The Nigerian Navy has pledged to resolve the prolonged salary delay affecting house officers at the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital in Calabar, Cross River State, within the next two weeks, following public outrage triggered by a viral video from one of the affected doctors.
The assurance comes after the doctors revealed they had worked for about 290 days, more than nine months, without receiving their salaries despite carrying out frontline medical responsibilities at the federal health facility.
One of the affected doctors, identified as Dr. Innocent, said he and eight colleagues were employed through the Federal Ministry of Defence and posted to the Navy hospital, where they have continued to provide essential medical services without pay.
According to him, the house officers are responsible for managing the General Out-Patient Department (GOPD), responding to emergencies in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) unit, assisting during surgical procedures, and supporting consultants amid a shortage of resident doctors.
“There are very few resident doctors, so we shoulder a significant portion of the hospital’s workload. We have continued working for 290 days without receiving any salary,” he said in the widely circulated video.
The doctors also alleged that repeated appeals to officials at the Ministry of Defence in Abuja have failed to produce a lasting solution.
Beyond their regular duties, the affected officers reportedly work seven days a week, with each doctor handling between 10 and 15 on-call shifts every month. They said refusing assigned duties could attract disciplinary measures, leaving them with little choice despite mounting financial hardship.
Responding to the controversy, the Nigerian Navy attributed the delay to administrative processes involving a supplementary batch of house officers whose salaries are processed directly by the Federal Ministry of Defence.
Navy spokesperson, Captain Abi Folorunsho, explained that unlike the first batch of house officers already on the payroll, the supplementary batch remains dependent on salary approvals handled outside the Navy’s internal system.
He added that the challenge is not exclusive to the Navy, noting that house officers posted to Nigerian Army and Nigerian Air Force medical facilities under similar arrangements have experienced comparable delays.
Folorunsho said the hospital management has continued paying internal allowances to the affected doctors pending the release of their official salaries, describing the situation as regrettable but expressing confidence that the outstanding payroll issues would be resolved within two weeks.
The incident has renewed concerns over payroll administration and the welfare of young medical professionals working in federal institutions. Healthcare experts have long warned that persistent delays in salary payments could undermine morale, worsen workforce shortages, and negatively affect patient care across public hospitals.
For the affected doctors, however, the Navy’s latest assurance represents another promise after more than nine months without salaries. Whether the commitment translates into payment within the stated timeframe is likely to remain under close public scrutiny.
