The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Abuja has issued an order restraining the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and its members from embarking on the strike they planned to commence on January 12.
Reacting to the court order obtained by the Federal government, NARD said it would not be intimidated.
Justice Emmanuel Subilim issued the order on Friday while ruling on a motion ex parte filed by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) in a suit marked: NICN/ABJ/06/2026.
Justice Subilim gave the ruling after listening to the Director of Civil Litigation (Federal Ministry of Justice), Mrs Maimuna Lami Shiru, who led a team of lawyers from the ministry, moved the motion ex parte.
Listed as respondents to the motion and defendants to the substantive suit are NARD, its National President, Dr Mohammad Usman Suleman, and the association’s Secretary General, Dr Shuaibu Ibrahim.
Justice Subilim, in a copy of the “enrollment order” seen on Friday, said after painstakingly listening to the submission of the lawyer to the claimants and going through the documents submitted and the rules of the court relied on, he was satisfied that the ex parte motion was meritorious and should be granted.
The judge added that he was “satisfied that this is a proper case for the grant of an interim injunction.”
He proceeded to issue an interim order of injunction “restraining the defendants respondents, their members, servants, agents, privies, and or any other person acting on their behalf or at their directives from calling, directing, organising, participating in or embarking upon any form of industrial action, including but not limited to strikes, work stoppages, go-slows, picketing or any other form of industrial protest or disruption.”
The judge also restrained NARD, its National President and Secretary General, from “taking steps preparatory to or in furtherance of any industrial action, from the 12th January, 2026, until the hearing and determination of the motion on notice” filed by the claimants.
Justice Subilim held that the orders made “shall remain in force pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice fixed for the 21st of January, 2026.”
He ordered the claimants/applicants (FRN and the AGF) to serve the defendants with the orders made, “within seven days of the date hereof.”
The judge added that “the defendants/respondents (NARD, Suleman and Ibrahim) shall be at liberty to apply to discharge or vary this order within seven days after services of this order.”
The NARD had earlier this month announced plans to resume its previously suspended “total, indefinite and comprehensive strike with effect from January 12.” The group claimed that its decision was informed by the Federal Government’s alleged failure to fully implement agreed resolutions.
It said the decision to resume its strike was taken at an emergency virtual meeting of the association’s National Executive Council (E-NEC) held on January 2.
A statement by the group said its NEC directed all centre presidents across the association’s 91 accredited centres to convene congress meetings and thereafter address the media, to saturate public spaces with information on the planned industrial action within the next seven days.
The association said it would resume the strike alongside a series of coordinated protests, beginning with centre-based demonstrations scheduled to hold from January 12 to January 16.
It added that this would be followed by regional protests to be led by caucus leaders, while a nationwide protest would subsequently be organised by the NARD NOC.
NARD stated that the suspension of the renewed strike would only be considered after the full implementation of what it described as its minimum demands.
These include the reinstatement of the five resident doctors disengaged from the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, Kogi State, the payment of outstanding promotion and salary arrears, among others.
‘NARD not intimidated by court order’
The association of the resident doctors said it would not be intimidated by the court injunction restraining industrial action, insisting that its planned nationwide strike remains on course, unless the Federal Government demonstrates genuine and practical steps toward meeting the doctors’ demands
Speaking on a national television evening magazine programme on Friday, NARD President Dr Mohammad Suleiman said resident doctors had anticipated the government’s no work no pay policy and court action long before the injunction was issued
“Indeed, I can tell you that my members are not perturbed, my members are not shaking at all. We actually envisioned this
“Even when we went on the NARD strike, total independence and comprehensive 1.0 at the latter part of last year, we anticipated no work, no pay, or even a court injunction. These things were factored into the decision to embark on this action,” he said.
He dismissed the injunction as neither new nor unexpected, citing past confrontations between resident doctors and previous administrations.
Suleiman said the resolve of resident doctors remained firm despite threats of sanctions, adding that the issues at stake justified the action.
“They should go ahead and throw the no-work-no-pay. They are throwing court injunctions, we are looking at it, probably even mass sacking of doctors will follow, but the resolve of my members is not shaking at all,” Suleiman affirmed.
However, the NARD president said the association was not closed to dialogue and would be willing to reconsider its position if the government shows concrete evidence of good faith.
“We have nothing but respect for the Honourable Coordinating Minister for Health, Professor Mohammed Pate and the Honourable Minister of State for Health, Adekunle Salako; these are senior colleagues in the profession.
“But let us dwell on the issues; we suspended our action based on the Memorandum of Understanding we signed. After that, we wrote a reminder letter in the middle of December. We made several visits to many agencies of government, but nothing moved,” he noted regrettably.
He explained that the association only began hearing of government action after it announced the resumption of the strike, raising concerns about the sincerity of the response
“After we declared that we are resuming the strike, we started hearing in newspapers and on social media that movements were being made. Up until now, a lot of things are still in the process and in the pipeline,” he added.
According to him, NARD has 16 outstanding demands, and the National Executive Council NEC insists they must be resolved conclusively, noting, “What the NEC is saying is take these issues to finality. There are 16 items on that table, and these issues must be resolved.”
Responding to government claims that seven of the demands had been met, including payment of arrears, Suleiman disputed the figures. Suleiman disagreed, explaining, “We still have over 2000, almost 3000 of our members that are yet to be paid the 25 to 35 per cent arrears
“These arrears were said to be put inside the service-wide vote in 2023; they were not paid. In 2024, they were put there, they were not paid, in 2025, they were put there again,” he noted, stressing that resident doctors were tired of waiting for special presidential interventions to access payments
“The demand is to capture it in the budget; it is no retreat, no surrender,” he added.
Suleiman criticised the timing of the court injunction and the no-work-no-pay threats, describing them as hostile tactics while negotiations were ongoing
“When we are discussing and we are at the negotiating table, we should do it in good faith. By the time you begin to bring out armouries and arms like this, you do not want to negotiate,” he noted.
Addressing concerns about the impact of the strike on patients, Suleiman said the suffering of doctors and the health system could no longer be ignored.
“Are we ignoring the suffering that doctors are going through in this country? Are we ignoring the suffering patients go through because doctors are exhausted, frustrated and tired?” he asked.
The NARD President, however, disclosed that talks with the government were still ongoing and expressed cautious optimism that tangible actions could lead to a shift in NARD’s position.
“Right now, we are in conversations with the federal government team. I would hope that from tonight to Sunday, a lot of things will be done properly.
“If these conversations lead to palpable things on the ground, the NEC will favourably look at it. Once those gains drop, I can tell you NEC will review its position,” he assured.
Suleiman also dismissed allegations that NARD was acting on behalf of political interests
“I am a clinician, I am a doctor, I have never been involved in politics. We are resident doctors, and we only serve Nigerian patients,” he emphasised.