Agreement is agreement
Nigeria’s Resident Doctors have reached an agreement with the government to suspend their indefinite nationwide strike
Happy new month, Big Brains. I can’t believe it’s really the last month of 2025. It’s gone so quickly. I don’t know about you, but 2025 has been a mixed bag for me. This weekend was a mixed bag for Nigeria too. Well, let’s get into it.
This Week’s Big Question: “What’s a reasonable salary for a medical doctor in Nigeria?” Share your responses with us, and if we think they’re fun enough, we’ll feature them in the newsletter :) so be on the lookout.
-Franklyn
Word count: ~ 1300
Reading time ~ 6 mins
Let’s get into the news you missed during the weekend:
Doctors have suspended their strike… For now
Tinubu is gifting his friends Ambassadorial positions
The Big Deal
Doctors have suspended their strike… For now
Let’s start with some good news. Nigeria has been going through it lately. And while insecurity has been hogging the headlines, we’ve kept you updated that our doctors have been at home for a month because they’d had enough of the government’s fooling.
But sometimes the universe gives you a breather. And we’re grateful for this one: the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended their indefinite nationwide strike.
On Saturday, November 29, 2025, NARD announced that after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the federal government (FG), the strike was suspended.
The announcement came via a post on X (formerly Twitter) by NARD President Mohammad Suleiman.
According to Suleiman, the National Executive Council of NARD reached an agreement with the FG after a series of conciliatory meetings. They decided to suspend the strike as a show of good faith while the government works on their 19-point demands.
Some of the unresolved issues include payment of promotion arrears, salary arrears, and specialist allowances. Suleiman made it clear that signing the MoU is not the end of the matter.
NARD is giving FG exactly four weeks starting today to implement the MoU and address the outstanding issues. If FG doesn’t act right, we could be starting 2026 with empty hospitals.
Why is this a big deal?
There’s never a good time for doctors to be on strike, but Nigeria desperately needs them in hospitals right now because we’re in the middle of a Lassa fever outbreak.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) announced that from the start of the year to November 16, 2025, it recorded 995 confirmed Lassa fever cases with 184 deaths.
In September 2025, the NCDC went on alert after Ebola cases were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). And in October, an unusual cough started spreading in Lagos that raised COVID-19 fears.
You might remember we reported in October that doctors’ demands go beyond unpaid wages.
They want the government to address the excessive and unregulated hours they’re forced to work. This has worsened because of the declining doctor-to-patient ratio due to hordes of doctors chasing the japa dream. As a result, Nigeria has just one doctor for every 10,000 patients.
They also want the government to fix bureaucratic delays in upgrading resident doctors’ ranks after postgraduate medical exams. These delays mean doctors are paid far less than their qualifications deserve.
It’s clear our doctors need better treatment. But the Tinubu administration has shown it doesn’t listen to demands unless they come with drastic action. Time and again, essential workers have had to go on strike to get Tinubu’s attention.
While we’re still talking about doctors, the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) met on Sunday, November 30, 2025, to discuss potentially going on strike too. So as hospitals reopen, schools might be closing. Sigh. But that seems to be the only way to get the government to the table.
It’s a terrible precedent, but sadly that’s where we are. This government basically forced the doctors’ hands. And if they fail to follow through in four weeks, they’ll be forcing the doctors’ hands again.
But if they do follow through, then finally taking doctors seriously and paying them what they’re owed would be a step in the right direction. This strike could pave the way for better welfare for medical professionals, breathe new life into the sector, and prevent future strikes.
We’ll know which way it goes in a month. And while we don’t want to sound pessimistic, we’re not exactly feeling confident about this government’s promises. Before the strike, NARD gave a 30-day ultimatum and got ignored. So it’s hard to believe FG will act within this new deadline.
Tinubu is gifting his friends Ambassadorial positions
We’ve all had that fantasy, right? That when we finally blow, we’ll put all our friends on. Well, in that sense, Tinubu is living the dream. City Boy is all about that life and he’s putting his homies in position. The problem is, it’s at the expense of Nigerians, and actual lives are on the line.
On Saturday, November 29, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted a list of 32 candidates for ambassadorial positions to the Senate for confirmation. And it’s basically a roll call of Tinubu supporters, allies, and political jobbers like Femi Fani-Kayode and Reno Omokri.
One name that really jumps out is Mahmood Yakubu, the immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). That one is especially messy because it looks like the Tinubu administration has stopped even pretending INEC is an independent organisation.
We’ve talked before about how problematic it is that the president appoints the INEC chair who oversees their election for a second term. Since 1999, every president has done it except Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who died before he could be reelected.
Yakubu, appointed by Muhammadu Buhari, oversaw Buhari’s reelection and then Tinubu’s win in 2023. Under the APC, he’s the only INEC chair to complete two terms, a full 10 years. Now seeing him rewarded with an ambassadorial post alongside Tinubu’s allies is a terrible look for our democracy.
We’ve also pointed out how unacceptable it was that Tinubu left Nigeria without diplomatic representation for two years. Now it seems he’s realised how bad that decision was, especially after the diplomatic nightmare of the United States threatening to invade Nigeria.
But here’s the thing: ambassadorial positions are serious business. They can’t be filled in a rush, and they definitely shouldn’t be treated like gifts for friends. The appointments now rest with the Senate, but let’s be honest, they’ve shown they’re ready to rubber stamp whatever Tinubu wants. So we don’t expect them to block this blatant nepotism.
At this point, it might be up to us as citizens to make our disapproval heard.
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