Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The salary gap between doctors and other health workers in Delta State has widened dramatically after Governor Sheriff Oborevwori approved a ₦200,000 monthly tax‑free allowance for doctors, raising the basic pay of entry‑level doctors from ₦370,000 to ₦570,000 and house officers’ pay to above ₦350,000. The decision, announced on April 7 2026 by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme, was a direct response to the global “japa” syndrome. But the exclusion of nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, and other allied professionals has infuriated the non‑doctor workforce, who argue they are the backbone of the sector and have been left behind.
Within days, a notice issued by the State Executive Council of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) surfaced, directing members to comply with a proposed three‑day warning strike. Unconfirmed reports also indicated that nurses in the state were mobilising for industrial action. At the heart of the dispute is the structure of the new “MORE Special Allowance”: it was explicitly formulated for medical doctors only. Dr. Onojaeme confirmed that the government had struggled to attract doctors despite a recruitment exercise for 700 health workers that attracted over 6,000 applicants – a stark indicator of the nationwide shortage of physicians. The government’s narrow focus on doctors, however, has reopened old wounds over how different cadres of health workers are valued in Nigeria’s war against brain drain.
The Delta crisis is not happening in a vacuum. It reflects a long‑standing, nationwide inequality between the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), which applies to doctors, and the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), which applies to nurses, pharmacists, and other allied professionals. In January 2026, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) issued a joint 14‑day ultimatum to the Federal Government, demanding the immediate implementation of the 2021 Technical Committee report on CONHESS adjustment, which had been ignored since its submission. The labour centres accused the government of “selective justice” and “deliberate, provocative refusal” to adjust CONHESS, noting that the adjustment of CONMESS had been implemented with effect from January 2 2014, while health workers under CONHESS had been left without a review for over a decade.
At the federal level, the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) – which represents non‑doctor health professionals – threatened a renewed nationwide strike if the government failed to implement the agreed‑upon CONHESS adjustment by April 2026. JOHESU’s Cross River Chairman, Dr. Bassey Icha, was explicit: “JOHESU was not demanding parity with doctors’ salaries but was seeking a fair review based on government salary templates.” He added that several MOUs signed since 2014 had not been implemented, and that a 2021 memo to the Budget Office had still not passed through the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission. Icha also pointed out that Nigeria pays its health workers less than most West African countries, including Ghana, further fuelling the outward migration of skilled professionals.
The pay disparity is not merely a matter of numbers on a payslip; it is a structural driver of the health worker exodus. According to the Premium Times, Nigeria has lost at least 16,000 doctors in the past five years, leaving a ratio of one doctor to about 4,000 patients – far below the WHO’s recommendation of 1:600. Even more staggering, about 75,000 nurses have left the country since 2017, reducing the nurse‑to‑patient ratio to one nurse per 1,160 patients. A nationwide survey by the Independent Newspaper found that while the median salary for health workers was ₦400,000 per month, nurses – who formed a large share of respondents – earned significantly less, with many earning between ₦250,000 and ₦600,000 depending on location and level. In contrast, entry‑level doctors in Delta State now earn ₦570,000, while a Federal Government‑backed report noted that the average health worker in Nigeria earns between 15 and 50 per cent more than the average civil servant at the same level, but the intra‑health sector gap has become the real source of friction.
The Delta government’s justification – that the allowance is a targeted measure to fill a critical gap in doctor numbers – has not quelled the anger. Health workers note that the same argument could be applied to nurses, who are already overstretched, or to pharmacists and lab scientists, whose services are indispensable. The Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) has previously warned that the country’s health sector is far from ideal, ranging from infrastructure deficit to inadequate human resources for health. In a communiqué issued in November 2025, the union noted that “the Nigerian health sector is absolutely far from the health sector of our dream” and called on the government to re‑evaluate push and pull factors to retain health workers.
As Delta State’s recruitment drive continues, with over 6,000 applicants vying for 700 positions, the government’s decision to single out doctors has turned a necessary intervention into a potential political crisis. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has, in the past, denied that doctors received any special upgrade, arguing that what doctors got was merely a correction of implementation distortions. But to nurses and pharmacists watching their doctor colleagues receive a ₦200,000 windfall while they remain on unchanged pay scales, the distinction is meaningless. The threat of industrial action in Delta is a warning of the larger fracture that runs through Nigeria’s health sector – a fracture that, if not repaired, could see the very workers who stayed behind join the exodus.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments