Civil servants under the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Trade Union Side, have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene urgently in what they described as worsening economic hardship facing workers.
In a letter addressed to the President, the workers called on the Federal Government to stabilise the price of petrol at N500 per litre, approve an immediate wage award and review salaries and allowances across the public service.
They also demanded the immediate constitution of a committee to negotiate a new National Minimum Wage ahead of January 2027.
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The workers said the recent rise in petrol prices to N1,430 per litre and above in some locations had further aggravated the cost-of-living crisis.
The JNPSNC gave the Federal Government until Wednesday, September 30, 2026, to act on its demands, warning that the prevailing economic conditions were creating tension among workers and Nigerians.
The workers attributed the rising cost of living partly to the removal of petrol subsidy three years ago, arguing that the policy had contributed to higher fuel prices and increased the cost of essential commodities.
According to the council, the situation had made life increasingly difficult for public servants, while government palliatives such as food items were not a sustainable response to the economic challenges.
“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 said.
The JNPSNC argued that reducing the cost of petrol to N500 per litre would provide a more sustainable intervention and have a wider impact on the economy.
The workers maintained that lower fuel prices could help reduce transportation and production costs, with potential effects on the prices of goods and services.
They therefore urged the Federal Government to consider their demands as an urgent response to the economic pressures facing workers and households across the country.
