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NLC slams FG over health sector neglect, labels situation a national crisis
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has criticized the government for systematic neglect of healthcare infrastructure and mistreatment of medical personnel through inadequate compensation, outstanding payments, and unfulfilled commitments, calling the circumstances a national crisis.
NLC President Joe Ajaero suggested that governmental approaches to public healthcare and medical worker welfare demonstrate a preference for overseas medical facilities rather than developing a capable domestic healthcare system that serves all Nigerians fairly.
READ ALSO: NLC issues four-week ultimatum to FG over tertiary institutions’ strike
These remarks came during the inauguration of the 51st Regular National Executive Council (NEC) gathering of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) in Abuja.
Ajaero said: “Our health sector continues to bleed. It is not an accident; it is a direct result of a system that prioritises profit over people, that sees healthcare as a commodity and health workers as disposable instruments. You, the frontline workers in every pandemic — the pharmacists, the laboratory scientists, the porters — you are the lifeblood of this nation’s well-being, yet you are forced to work in conditions that sicken the very spirit of healing.
“You are overworked, underpaid, and disrespected. You face unimaginable trauma daily, only to be met with empty promises and a blatant disregard for your welfare. This is a calculated assault designed to break your will and privatise the commonwealth of our public health system. You have suffered severely from the unfaithfulness of the government to negotiated agreements because premium is not placed on the services that you render. Maybe, out of guilt, they prefer to die abroad!”
He emphasized that medical workers constitute the backbone of Nigeria’s national survival, noting that mistreatment of any worker “the entire working class is devalued.”d
“When you are forced to operate in a state of despair, you have only two choices, as the great Karl Marx identified: to withdraw your labour or to become more committed to the struggle.
“Withdrawal is not just a strike; it is the quiet despair that leads to burnout, to brain drain, to a slow death of the system. But commitment — the commitment you show by being here today — is the fuel of radical change. It is the resolve to organise, to mobilise, and to fight back against the unjust treatments in our hospitals and health institutions across the nation.”
The labour leader advocated for collective action across all healthcare unions to demand enhanced working environments, adequate salaries, and sufficient public health funding.
“Our solutions must therefore be as radical as the problems we face. We must unite and broaden the struggle; forge an unbreakable alliance with all health sector unions. Your strength is in your unity. A joint struggle across the entire health sector is invincible. JOHESU must be reinvigorated by bringing all unions on board,” he said.
Ajaero called on MHWUN to transform the NEC gathering into a launching pad for tangible resolutions and strategies demanding healthcare system transformation.
“This NEC meeting should not be a talk shop; it should be a situation room. The decisions you make here must resonate in the halls of power and on the floors of every hospital in Nigeria. Do not let them pacify you with tokens; demand a fundamental restructuring of the health sector. Demand living wages, safe working conditions, and adequate funding for public health. If not — Japa!”
The NLC president also stressed the importance of political mobilization before 2027 elections, encouraging workers to establish a political force representing their concerns instead of relying on traditional politicians.
“We must move beyond begging the bosses to becoming the architects of our own destiny,” he said.
Ajaero finished by commending MHWUN leadership and former labour pioneers for their persistence in pursuing justice and worker rights.
“Your President and Deputy President of Congress, Comrade Ado Sani and his General Secretary, Comrade Kiyawa, have continued to represent you well. We doff our hats to them! The NLC stands shoulder to shoulder with you. Your fight is our fight. Together, we will heal the healers, and in doing so, we will begin to heal our nation,” he said.
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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