Analyst Urges FG To Build Confidence In Healthcare System • Channels Television

Former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, has criticised Nigeria’s civil service and Health sector, describing the government’s communication with striking nurses as inadequate and hampered by bureaucracy.

Speaking on The Morning Brief on Channels Television on Thursday, Akande called the nurses’ strike a “sad scenario” and laid the blame on systemic administrative delays within the civil service.

“The channels of communication in government are actually a joke,” he said, lamenting that officials often remain unaware of major crises until they escalate.

“Once you are aware, what you ought to do is to stop it,” he said, urging immediate intervention when problems are identified.

He called on the government and Health associations to find common ground, stressing the importance of building mutual confidence.

“Let the associations have confidence in you,” he advised.



Nurses, under the aegis of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives – Federal Health Institutions Sector, have insisted that they will not suspend their ongoing strike until key aspects of their demands are addressed.

Despite holding a meeting with the Minister of Labour on Tuesday at the expiration of its 15-day ultimatum issued on 14 July, 2025, the union carried on with the industrial action on Wednesday.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, the National Chairman of the union, Morakinyo-Olajide Rilwan, said that the striking nurses would ignore calls by the government to return to duty without meeting some of their demands.

Asked what would happen if the government requests that they first return to work as it considers their demands, Rilwan said, “That is what the government will definitely ask for — that we should suspend the strike so they can look at our demands.

“We are not comfortable with that. We have to make sure that parts of the demand are attended to before we can suspend the strike at all.”