By Idris Salisu, Gusau
The Coalition of Nurses in Zamfara State has commenced an indefinite strike over alleged discriminatory salary implementation by the state government, giving Governor Dauda Lawal 24 hours to address their demands or risk a total collapse of healthcare services.
In a letter dated September 11, 2025, and signed by Dr. Kabiru Zamau on behalf of the coalition, the nurses accused the state Ministry of Health of excluding over 1,000 nursing professionals from the salary benefits recently approved for health workers, while implementing it only for medical doctors.
The letter, which was copied to the state Commissioner of Health, Head of Service, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Zamfara State, the Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre Gusau, and the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), lamented that several appeals had been ignored by the government.
“Consequently, and as a last resort, the nurses of Zamfara State have been forced to withdraw their services. As of nine hours ago, the industrial action commenced across state government health facilities,” the coalition said.
The group warned that if urgent action is not taken within 24 hours, nurses in federal health institutions, including the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Gusau, will join the strike in solidarity.
The coalition further cautioned that the strike could worsen the ongoing cholera outbreak in the state. “Allowing the entire nursing workforce to withdraw their services at such a critical juncture, solely due to an injustice perpetrated by a government official, would be an unprecedented and devastating failure of governance,” the letter stated.
The nurses urged Governor Lawal to personally intervene by directing the Ministry of Health to rectify the alleged discrimination and ensure the inclusive implementation of the new salary structure in the September payroll.
They stressed that failure to act promptly would plunge the state’s healthcare system into a crisis, endangering lives already threatened by the cholera epidemic.
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