Nurses and midwives across Nigeria have entered 2026 with renewed concern over the state of the country’s health sector, listing improved working conditions and better remuneration as their most urgent expectations for the year. They lamented that 2025 delivered more setbacks than tangible progress, warning that without urgent reforms, the sector risks sliding into a deeper crisis.
Speaking under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), the professionals said government engagement with their welfare and working environment in the past year was largely discouraging. According to them, promises of reform failed to translate into meaningful improvements on the ground, despite nurses and midwives remaining central to healthcare delivery nationwide.
The National Chairman of NANNM–Federal Health Institutions Sector, Mr Morakinyo Rilwan, described the overall situation as deeply troubling. “When you look at the overall state of healthcare and how it affects nurses and midwives, what we have seen over the year is more setbacks and challenges than progress,” he said, noting that morale within the profession had been significantly eroded.
Rilwan explained that the challenges confronting nurses and midwives cut across critical areas that directly affect productivity and patient outcomes. “These challenges cut across training and retraining, remuneration, conditions of service, and the lack of a conducive working environment,” he stated, adding that such systemic issues have lingered despite repeated engagements with authorities.
According to him, nurses and midwives have consistently pushed for reforms, but their efforts have been frustrated by weak government response. “These are issues that nurses and midwives have struggled with throughout the year in an effort to improve the profession, but the truth is that the only body that can effectively address these problems is the government,” Rilwan said.
Despite the harsh conditions, he noted that nurses and midwives have continued to discharge their duties professionally, often prioritising patients at personal cost. He explained that this strong sense of ethical responsibility was the reason strikes had historically been rare in the profession, even though prolonged hardship eventually made agitation unavoidable.
That pressure boiled over in July 2025, when nurses embarked on a nationwide strike that paralysed public hospitals across Nigeria for four days. The industrial action, which began on July 30 and was initially planned for seven days, was suspended on August 2 after talks between union leaders and the Federal Government, though many of the underlying issues remained unresolved.
Rilwan accused the government of relying on policy pronouncements that fail to address core problems. “This approach amounts to mere window dressing. Policies are announced, agreements are signed, but there is little or no implementation. Agreements reached between nurses and the government have been signed, yet nothing has changed on the ground,” he said.
He also challenged the popular narrative of a nationwide shortage of nurses, describing it as misleading. “The narrative of a ‘shortage of nurses’ continues, when in reality, the issue is underemployment and poor absorption into the system,” Rilwan argued, pointing out that many qualified nurses remain jobless while hospitals fail to replace staff lost to retirement or migration.
Reflecting further on 2025, the NANNM–FHI chairman described working conditions as consistently difficult, with nurses operating in poorly equipped facilities. “Throughout the year, the situation has not been rosy. Nurses have been managing with limited resources in unconducive environments, with poor remuneration and inadequate support,” he said.
He also criticised the effectiveness of government dialogue platforms, citing repeated meetings without outcomes. “The collective bargaining committee has met about 13 times with no meaningful resolution. This raises questions about the purpose of such committees, as repeated meetings without outcomes only serve to delay action,” he added.
Looking ahead to 2026, Rilwan called for fairness and transparency in salary structures across the health sector. “It is unfair that some salary structures are adjusted while others are left behind. Everyone in the health sector is important doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists, and others. No group should be favoured at the expense of others,” he stressed.
He concluded by urging the government to focus on the fundamentals driving health worker migration. “Working environments matter. Remuneration matters. These are the basic things people go outside the country to look for,” Rilwan said, insisting that improved infrastructure, sincere engagement, and fair pay remain the only sustainable path to retaining Nigeria’s nurses and midwives in 2026 and beyond.
