Public workers give FG ultimatum

P****ublic sector workers have issued a September 30, 2026 ultimatum to the federal government to urgently intervene and address the worsening economic hardship faced by workers and their dependents nationwide.

The civil servants, under the auspices of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Trade Union Side, demanded stabilisation of the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, at N500 per litre.

They made these demands in a letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, warning that the hardship across the country was creating palpable tension among workers and Nigerians and could lead to an unwanted situation.

Daily Trust reports that the civil servants’ demands came a few days after the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) asked the federal government to urgently approve emergency palliatives and wage awards to workers nationwide.

NLC had last Wednesday called on the government to introduce measures to cushion the impact of the rising price of petrol and ensure immediate sale of crude oil to local refineries in Naira.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, had warned that the rising cost of petrol would further worsen the economic hardship facing Nigerians, noting that increases in transportation costs typically trigger higher prices of food, rent, school fees and other essential goods and services across the country.

“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,” he had said in the statement, titled: ‘Save the Situation Now.’

In its letter to the president, the JNPSNC explained that rising inflation, fuel prices, transportation costs and the increasing cost of food, housing, healthcare and education had eroded the real value of workers’ salaries.

“Many workers are now struggling to meet basic financial obligations, which has inevitably affected the morale, motivation, and overall productivity within the Public Service,” it stated.

Meanwhile efforts to confirm from the Presidency on whether it received the letter from the civil servants were not successful as at the time of filing this report. Messages sent to the presidential spokesman including via WhatsApp were not responded to.

What is JNPSNC?

The JNPSNC is an umbrella body that negotiates wages and allowances for workers in the public sector.

Checks showed that members of the council were drawn from the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), a Trade Union representing public sector workers in Nigeria; the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), among other affiliate unions of both the NLC and the TUC.

The spokesman of the NLC, Benson Upah, in an interview with Daily Trust last night, identified the JNPSNC as a body known to the Congress, adding that the federal government is aware of the council’s existence.

“The NLC is aware of their existence. It is a body that is negotiating with us on allowances for workers in the public sector. I mean, government knows about them,” Upah said.

But the ASCSN, Ministry of Education headquarters, disowned the JNPSNC.

Its chairman, Comrade Sampson Chigozie Ngadi, told Daily Trust in a brief message: “The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, aFederal Ministry of Education headquarters, does not know about this group.”

Council demands reduction in fuel price to N500/L

The JNPSNC explained that the recent increase in fuel prices to N1, 430 per litre and above in some locations had further worsened the cost-of-living crisis; hence, it is paramount to voice out.

It said the removal of the fuel subsidy three years ago had triggered an astronomical increase in fuel prices and produced multiplier effects on the prices of essential commodities across the economy.

The council said the situation had made life increasingly unbearable for workers, adding that the provision of food palliatives was not a sustainable solution to the economic crisis.

It stated, “It has dawned on Nigerian workers that the provision of palliatives such as bags of rice, noodles, vegetable oil, garri, among other edibles, 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 workers maintained that a more sustainable intervention would be to reduce the cost of fuel to N500 per litre, saying the measure would have a multiplier effect across the economy.

“Consequent upon the above, it is preferable that the federal government should provide an intervention that will trickle down to all Nigerians by making fuel available at an affordable amount as low as N500, the amount at which fuel was being sold when the subsidy was first removed in the year 2023,” they said.

The council identified the restoration of workers’ purchasing power, improved productivity and service delivery, promotion of integrity and accountability, and the reinforcement of trust and industrial peace as major reasons for its demand for improved remuneration.

The workers urged the government to “look inward and stabilize the prices of fuel to an affordable minimum”.

According to them, the fuel remains an essential commodity with significant implications for the Nigerian economy.

“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 (PMS) to as much as N1,430.00, or more per litre (this is a killing amount),” the council stated.

The JNPSNC further called for an intervention fund for stakeholders in the oil sector to stabilise fuel prices and eventually bring the pump price down to N500 per litre.

The council said the government could adopt another description for the intervention if the term “fuel subsidy” was considered unacceptable.

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

…demands N500, 000 minimum wage

The council also demanded a minimum wage of N500,000 and called on the president to immediately approve a wage award as well as allowances across the public service.

According to the council, the wage award would serve as a precursor to the substantive New National Minimum Wage expected to take effect in January 2027.

The workers also demanded the immediate setting up of a committee to negotiate the new National Minimum Wage, saying early commencement of the process would prevent delays in implementation.

“There is an urgent need to immediately set up a committee for the negotiation of the New National Minimum Wage to accelerate the commencement of the New National Minimum Wage before 2027 so that it can take effect from January 2027,” the council stated.

The JNPSNC proposed that the minimum salary payable to an officer on Grade Level 01, Step 1, should be N500,000 per month under the 2027 salary template.

The council also called for harmonised wages across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while urging that the review be encouraged at the state and local government levels.

It further demanded periodic salary and allowance adjustments linked to inflation, as well as welfare measures including subsidised transportation and affordable housing for civil servants.

The council said public servants remained “the backbone of governance and national development” and the “live wire of any administration,” noting that workers were responsible for policy formulation, implementation of government programmes and the provision of essential public services.

The civil servants urged the president to direct the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to commence discussions with the NLC, TUC, JNPSNC and other relevant stakeholders on the wage award and upward review of salaries and allowances.

The council said, “Your Excellency, we trust that this request will receive the prompt attention and action it deserves in the interest of Nigerian workers and their dependants, the Public Service as an age-long institution and the nation at large on or before Wednesday, 30th September, 2026 to douse the palpable tension that may erupt.”

It also expressed the expectation that the president’s Independence Day broadcast would address the concerns raised by workers.

“It is the high expectations of Nigerian workers and all patriotic Nigerians that your Independence Day broadcast will attend to our sincere suggestions in order to bring succour and life back to all dying Nigerians,” the council said.

NLC backs council, seeks govt intervention

Declaring its support for the workers’ call, the leadership of the NLC called on the government to listen to the “voice of wisdom” in order to alleviate the suffering of the masses.

Benson Upah, the spokesman of the Congress, said immediate intervention of the government would ease the pressure on the cost of living.

“Well, I can say that the challenges confronting Nigerians and particularly workers, as a result of the surge in the pump price of petroleum products, are enormous, and Nigerians are finding it difficult to live; they are barely existing.

“So, the government should intervene as quickly as possible. Our situation is such that once there is an increase in the pump price of petroleum products, everything else follows.

“I mean, the cost of transportation goes up, rents, school fees; everything goes up. And this is happening in the face of static salaries or wages. So, very few people are able to go to work regularly, and a few Nigerians now are able to live normally. So, in light of this, the challenges have been enormous,” he said.

Upah further explained that it is incumbent on the government to make interventions to ameliorate the suffering of the people.

“The surge in the pump price of petroleum products is partly attributable to the conflict in the Gulf. What the government is making from this conflict is huge. I think the benchmark for crude is $65. As a result of this conflict, crude oil prices have seen a surge around the world to $100 per barrel, sometimes above that.

“That is an extra cost for the government. They should be able to intervene in this matter. And one of the ways the government can do this is to make crude available to the local refineries in naira. The government can do this easily.

“This will inevitably bring down the cost of products. It will ease the pressure on the cost of living. The demands are legitimate because life has been very tough,” he added.

N500/L fuel unrealistic – Analysts

A political analyst, Professor Atah Pine, said the government could not simply order a reduction in petrol prices under the current market-based regime.

Prof Pine said the removal of petrol subsidy meant that prices were now expected to respond to market forces, making a government-imposed N500 pump price inconsistent with the policy framework adopted after subsidy removal.

“It is not feasible for the government to drop fuel price because the issue of fuel price cannot be legislated upon. It is purely an economic matter that is being determined by the forces of the market,” he said.

According to him, while the government could influence workers’ wages through existing institutional mechanisms, it could not arbitrarily fix petrol prices without undermining the rationale behind subsidy removal.

“It is easier to increase wages, which is within the control of the government, than to say the government will also order that petroleum prices should be dropped. It is not possible because it is purely an economic matter that is being determined by market forces,” he said.

The don, however, cautioned that increasing salaries alone might not provide lasting relief if higher wages were followed by further increases in the prices of goods and services.

Prof Pine, a senior academic at the Department of Political Science, Benue State University, advocated increased investment in local refining capacity, particularly modular refineries, saying greater domestic supply could eventually exert downward pressure on petrol prices.

“The model we can actually suggest is that there should be an increase in modular refineries. Because if we have so many modular refineries around, they can also contribute to the amount of petroleum that you have in circulation, therefore reducing the price,” he said.

He urged the federal government to create an enabling environment capable of attracting more investors into the refining sector.

“By the time we have two, three, four mega petrol refining industries across the country, supply would be much higher, and the market forces will now lead to the drop,” Pine added.

Reacting to the proposal, Country Director of Accountability Nigeria, Lab Friday Odeh, said the demand for N500 petrol amounted to a call for the return of fuel subsidy, regardless of the terminology used.

Odeh said the council’s suggestion that the government could adopt another description for the intervention if “fuel subsidy” was unacceptable effectively acknowledged the nature of the proposal.

“The political logic is understandable but the economic calculation doesn’t hold,” he said.

Odeh argued that reinstating a subsidy at the proposed level could impose a significant financial burden on the federation, saying it could cost an estimated N4tn to N6tn annually based on current production and import volumes.

He said such expenditure would require additional borrowing or reduce funds available for capital projects.

On the workers’ wage demands, however, Odeh said the council had a stronger argument, noting that the proposed N500,000 minimum salary for Grade Level 01, Step 1 reflected the erosion of workers’ purchasing power.

“The wage side of the demand is where the workers have stronger ground,” he said.

Odeh also backed the demand for the sale of crude in naira to local refineries and expansion of national storage capacity.

He described the measures as a potential medium-term intervention that differed from imposing a fixed petrol price.