The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives is urging state governments and the Federal Capital Territory to swiftly implement the 25% salary increase and hazard allowance for health workers.

They also called for the introduction of revised call duty allowances and the implementation of CONHESS to retain nurses in the country and provide quality healthcare services.

This appeal was made in a communique released after the association’s quarterly meeting in Abuja. President Bola Tinubu had approved the CONHESS review in July 2023 to address brain drain and ensure labor peace.

CONHESS is a salary scale for healthcare professionals in the Federal Public Service, including pharmacists, nurses, and medical laboratory technicians. Nigeria is facing a significant loss of healthcare professionals to developed countries, particularly doctors, pharmacists, and nurses.

Part of the communiqué read, “The NEC-in-session frowned at the non-implementation of an enhanced salary structure for nurses in the country among other issues ranging from the establishment of departments of nursing services in the federal ministry of health raised by the association to the government in different platforms and offices.

“The NEC, therefore, appealed to the federal government to urgently look at these issues to forestall industrial disharmony.

“NEC in session lauded the federal government on the approval for the engagement of health fellows in the primary health centres across the 774 local government areas of the federation and called for the inclusion of nurses and midwives in the programme as the main stakeholders and generators of data in such facilities.”

NANNM also called on states and local governments that are yet to implement 100 per cent CONHESS to do so without delay.

“The NEC-in-session further expressed worry in the gross depletion of specialised nurses in health facilities of the federation and called on the nurses in diverse specialty areas in the profession for improved quality of care to the citizens seeking healthcare in the country to further reduce health tourism,” the communique emphasized.

During the meeting, NANNM President, Michael Nnachi, noted that over 300 key members of the organization, including branch chairmen and secretaries from across the country, were trained in the Automated Management System.

Nnachi clarified that the training was intended to ensure the association maintains an accurate and comprehensive membership database across all branches nationwide. He described the training as a form of automated membership management system.

“In the automated management system, we try to update ourselves to remain IT compliant in such a way that our members at the grassroots level should be able to register anywhere they are, not necessarily coming to the secretariat to do it.

“The training is for members of the National Executive Council drawn from the chairmen and the secretaries of the 36 states and the FCT”, he stated.

Nnachi emphasized, “We have over 300 members here participating in the training. We expect that the training will equally put in place reliable data concerning the numerical strength of nurses in Nigeria.

“Between now and the end of the month, we should be able to have a comprehensive numerical strength of the nurses and midwives in all the facilities in the country, which will equally help not only the association but the government in terms of planning.”