Nurses and midwives at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, have issued a 15-day ultimatum to management, demanding urgent action on welfare concerns and conditions of service.
The workers, operating under the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), LAUTECH Teaching Hospital chapter, said they had been systematically excluded from state-approved welfare benefits. This was revealed in a joint statement by the Unit Chairman, Ojewumi Olutayo, and the Unit Secretary, Adedokun Foluwake, in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
According to the nurses, while colleagues in other state-owned hospitals have started enjoying the new national minimum wage, LAUTECH staff have been left behind. They also decried unpaid promotion arrears from 2018 to 2024, delayed payment of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) allowances, and failure to implement enhanced hazard allowances.
“Our demands include immediate implementation of the new national minimum wage effective January 2025, payment of accumulated promotion arrears from 2018 to 2024, recruitment of additional nurses to reduce workload, and renovation of nurses’ stations and rooms,” the statement read.
They stressed that the situation had reached an unbearable point, warning that without government intervention, strike action would commence after the ultimatum. The association further argued that exclusion from welfare packages could only be rectified if the government directly handled salary payments.
okaynews.com reports that the association cautioned Governor Seyi Makinde about the grave consequences of industrial action, given LAUTECH’s role as the only state-owned tertiary referral hospital serving Oyo and neighboring parts of Osun and Kwara States.
“The impact will be felt most by pregnant women, children, accident victims, and patients requiring emergency interventions,” the workers warned.
This ultimatum underscores Nigeria’s ongoing healthcare sector unrest, fueled by poor funding, staff shortages, and welfare neglect of frontline health workers.
