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Resident doctors declare indefinite nationwide strike over unmet demands
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has announced a total, comprehensive, and indefinite strike beginning Friday, October 31, 2025, at 11:59 p.m., following the expiration of a 30-day ultimatum earlier issued to the Federal Government.
In a statement signed by NARD President, Dr. Mohammad Usman Suleiman, the association said the decision was reached after a five-hour Extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, where members unanimously directed the National Officers Committee (NOC) to commence industrial action over the government’s failure to address long-standing demands.
READ ALSO: Doctors in Lagos comply with NARD’s five-day warning strike
The statement released on the NARD X handle @nard_nigeria reads: “Twenty-nine days ago, you gave this National Officers Committee the mandate to lead our noble association and a second mandate of a 30-day ultimatum to the Federal Government on our demands. I am happy to report that we have carried out that mandate with grace and confidence.
“Today, after a 5-hour Extra-Ordinary National Executive Council Meeting, the Members of NEC have issued new marching orders to us once again. The NEC has unanimously directed us to declare a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike action to commence on Friday, 31st October 2025 at 11:59pm.
“We have reported to NEC and NEC has decided. The NOC will carry out this directive to its latter and in full compliance. The NEC has marshaled out minimum demands, strike monitoring directives, No Work No Pay/No Pay No Work resolutions and all such other modalities and weapons needed for a successful execution of this action.”
According to the statement, instructions have been issued to centre presidents and general secretaries to organize emergency congress sessions to inform members about the NEC’s resolutions.
Suleiman accused “some elements within and outside government” of having “evil and exploitative plans for resident doctors,” vowing that NARD members would collectively resist such attempts.
In preparation for the industrial action, he called on doctors to utilize the remaining four working days to ensure proper patient handovers, communicate with traditional, religious, and community leaders, and inform the Nigerian public and media. He encouraged a countdown to the strike action, a prayer for the nation, and to hold congresses in compliance with NEC directives.
“Let me make this call and appeal to all NARDites. Trust the process, believe in your leaders, engage with them, and remain resolute; don’t despair or lose hope. Count on this NOC’s resolve to deliver results.
“Trust the process, believe in your leaders, and remain resolute. Victory is certain. If there’s any blame to throw around, throw it on me as your President. If there’s praise, it belongs to all NARDites,” Suleiman stated, noting that a detailed communique and press conference would soon be held to outline the association’s demands and the basis for the strike decision.
It will be recalled that NARD commenced a five-day warning strike on September 12, 2025, but suspended the action within 24 hours following a virtual Extraordinary National Executive Council meeting.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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