By Abubakar Ahmed
The recent circular purportedly issued by the National Salary Income and Wages Commission to address the consequential adjustment of allowances under the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for medical and dental practitioners in Nigeria, is no doubt in bad taste.
The NSIWC’s action is capable of plugging the country into another round of needless industrial action with debilitating effect on a health sector which is already on life-support.
At this point of our national life, the issue of improved welfare for doctors and other health workers is not something to toy with especially going by the manpower shortage that has adversely affected quality of healthcare delivery.
Poor renumeration and working condition in the health sector in the country has led to mass exodus of doctors and nurses from the country’s health sector abroad.
Statistics by the World Health Organization (WHO), indicated that at least 2,000 Nigerian doctors emigrate yearly in search of greener pasture in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United States and other hotspots across the world.
The mass departure of doctors has adversely strained the healthcare system, leading to longer wait times and potentially compromising patient care.
Reports said because of the exodus, Nigeria can only boasts of slightly above 55,000 doctors for a population of 220 million. The development has created a doctor-to-population ratio of 3.9 per 10,000, which is far below the WHO recommendation of 1:1,000.
Despite this anomaly, Nigeria’s government through agencies like NSIWC is bent on compounding the challenges that have hitherto negatively impacted effective healthcare delivery.
The recent circular by NSIWC (SWC/S/04/S.218/III/646) dated 27th June 2025, has understandably drawn the ire of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria as well as other allied bodies.
NMA in its position widely circulated in the media, condemned the circular, describing it as not only misleading, but constitutes a flagrant violation of the spirit and letter of the agreements painstakingly reached during the collective bargaining process between its representative and that of the Federal Government.
“We want to bring this to the attention of Mr President, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), National Assembly and the general public whom we are under oath to always protect and promote their wellbeing.
“We reject this new circular in its entirety and demand a new circular that reflects previous agreements reached. The principles of fairness and justice must be applied in adjusting allowances as agreed in the past,” it noted.
It is imperative for all to rise up against NSIWC’s action in a bid to save the country from another round of unrest and mass exodus the gesture could trigger.
It is sad that NSIWC could take a decision on issues as sensitive as allowances and emoluments of a critical segment of society without their input.
More worrisome is the revelation by NMA that NSIWC even discarded its position on the 2001, 2009, and 2014 CBAs, agreements reached between it and the federal government. Such arbitrariness by a government agency in a democratic era like ours, is an aberration.
It is therefore advisable for the federal government to immediately withdraw the said circular and implement all agreements it earlier reached with NMA and other allied bodies.
There is also the need for a multi-faceted approach focussed on improving working conditions, increased compensation and benefits, investing in training and development, reforming the healthcare system, and potentially attracting diaspora professionals.
Government should also tackle the rising insecurity that puts health workers at risk of kidnapping at their duty posts and residences amongst other long term measures.
Ahmed writes from Katsina State.
