Civil Servants Demand N500 Petrol Price, Wage Award From Tinubu

• Civil servants under the JNPSNC Trade Union Side wrote to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demanding urgent action on fuel prices, wages, and a new minimum wage
• The workers set a deadline of Wednesday, September 30, 2026, warning of rising tension among workers and Nigerians over the economic hardship
• The council proposed a minimum salary of N500,000 per month for Grade Level 01 officers under a new 2027 salary template

Ridwan Adeola Yusuf is a journalist with Legit.ng, covering technology, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy for over a decade.

FCT, Abuja - Civil servants under the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) Trade Union Side have written directly to President Bola Tinubu, demanding that the Federal Government act urgently to ease the economic pressure on workers and their families.

As reported by Vanguard on Monday, September 21, the council, in a letter addressed to the President at the State House in Abuja, called for petrol prices to be reduced to N500 per litre, the immediate approval of a Wage Award, and the establishment of a committee to negotiate a new National Minimum Wage before January 2027.

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Fuel price at the centre of workers' grievances

The council pointed to the rise in petrol prices to N1,430 per litre or more as the primary driver of the cost-of-living crisis, arguing that the removal of the fuel subsidy three years ago had triggered widespread price increases across the economy.

JNPSNC said food palliatives were not a lasting solution, describing them as an approach that mostly benefited political allies and left the majority of Nigerians behind.

"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.

The workers argued that reducing fuel to N500 per litre, the price at which it sold when the subsidy was first removed in 2023, would benefit all Nigerians, including those in remote areas.

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The council also endorsed a position attributed to Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero, which called on the government to sell crude in Naira to local refineries, expand national storage capacity, and create a buffer against global oil price swings.

Wage award and new minimum wage

On salaries, the council demanded an immediate Wage Award covering workers at federal, state, and local government levels, describing it as a precursor to the substantive minimum wage due in January 2027.

The JNPSNC proposed that officers on Grade Level 01, Step 1, should earn no less than N500,000 per month under the incoming salary structure. It also called for wages across Ministries, Departments and Agencies to be harmonised, and for salaries to be adjusted periodically in line with inflation.

The council urged the President to direct the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to begin talks with the NLC, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and other stakeholders on the Wage Award without delay.

The JNPSNC gave the Federal Government until Wednesday, September 30, 2026, to respond to the demands, cautioning that inaction risked deepening industrial tension. The council also expressed hope that the President's Independence Day broadcast would directly address workers' concerns.

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Read more on minimum wage

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• Minimum wage: Actual amount Tinubu allocates for workers' salary in 2025 budget disclosed

TUC pushes periodic minimum wage hikes

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Festus Osifo, president of the TUC, said that organised labour is pushing for an annual increase in the national minimum wage paid to workers in Nigeria.

The TUC boss stated that members of the organisation, as well as their colleagues in the NLC, have begun talks on the issue.

Source: Legit.ng