₦airaland Forum

Resident doctors at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, have threatened to embark on an indefinite strike if the lingering electricity crisis at the hospital is not resolved within three weeks, warning that the situation is already undermining patient care and medical training.

Speaking exclusively to BusinessDay on Monday, Uthman Adedeji, ARD UCH president, said the doctors had already issued a 21-day ultimatum beginning March 7, 2026, after an earlier five-day warning strike failed to produce any meaningful response from the hospital management.

“We embarked on a five-day warning strike from Monday to Friday last week. When we returned to work on Saturday, the situation had not changed,” Adedeji said.

“That was only a warning strike because we are trying to follow due process and resolve the issue responsibly. Unfortunately, since our warning strike ended, we have not been called to any meaningful meeting for discussion or resolution,” he added.

He warned that if the situation remains unchanged after the ultimatum expires, resident doctors may proceed with an indefinite strike. According to him, it is unacceptable that a leading teaching hospital in 2026 is struggling with a basic utility such as electricity.

“A teaching hospital in 2026 is being forced to operate like a facility from a bygone era,” Adedeji said, stressing that the doctors’ demands are focused on restoring adequate power supply to both clinical and residential areas of the hospital.

“Our fight is not for personal gain but for acceptable service delivery and proper training. Our demands are legitimate and non-negotiable,” he added.

The electricity crisis at UCH dates back to October 26, 2024, when the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company disconnected the hospital from the national grid over an outstanding debt of N495 million.

Reacting to the situation, the public relations officer of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Workers (NAUPHW), UCH chapter, Daniel Adejobi, said the crisis remains unresolved.
“There is no resolution yet as we speak. The matter has not been resolved,” Adejobi said.

The disruption has severely affected hospital operations. At one point between November 2024 and February 2025, the facility reportedly experienced a total blackout for 102 days.

smartemperor042:
Only the poor masses will still suffer it.

Chickensoup:
The same poor masses voted for Tinubu.

smartemperor042:
Only the poor masses will still suffer it.

All the big boys in the "City Boys Movement" and their family members will never come to that hospital during the time of the strike.

Now ask yourself, where will you stand after 2027?

ZACHIE:
Makinde will get no glory of he fix the light at UCH.
Only fancy road networks will bring applause.
UCH is on its own

nedu666:
There is light in uch. The problem is that the management are rationing the light so as to reduce their monthly bills.

nairalanda1:
All i am going to say is cost reflective tarrifs

Ivory coast brought in cost reflective tarrifs in 1993, and it has worked.

Ghana too has the same cost reflective tarrifs and it is working.

And both countries are as poor as we are, plus the chap in charge of the country at the time who deregulated Ivory Coast's electricity sector was corrupt and was a tribalist.

Deregulate the power sector so that enough of a profit would be made to attract sane investment into our power sector

But Tinubu and apc no go hear. They take popular decisions that get them elected, not sane decions for the betterment of Nigeria

nedu666:
There is light in uch. The problem is that the management are rationing the light so as to reduce their monthly bills.

ZACHIE:
Makinde will get no glory of he fix the light at UCH.
Only fancy road networks will bring applause.
UCH is on its own