There was palpable relief among health workers in Kaduna State on Wednesday following Governor Uba Sani’s approval of the implementation of the 2024 Consolidated Health Salary Structure and hazard allowance, effective September 2025.
The announcement, which has been widely welcomed by the medical community, was disclosed during a press briefing in Kaduna by the Chairman of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Kaduna State chapter, Ishaku Yakubu.
Yakubu described the development as “long overdue” and a major victory for the state’s health workforce, who, he said, had endured years of neglect and unmet promises under previous administrations.
“This is quite commendable and timely because it is something we have been struggling to get for about three to four years. At some points, we had to embark on warning strikes and even indefinite strike actions to press home our demands with the past government,” he said.
The union leader noted that the approval marked a new phase of improved welfare for nurses, midwives, and other health professionals across the state, adding that it would boost morale and enhance service delivery in public health facilities.
Yakubu also expressed appreciation to Governor Sani for what he called “a demonstration of political will” to address long-standing grievances in the health sector, urging the government to ensure prompt payment and sustained implementation of the allowances.
Reports that health workers in Kaduna have, over the years, staged several industrial actions over poor welfare conditions, unpaid entitlements, and lack of adequate hazard allowances. During the COVID-19 pandemic, frontline staff in the state repeatedly protested what they termed “abandonment” despite the risks they faced.
Kastina State Governor, Dikko Radda, told The Guardian in an interview that upon assuming office, he declared security his first, second, and third priority.
He stated: “I have pledged that even if I am going to spend the whole resources of the state to reduce the insecurity, I will do that. And before six months of our administration, we were able to establish Katsina Community Watch, and we have established a law, we commissioned them, we gave them all the necessary equipment they may require.
“Almost 70 Hilux vehicles, almost over a thousand motorcycles, we provided them with ammo-carried vehicles. We provided them with weapons that are acceptable by the law, given to them with all the protective gadgets.
“I could not even imagine how this state could have been without this Katsina Community Watch. Even with the Katsina Community Watch and the combined effort of the security agencies in the state, we are still struggling to fight the insecurity.”
On their part, while noting that Nigeria’s stability and regional security are under threat, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) called for a state of emergency in the North-West, lamenting that “the state security architecture remains inadequate, overstretched, and in some cases complicit through inaction and silence and leaving citizens vulnerable.