NLC backs N500,000 minimum wage, N500 petrol price demand

NLC backs civil servants’ demand for N500,000 minimum wage and N500 petrol price, urging the Federal Government to act before September 30, 2026. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has backed demands by civil servants for a new national minimum wage of N500,000 and a reduction in the pump price of petrol to N500 per litre, amid growing concerns over the rising cost of living.

The Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (Trade Union Side), JNPSNC, made the demands in a letter to President Bola Tinubu, calling for urgent government intervention to ease the economic pressure on workers and their dependants.

In the letter, National Secretary of the JNPSNC, Olowoyo Gbenga, also called for the immediate constitution of a committee to negotiate a new national minimum wage ahead of January 2027.The labour council gave the Federal Government until Wednesday, September 30, 2026, to respond to the demands, warning that worsening economic hardship was generating palpable tension among workers and Nigerians.

The NLC described the demands as realistic and legitimate.

The JNPSNC, which comprises several public-sector unions, including the Nigerian Civil Service Union, Medical and Health Workers Union, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria and National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, said the increase in petrol prices to N1,430 per litre and above in some locations had further aggravated the cost-of-living crisis.Other unions in the council 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).Workers reject palliatives as long-term solution
The council argued that the removal of fuel subsidy three years ago had resulted in a sharp increase in petrol prices, with knock-on effects on the prices of essential goods and services.

According to the workers, food palliatives such as rice, Indomie, vegetable oil and garri cannot provide a lasting solution to the economic 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.

The workers instead proposed a reduction in the price of petrol to N500 per litre, arguing that affordable fuel would have wider economic benefits.”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),” they said.The council said its wage demand was aimed at restoring workers’ purchasing power, improving productivity and service delivery, promoting integrity and accountability, and strengthening trust and industrial peace. Labour seeks government intervention on fuel
On petrol pricing, the workers urged the government to “look inward and stabilise the prices of fuel to an affordable minimum,” stressing the importance of petrol to 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 to as much as N1,430.00, or more per one litre (this is a killing amount),” the council stated.It also proposed an intervention fund for stakeholders in the oil sector to help stabilise petrol prices and ultimately bring the pump price down to N500 per litre.

The council said government could use another term for the intervention if the description “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 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 JNPSNC also endorsed a position attributed to NLC President, Joe Ajaero, on addressing 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 added: “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, government should sell sufficient crude in naira to local refineries, expand national storage capacity to prepare for energy emergencies and strengthen energy security.

“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 added: “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 further stated that government was earning additional revenue from the international spot market.

“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.

“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.”Workers demand N500,000 minimum salary
On wages, the JNPSNC called for an immediate wage award covering 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. The council proposed that the minimum salary for an officer on Grade Level 01, Step 1, should be N500,000 per month under the 2027 salary structure. It also called for harmonised wages across ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), while urging states and local governments to undertake similar reviews.

The JNPSNC asked President Tinubu to direct the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to begin discussions with the NLC, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), JNPSNC and other relevant stakeholders on the wage award and upward review of salaries and allowances.NLC: Demands realistic, legitimate
Backing the civil servants, the NLC said the demands were “very realistic and legitimate” and should be addressed without delay.NLC Acting General Secretary, Benson Upah, told Vanguard yesterday that the call for a wage award and reduction in petrol prices was both realistic and overdue.

“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.”