NLC backs workers’ N500,000 wage, N500 petrol demand amid rising hardship

LAGOS — Amid worsening economic hardship, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has thrown its weight behind public servants’ demand for a N500,000 minimum wage and a reduction of petrol prices to N500 per litre.

The demand was contained in a letter addressed to President Bola Tinubu by the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (Trade Union Side), JNPSNC.

The council also requested the immediate setting up of a committee to commence negotiations for a new national minimum wage ahead of January 2027.

National Secretary of the JNPSNC, Olowoyo Gbenga, signed the letter, in which the workers gave the Federal Government until Wednesday, September 30, 2026, to act on their demands.

The workers warned that the worsening cost-of-living crisis was creating palpable tension among employees and Nigerians generally.

The NLC described the demands as realistic and legitimate.

According to the JNPSNC, petrol prices rising to N1,430 per litre and above in some parts of the country had compounded the hardship facing workers and their dependants.

The council comprises the Nigerian Civil Service Union, Medical and Health Workers Union, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives and other public-sector unions.

Other members include the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations; Civil Service Technical and Recreational Employees (AUPCTRE); Nigeria Union of Public Service, Reportorial, Secretarial, Data Processors and Allied Workers (NUPSRAW); National Union of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Workers (NUPPPPROW); and National Union of Agriculture and Allied Employees (NUAEE).

Labour says palliatives are not enough

The workers said the removal of fuel subsidy three years ago had led to a sharp increase in petrol prices, which in turn contributed to higher prices of essential commodities across the economy.

They argued that government’s distribution of food items was not a sustainable response to the crisis.

“It has dawned on Nigerian workers that the provision of palliatives, such as bags of rice, Indomie, vegetable oil, garri, among other edible foods, is as good as weaponising Nigerians with poverty because it is a pyrrhic intervention which is unsustainable, inaccessible to the majority of Nigeria’s population and also limited to political cronies,” the council said.

Instead, the JNPSNC called for petrol to be made available at N500 per litre, saying a reduction in fuel costs would have a multiplier effect across the economy.

“Consequent upon the above, it is preferable that the Federal Government provides an intervention that will trickle down to all Nigerians by making fuel available at an affordable amount, as low as N500 (five hundred Naira),” it said.

The council said the proposed improvement in workers’ pay was necessary to restore purchasing power, raise productivity and service delivery, strengthen integrity and accountability, and promote trust and industrial peace.

Workers propose fuel intervention fund

The JNPSNC urged government to “look inward and stabilise the prices of fuel to an affordable minimum,” noting that petrol remains an essential commodity with extensive economic implications.

“As a matter of reality, the current hardship being faced by the hapless Nigerian workers is caused by the astronomical increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit to as much as N1,430.00, or more per one litre (this is a killing amount),” the council stated.

It proposed the establishment of an intervention fund for oil-sector stakeholders to help stabilise fuel prices and eventually reduce the pump price to N500 per litre.

The workers said the intervention could be given another name if government was opposed to calling it a “fuel subsidy.”

“The fuel intervention fund will give the opportunity to every Nigerian to benefit from the intervention fund because it will have multiplier effect in the life of every Nigerian and will naturally trickle down to the downtrodden and all the remotest parts of the country,” the council said.

The JNPSNC also adopted a position attributed to NLC President Joe Ajaero on how to address the fuel crisis.

Ajaero was quoted as saying: “Nigeria, as an oil-producing country, has sufficient local refining capacity, even as this substantially resides with the private sector.”

He also said: “As a nation, and as a people endowed with enormous fossil resources, we are deserving of a certain level of protection or buffer against the gales from the Gulf, and indeed, other gales.”

The NLC position cited by the council called for government to supply local refineries with sufficient crude in naira and increase national storage capacity.

“As part of the process of creating this buffer government should sell sufficient crude in Naira to our local refineries; expand our national storage capacity in pursuance of meeting energy emergencies and security. These measures will create jobs, economic value as well as deal with mutating security challenges.”

The statement also said: “There is nothing wrong with government subsidizing the needs of citizens, especially in emergency situations like this. At the moment, there is no oil-producing country we know of that has not intervened or come up with sustainable palliatives in one way or the other in these perilous times.”

It further claimed: “Government is making extra money in the international spot market (of between USD35 and 40 per barrel above the budgeted figure). This translates to trillions of Naira a month.”

The NLC position also raised concerns about local refineries importing crude.

“On a long term basis, we are equally concerned that local refineries are importing crude. This is unreasonable and unacceptable and defeats the logic and purpose of local capacity.”

JNPSNC demands immediate wage award

Beyond the proposed new minimum wage, the council requested an immediate wage award for federal, state and local government employees.

“Wage award as an urgent intervention and upward review of salaries and allowances of all serving public servants in the Nigerian public service should be provided with immediate effect to cut across all federal, state and local government workers,” it said.

Under its proposed 2027 salary template, the JNPSNC wants the minimum salary for a Grade Level 01, Step 1 officer to be N500,000 per month.

It also called for harmonised wages across ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), while urging state and local governments to review their salary structures.

The council asked President Tinubu to instruct the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to begin negotiations involving the NLC, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), JNPSNC and other stakeholders.

NLC: Workers’ demands are overdue

The NLC backed the position of the civil servants, saying the demands should be addressed promptly.

Speaking with Vanguard, NLC Acting General Secretary, Benson Upah, said: “The demand for a wage award and reduction in the pump price of fuel are very realistic and long overdue.

“Workers’ wages have remained static while inflation has continued to rise and erode the value of their earnings. Most workers cannot even afford to go to work, let alone feed their families as at today.

“Therefore, workers need urgent and major intervention, which government can easily afford. It is common knowledge that once the price of fuel goes up, it affects virtually everything, including essential commodities, transportation, school fees, among others.

“It is not only workers who are affected, but also other Nigerians, especially the less-privileged. Nigerians need urgent and major intervention to cope with the biting socio-economic situation. Therefore, the demands of the civil servants are very realistic, legitimate and should be addressed.”

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