By Nurses and midwives at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, have issued a 15-day ultimatum to the hospital management, warning of an impending strike if their welfare demands are not met.
The workers, under the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), LAUTECH Teaching Hospital chapter, accused the hospital management of persistently sidelining them whenever new benefits were approved for health workers in the state.
Their grievances were outlined in a statement jointly signed in Ibadan by the Unit Chairman, Ojewumi Olutayo, and the Unit Secretary, Adedokun Foluwake.
According to the workers, while nurses in other state-owned facilities have begun receiving the new national minimum wage, those in LAUTECH Teaching Hospital remain excluded. They also pointed to unpaid COVID-19 allowances, delayed hazard allowances, and years of promotion arrears as part of the neglect fueling economic hardship and low morale.
“Our demands include immediate implementation of the new national minimum wage with effect from January 2025, payment of promotion arrears from 2018 to 2024, recruitment of additional nurses to ease the current staff shortage, and renovation and proper furnishing of nurses’ stations and rooms,” the statement read.
The association warned that if the state government failed to act before the ultimatum expired, its members would have no choice but to withdraw their services.
The nurses further argued that their continued exclusion from state-wide welfare packages could only be resolved if the Oyo State Government assumed direct responsibility for the payment of salaries.
