointly issued by the Secretary General of TUC, Comrade NA Toro and the Ag. General Secretary of NLC, Comrade Benson Upah, the unions condemned the persistent and deliberate refusal of the Federal Ministry of Health and relevant government agencies to implement the report of the Technical Committee on the adjustment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), chaired by the Chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and submitted since 2021.
They noted that this continued delay is no longer an administrative lapse but a conscious act of injustice, bad faith, and institutional disrespect to health workers and organised labour and vowed that if the government fails to implement the demand with the next 14 days, there will be mass protests, picketing of health institutions and government offices, and a nationwide withdrawal of services until this injustice is decisively addressed.
The unions urged the government to avert an avoidable national industrial action by doing the needful within the ultimatum period.
The statement reads, “It is therefore unacceptable, and a blatant provocation, while the government had no difficulty implementing the adjustment of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) with effect from 2nd January 2014, the same government has willfully refused to implement same for CONHESS. This selective justice and discriminatory application of policy within the same sector expose the insincerity of the government’s commitment to fairness, equity, and industrial harmony”.
“Despite repeated interventions, engagements, and restraint exercised by the leadership of the TUC and NLC in the interest of peace, the Ministry of Health has remained arrogantly unresponsive, offering excuses instead of action. This attitude amounts to a gross abuse of trust and a direct challenge to organised labour”.
They observed that all affiliates, the 36 state councils and FCT of the TUC and NLC have been placed on red alert and directed to commence mobilisation for a nationwide action.