Medical doctors under the employment of the Lagos State government have warned that they will embark on an indefinite strike if deductions made from their July 2025 salaries are not immediately reversed and other pending welfare concerns addressed.
The Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) issued the warning on Monday, stressing that the state government must act before the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum, which ends on August 26.
In a statement made available to Tribune Online, the NMA State Chairman, Dr Saheed Babajide Kehinde, said the deductions were made under a revised medical salary scale introduced by the State Treasury Office, which he described as “obnoxious and crisis-prone.”
“According to him, to deduct from our salaries, which are already grossly inadequate, is insensitive and an act of wickedness on the part of the government, and it is totally unacceptable to us,” the statement read.
Dr Kehinde noted that despite a recent three-day warning strike and repeated engagement with relevant ministries, departments, and agencies, the government has failed to address their concerns.
“NMA Lagos State is calling on the Commissioner for Health and all permanent secretaries in the state’s health sector to defend the integrity, dignity, security, and welfare of medical and dental practitioners in the employment of the state government,” he said.
He stressed that apart from the 21-day ultimatum issued by the NMA’s national body to all government medical workers across the country, the Lagos chapter’s own deadline was also running out.
“If the Medical Guild and NMA Lagos State are allowed to embark on an indefinite strike, the state government should be held responsible for failing to return the illegal deductions from our July 2025 salaries and for failing to stop such deductions subsequently,” he warned.
Dr Kehinde added that the poor salaries and working conditions in Nigeria’s health sector were already driving a wave of brain drain, urging the government to stop “toying with the sector” and instead give it top priority.
