The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) has faulted claims by the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) and Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) over the ongoing dispute on salary relativity in the health sector, warning that attempts to derail parity under the CONHESS salary structure amount to misinformation, distortion of facts and discrimination.

In a statement issued and signed by its Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir, and National Secretary, Comrade Martin Egbanubi, JOHESU said its attention was drawn to a recent NAMDA & NMA press statements criticising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for issuing a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Ministry of Health without consulting NAMDA or the NMA.

The union described NAMDA as “one of the two approved Associations” recognised by the Ministry of Labour in 2023, but accused it of “perfecting the art of propagating a recurrent sadistic agenda” previously associated with what it called “other appendages of the physician tribe”.

Reacting to NAMDA’s and NMA’s claim that labour centres should not have taken a position on behalf of JOHESU without consultation, as they said the argument reflected “a palpable but regrettable arrogance of ignorance that physicians continue to display in relationship structuring in this clime”.

“NAMDA and its allies opined, albeit without hesitation, that the Labour Centres should have approached it before making informed decisions on the situation of things in the health sector,” the statement said. “The fact is that physicians appreciate that they are protected not only by their physician godfathers but additionally by the instruments of the state, which they have deployed maximally to protect their oppressive, suppressive and aggressive hegemony.”

JOHESU accused NAMDA & NMA of advancing what it described as an imposed hierarchical philosophy that assumes physicians are “untouchables” in the health system, adding that such a posture explains why, in its view, NAMDA insists labour must defer to it.

The union also rejected NAMDA’s argument that beneficiaries of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) are neither physicians nor dentists and therefore should not demand improved salary scales. According to JOHESU, such a position “is an affront to the 1999 Constitution(as amended) which prohibits discrimination against citizens of Nigeria”.

On the contentious 2014 salary adjustment, JOHESU disputed NAMDA’s & NMA’s reliance on what it called a purported collective bargaining agreement. “For too long, physicians have sold the dummy that the adjustment of CONMESS in 2014 was based on a purported CBA under the auspices of the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” the union said. “Our investigation reveals that the NMA actually signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the Federal Government in 2014.”

It added that the Trade Union Act is clear that unions can only negotiate welfare packages for their members, arguing that the 2014 MoU “does not have a binding effect on members of JOHESU”.

“Members of the physician tribe should consult labour and legal experts on which takes precedence between a CBA and MoU,” the statement said, insisting that a collective bargaining agreement supersedes a memorandum of understanding.

JOHESU further claimed that existing CONHESS and CONMESS structures, including a relatively circular issued in July 2025, were “inclined on the 2014 MoU between the FG and NMA”, rendering them illegitimate due to what it described as “established procedural deficiency”.

In contrast, the union said its own position is anchored on the 2009 CBA between JOHESU and the Federal Government, which, it noted, “recognises parity as the benchmark in the modulation of salaries and allowances for its membership”.

The union dismissed references by physicians to colonial-era salary differentials as “escapism”, arguing that the health sector has evolved significantly over the last four decades. “Apart from pharmacists and physicians who were exclusively the only core health professional graduates up to 40 years ago, the health sector has now opened up with a full range of health workers who are graduates with relevant best practice exposure,” it said. “Nigerian physicians must come up with new realities. This new crop of health workers will not surrender their sovereignty to physicians or anyone at all.”

On entry points and grading, JOHESU maintained that relativity is already built into the public service structure. “A medical officer enters the federal public service on Grade Level 13, while other health professionals, who hitherto entered on Grade Level 09, like physicians, now come in at best on Grade Level 10,” the statement noted. “That three-level gap at entry alone settles the argument.”

It added that while it takes non-physician health professionals a minimum of 10 to 16 years to reach Grade Level 13, a fresh medical graduate enters on that level immediately. JOHESU also criticised the July 2025 circular by the Ministry of Health, which it said introduced “a relativity within existing relativity” by imposing new ratios ranging from 1:1.1 at Grade Level 13 to 1:1.5 at Grade Level 17, still in favour of physicians.

“In other words, the health worker who spends 10 or 16 years before hitting GL 13 will still be subordinate to a fresh post-NYSC physician who enters on GL 13 with a superior ratio advantage,” it said.

Monetarily, JOHESU argued that the gap between the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and CONHESS remains wide. “The CONMESS salary scale is fundamentally and substantially larger than CONHESS. They are not parallel scales; they are not remotely equal,” the union said. “Yet, despite this clear advantage, the public is being misled with claims of imbalance.”

To buttress its claim, JOHESU said a non-physician director earns roughly the same as a CONMESS 4 doctor after about six years in service, while a chief consultant earns about 135 per cent of a Grade Level 17 officer. “These figures alone expose the exaggeration and deliberate distortion being pushed in the public space,” it added.

The union also said the dispute was nearing resolution late last year. “What makes the current narrative even more dishonest is that this matter was already nearing closure in December 2025,” it said, noting that key issues had been substantially agreed and that a letter had been written to the Budget Office to work out implementation modalities.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing JOHESU strike and the NLC/TUC ultimatum, the union said it would “lead the way with trusted partners to redress years of monumental injustice”.

“This cheap blackmail must be confronted directly. We have had enough of the noise,” the statement said. “We challenge NAMDA or NMA to bring the tables and figures out before we do it for them. Let Nigerians see the truth for themselves.”

JOHESU added that a series of circulars on CONMESS adjustments are already in the public domain and vowed to help expose what it called “tyrannical service and remuneration models” in the sector.

The union urged the Federal Government and the public to note that NAMDA & NMA admitted that the 2014 CONMESS adjustment was selective.

“In the light of the fact that we have graphically shown existing relativity at the entry point and that a CBA supersedes an MoU, JOHESU strongly demands again that the Federal Government, through the FMoH, immediately facilitates the adjustment of CONHESS as a first-line redress of the years of the holocaust we suffer in the work environment,” the statement said. (TRIBUNE)