The Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) has given the Federal Government until August 31, 2026, to resolve outstanding salary and allowance issues, or face a three-day nationwide warning strike.
The union said years of unimplemented agreements, coupled with widening pay disparities between medical academics and their counterparts in hospitals, were worsening the ‘Japa’ syndrome and accelerating the loss of highly skilled doctors and dentists from Nigerian universities.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, Prof. Andrew Omotayo Ugburo, Chairman of the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) University of Lagos (UNILAG) chapter, said the situation was increasingly difficult to retain qualified medical and dental lecturers in the university system.
‘You now find that the salary of a similarly qualified person is more than that of a medical and dental academic,’ Ugburo said, stressing that the disparity was fuelling both internal and external brain drain.
He warned that the crisis could have serious consequences for Nigeria’s healthcare system, as medical academics perform a dual role, teaching students and providing clinical services, including emergency care and life-saving surgeries.
According to him, inadequate funding and the failure to implement allowances such as the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA) have left medical schools struggling to retain enough qualified academics to train the next generation of doctors and dentists.
Ugburo said NAMDA had deliberately avoided a national strike for more than six years to avoid potential impacts on medical education and healthcare delivery.
‘NAMDA has never gone on a national strike, never,’ he said, adding that the association had consistently prioritised negotiation with the government.
However, he said the union’s patience was now being tested by the continued delay in implementing agreements already reached.
Ugburo commended the Federal Ministry of Education and the Department of State Services (DSS) for their interventions, noting that the DSS had raised concerns about the security implications of a possible strike by medical academics.
He said the major stumbling block remained the failure of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to circularise agreed allowances, including CATA, and to fully implement the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).
‘If it’s not in the circular, budgeting will be affected. So, the status quo remains the same,’ he said.
Following an emergency National Executive Council meeting, NAMDA, in a communiqué, extended its initial ultimatum by three weeks, warning that failure to achieve a meaningful resolution by the end of the extension period on August 31 would result in the declaration of a three-day warning strike, to be announced by the National Officers’ Council.
He stressed that such action would not only affect hospital services but could also suspend medical education, potentially disrupting the training and graduation of future doctors and dentists.
The NAMDA chairman therefore urged the Presidency and relevant government agencies to intervene and ensure the outstanding agreements were implemented before the deadline.
‘We are responsible academics and clinicians. We don’t want to take any action, but we have been pushed to do so. We have learned that the government only understands one language, and we have decided to speak their language.’
Meanwhile, NAMDA directed its branches to mobilise members immediately through congress meetings and sensitisation programmes.
‘All branches were directed to hold a minimum of two congress meetings before the deadline,’ the communiqué stated.
Branches are expected to submit reports on their first congress meetings to the association’s Acting Secretary-General on or before August 15, with reports on the second congress meetings due by August 25.
The reports are expected to indicate the level of preparedness, the position of branch congresses after voting, and the level of mobilisation for a possible strike.