The National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja has issued an interim order restraining the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and its members from proceeding with the strike action earlier scheduled to begin on the 12th of January.
The order was granted on Friday, the 9th of January, 2026, by Justice Emmanuel Subilim while delivering a ruling on an ex parte motion brought before the court by the Federal Government through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
The motion was argued by the Director of Civil Litigation at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Maimuna Lami Shiru, who led a team of government lawyers in urging the court to intervene.
Those named as respondents in the application, and defendants in the substantive suit, include NARD as an association, its National President, Dr Mohammad Suleman, and its Secretary-General, Dr Shuaibu Ibrahim.
The court action followed NARD’s earlier announcement that it would resume its Total, Indefinite and Complete Strike, also referred to as TICS 2.0, from the 12th of January, over what it described as the Federal Government’s failure to honour agreements reached with resident doctors.
The decision to embark on the strike was conveyed in a statement issued by the association’s president, Dr Mohammad Suleman, after an Emergency National Executive Council (E-NEC) meeting held on the 2md of January.
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According to NARD, the planned industrial action became unavoidable due to the inability of the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Government to meet several agreed timelines for the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the association.
“The National Officers’ Committee appreciates your patience, resilience, and continued support in our collective struggle for doctors’ welfare.
“Following the E-NEC meeting, the following resolutions were reached: the NEC resolved to resume TICS 2.0, tagged ‘No Implementation, No Going Back,’ with effect from January 12, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. “NEC has also mandated every centre president across the 91 centres to hold congress meetings and, at the conclusion, address the media,” the statement read.