The strike declared by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), scheduled to begin today, April 7, 2026, is already threatening to disrupt services across federal and state-owned hospitals nationwide.

Resident doctors in Nigeria have spent a cumulative 51 days on strike since the administration of President Bola Tinubu began, a development that raises fresh concerns over the government’s ability to sustain agreements with health workers.

The figure, which includes two major strikes and a warning action between 2023 and 2025, comes as doctors once again announced plans to down tools starting from today over unpaid allowances and policy reversals.

The new strike is triggered by the Federal Government’s reported decision to halt the implementation of the revised Professional Allowance Table, a key component of an agreement reached after the 2025 strike.

In its latest statement, NARD described the move as “unfortunate” and accused the government of pushing doctors into another avoidable industrial action.

Read Also:NARD declares indefinite nationwide strike

The association said its National Executive Council resolved to embark on a “total and comprehensive strike” following deliberations over the policy shift.

NARD is demanding an immediate reversal of the decision to stop the allowance table; payment of promotion and salary arrears; settlement of 19 months’ outstanding allowance arrears, and release of the 2026 Medical Residency Training Fund.

At the centre of the dispute is the Professional Allowance Table, which standardises payments such as call duty, shift allowances, and other work-related incentives.

The roots of the current crisis lie in the 2025 agreement between NARD and the Federal Government, which followed a prolonged strike.

That agreement introduced the revised allowance structure aimed at improving doctors’ welfare, including enhanced payments for call duty, shifts, and rural postings.

Implementation was initially scheduled for January 2026 and later shifted to February. However, doctors said the process had been inconsistent and was discontinued.

As of the time of filing this report, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has not made an official statement concerning the planned strike by NARD.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, the Secretary General of NARD, Dr Shuaibu Ibrahim, noted that the association would consider the suspension of the strike should the government announce a decision to reverse its decision.

“When many people say we should start the strike immediately, we said no, this is a public holiday, let us give time for them to reverse the instruction, and once they give that reverse instruction, whether they communicate to us or they do not communicate to us, we will know.”

Ibrahim also noted that the situation was not only particular to resident doctors alone, but also to other categories of healthcare workers in the sector.