The Citizens Free Services Forum, CFSF, has declared support for the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, on their strike action over implementation of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS.

Recall that since 14 November 2025, JOHESU has been on an indefinite strike over the Federal Government’s failure to implement the most recent Memorandum of Understanding with health unions.

In a statement on Tuesday, CFSF expressed sadness and frustration as every attempt by the health workers to amicably resolve the issue through the implementation of the CONHESS had failed.

The statement, signed by Comrade Sani Baba, Executive Director of CFSF, noted: “The repercussions of the government’s intransigence on our healthcare delivery system are humongous, as many patients, especially workers and the downtrodden in our society, are forced to either mortgage their livelihood to get medical care in private hospitals or just pine away and die at home.

“This reality is totally reprehensible, condemnable and completely unacceptable.

“The preferential treatment accorded to medical doctors, while disregarding the genuine demands of their colleagues in the health sector, undermines the spirit of teamwork, a hallmark of the medical profession. The result is that Nigeria’s healthcare system has been crippled, as medical doctors cannot take on the roles of other professionals.

“The Citizens Free Services Forum notes that the incessant strike actions in our healthcare and education sectors demonstrate the government’s scant commitment to social and public services. For a developing country like Nigeria, such indifference is tantamount to criminal negligence in fulfilling the duty of care to citizens. The Government should be held responsible for every life that is lost as a result of the current strike action by health workers.

“We demand that the government immediately announce the implementation of the CONHESS, as it had agreed on numerous occasions with the trade unions in the health sector. The threat of “no work, no pay” only adds insult to the injury. Nigerian health workers should not be intimidated. The Government is the villain here for failing repeatedly to honour agreements it freely entered into with Nigerian healthcare workers. Enough is Enough!

“The CFSF also demands that the Nigerian government increase the budgetary allocation to Nigeria’s healthcare and education sectors.

“It is very ungodly and scandalous that public officials now take up adverts in the pages of newspapers to celebrate the graduation of their children in foreign universities or obtain medical treatment in hospitals abroad, while the children of workers and the poor perish under the strains of comatose healthcare cum education system, and incessant strike actions occasioned by the stench of official rascality, criminal negligence and crass impunity.”