Civil servants under the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Trade Union Side, have written to President Bola Tinubu demanding urgent intervention over worsening hardship.
The workers asked the Federal Government to stabilise Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at N500 per litre, approve an immediate Wage Award, and review salaries and allowances across the public service.
They also demanded immediate constitution of a committee to negotiate a new National Minimum Wage to take effect from January 2027.
In a letter to the State House, Abuja, the council said PMS now sells at N1,430 per litre and above in some locations, worsening cost of living. It gave the government up to Wednesday, September 30, 2026 to act, warning of palpable tension among workers.
The JNPSNC said fuel subsidy removal three years ago triggered astronomical price hikes with multiplier effects on essential commodities.
It described food palliatives as unsustainable.
“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,” it said.
The council said a more sustainable intervention would be to make fuel affordable.
“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,” it stated.
“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),” it added.
“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 council further proposed N500,000 as minimum pay for GL 01 Step 1 workers under the 2027 template, harmonisation of wages across MDAs, and periodic inflation-linked adjustments.
“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 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 stated.
The JNPSNC said it expects the President’s Independence Day broadcast to address the concerns raised and urged the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to immediately engage the NLC, TUC and other labour centres on the Wage Award and salary review.
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