Civil servants under the Trade Union Side of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) have appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently intervene in the worsening economic difficulties affecting workers and their dependants.
The workers asked the Federal Government to reduce and stabilise the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at N500 per litre, introduce an immediate Wage Award and increase salaries and allowances across the public service.
They also called for the immediate formation of a committee to negotiate a new National Minimum Wage ahead of its proposed implementation in January 2027.
In a letter sent to the President at the State House in Abuja, the workers said the recent increase in petrol prices to N1,430 per litre or more in some areas had intensified the cost-of-living crisis.
They gave the government until Wednesday, September 30, 2026, to respond to their demands, warning that the prevailing economic hardship was generating serious tension among workers and Nigerians.
The JNPSNC said the removal of fuel subsidy three years ago had resulted in a sharp rise in petrol prices, with significant knock-on effects on the prices of essential goods and services.
The council argued that the situation had made living conditions increasingly difficult for workers, stressing that food palliatives could not provide a lasting solution to the economic challenges.
It said: “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 workers maintained that lowering the cost of petrol to N500 per litre would provide a more sustainable form of intervention because of its wider impact on 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 (five hundred Naira), the amount at which fuel was being sold when the subsidy was first removed in the year 2023,” they said.
The council said its demand for improved pay was driven by the need to restore workers’ purchasing power, increase productivity and service delivery, promote integrity and accountability, and strengthen industrial peace and confidence in government.
On petrol prices, the workers urged the government to “look inward and stabilize the prices of fuel to an affordable minimum,” arguing that petrol remained an essential commodity with far-reaching effects on the 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 one litre (this is a killing amount),” the council stated.
The JNPSNC also proposed the creation of an intervention fund for stakeholders in the petroleum sector to help stabilise prices and eventually reduce the pump price to N500 per litre.
It said the government could use an alternative name for the intervention if the phrase “fuel subsidy” was deemed inappropriate.
“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,” it said.
The council further supported proposals attributed to Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero, on addressing the fuel crisis.
Ajaero was quoted as saying: “Nigeria as an oil-producing country we have 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.”
According to the NLC position cited by the council, “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 further 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.”
The NLC position also stated: “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.”
It added: “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.”
The JNPSNC said it “wholeheartedly subscribe[s] to the submission of NLC leadership” and called on the government to urgently consider the proposals.
On remuneration, the council demanded an immediate Wage Award covering workers at the federal, state and local government levels.
“Wage Award as an urgent intervention and upward review of salaries and allowances of all serving Public Servants in the Nigeria Public Service should be provided with immediate effect to cut across all Federal, State and Local Government workers,” it said.
According to the council, the Wage Award should serve as an interim measure before the substantive New National Minimum Wage expected to commence in January 2027.
The workers also called for the immediate establishment of a committee to negotiate the new National Minimum Wage, arguing that starting the process early would help prevent delays in implementation.
“There is urgent need to immediately set up committee for the negotiation of 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 N500,000 per month as the minimum salary for an officer on Grade Level 01, Step 1, under the proposed 2027 salary structure.
It also sought harmonised wages across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while encouraging corresponding reviews at the state and local government levels.
The council further requested periodic reviews of salaries and allowances in line with inflation, alongside welfare interventions such as subsidised transportation and affordable housing for civil servants.
Describing public servants as “the backbone of governance and national development” and the “live wire of any administration,” the council said workers were central to policy formulation, implementation of government programmes and delivery of essential public services.
It said rising inflation, petrol prices, transportation costs and expenses on food, housing, healthcare and education had significantly reduced the purchasing power 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.
The JNPSNC urged the President to instruct the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to begin discussions with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), JNPSNC and other relevant stakeholders over the proposed Wage Award and salary and allowance reviews.
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.”
The council also said it expected the President’s Independence Day broadcast to address the concerns contained in its letter.
“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.
