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By Doris Obinna
The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) has threatened nationwide industrial action over the 13-year delay in adjusting the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), warning the Federal Government against further attempts to frustrate the demand.
The union, which directed members to begin mobilisation across health institutions, said it would resist any move to derail the adjustment, insisting that the time for its uninterrupted implementation was now or never.
JOHESU issued the warning after an emergency expanded National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, held virtually on Thursday, October 29, 2026, and attended by its affiliates and organs at the federal and state levels.
The union also commended the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) for taking decisive steps to secure the implementation of the adjustment, describing it as the oldest demand in the history of organised labour.
In a communiqué signed by its National Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Minjibir, and National Secretary, Comrade Martin Egbanubi, JOHESU recalled President Bola Tinubu’s promise on June 5, 2023, to implement the adjustment when he appealed to the union to suspend its strike.
It said the Federal Government must honour the commitment, warning that it would no longer tolerate delays blamed on the inability of the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS) to meet.
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The union recalled that the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had forwarded the 2021 High Level Body Technical Committee report on the CONHESS adjustment to the Budget Office of the Federation, the PCS secretariat, on June 5, 2023.
JOHESU said any attempt to use the committee’s failure to meet as an excuse for further delay would be met with equal resistance.
It also reminded the Federal Government that the Trade Unions Act permitted unions to negotiate benefit packages and collective bargaining agreements on behalf of their members.
The union warned that it would not accept interference by individuals or groups in the adjustment of CONHESS, which it described as a flagship demand of its membership.
However, JOHESU urged members to remain peaceful while awaiting further directives from the NLC and TUC on the ultimatum and timeline given to the Federal Government.
The unions involved include the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, the Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, alongside the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations.
