By Jimoh Abibat

Once again, the Nigerian healthcare system is faced with another indefinite strike action that was scheduled for April 7th 2026, but has been suspended till April 21st after negotiations with the government. The continuous decay in the sector has led to the loss of life of average Nigerians. Hundreds of lives were lost during previous strikes by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).

The recent demands by NARD are the same as before, which are to reverse the suspension of the Professional Allowance Table (PAT), payment of promotion and salary arrears, payment of 19 months of PAT arrears, swift conclusion and payment of the 2026 MRTF, demand to regularise House Officers’ salaries and arrears, and adequate medical training, among others.

These demands are basic requirements for the running of the health sector. However, in reality, the health sector can’t functionally fulfill the needs of the average Nigerian under this current political and economic system. This is a sector that is grossly underfunded, understaffed and underequipped.

The federal budget for 2026 allocates N2.48 trillion to health, just 4.2% of the total N58.47 trillion budget. Compare this to the 15% target set by the African Union’s Abuja Declaration in 2001. Twenty-five years later, we have not even reached one-third of that commitment. Even though the budget figures themselves are a cruel joke, the release of the funds is another story entirely. The Minister of Health, Ali Pate, told the House of Representatives that out of a N218 billion capital budget allocation for health in 2025, the federal government released only N36 million.

Recent studies show that the doctor-population ratio in the country is between 1:5000 and 1:10000, which is ridiculous in comparison to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of 1:600. While the nurses’ ratio is 1:2000 instead of 1:300. This ratio is even worse in some rural areas where Primary Health Centres (PHCs) are nearly nonexistent. Statistics also show that over 10,000 health professionals have relocated to the U.K., U.S., Canada, and other Gulf countries in search of better living and working conditions. This is neocolonialism at its best.

The ruling class are open to the option of either travelling overseas for medical care or getting the best hands and services within the country; this is inaccessible to ordinary Nigerians who are overwhelmed with meagre minimum wage, dilapidated health facilities, low doctor-patient ratios, among others. The crisis in this sector has led to thousands of qualified health professionals leaving the country for better options overseas, which has translated to the current brain drain.

While politicians fly overseas for medical treatment, costing Nigeria between $550 million and $1 billion annually in medical tourism, ordinary Nigerians are left to sink or swim alone.

The 2025 Nigeria Health Statistics Report revealed 20,811 maternal, neonatal and under-five deaths between January and September 2025. Nigeria accounts for 29% of all maternal deaths worldwide, approximately 75,000 deaths per year, one every seven minutes. A child born in Nigeria today is more likely to die before their fifth birthday than a child born in almost any other country outside of active war zones.

The government has always pushed narratives against workers, especially health professionals, whenever their unions are on strike, that they are selfish and inhumane to the plight of Nigerians. Blaming doctors for withdrawing their labour ignores the reality that they, too, are victims of a broken system. The real question is why a country with immense human and material resources cannot provide basic healthcare for its people.

However, it is the government that has continuously prioritised its selfish interests over the common man. The underfunding of the sector and unreleased allocations to the ministry are just a few examples. Thus, the government should be held responsible.

Doctors, nurses, and other health professionals must not see themselves as separate from the working class; they remain workers, even if their skills are in high demand. Their conditions of work, like those of other workers, are shaped by the same system that prioritises profit over human needs. For this reason, they must build solidarity with the broader working class to demand adequate funding of the health sector, democratic control over decision-making, and the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy.

There is an urgent need to make health unions genuinely independent. This means that decision-making processes, as well as the allocation and control of resources, must involve those who actually run the system, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, specialists, and other health workers, rather than being dictated by bureaucrats and political elites.

Ultimately, a socialist reorganisation of society, where human needs come before profit, offers a real way out of the crisis. Without such a transformation, the current situation will not be the last; it will simply mark another phase in the long and continuous history of neglect, underfunding, and exploitation of the health sector and its workers.