TUC Rejects N70,000 Transport Allowance For Workers, Makes Strong Demand

The leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Wednesday formally rejected the Federal Government’s proposed ₦70,000 transportation allowance for workers, describing the scheme as “haphazard measures” that fail to address the severe impact of fuel subsidy removal.

Rising from its National Administrative Council (NAC) meeting, the labor center demanded an immediate, permanent salary increment across all cadres of public servants instead of short-term palliatives.

The rejection comes barely twenty-four hours after the Federal Government approved the six-month ₦70,000 monthly transit stipend beginning in November to cushion soaring living costs, following conciliation talks with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja.

The agreement between government representatives and the NLC also included resolving worker grievances over rising inflation, as well as clearing outstanding peculiar allowance backlogs backdated to May 1, 2026, in three equal monthly tranches starting November.

However, briefing journalists in Abuja alongside General Secretary Nuhu Toro, TUC President Festus Osifo stressed that while minimum wage negotiations are ongoing, nothing stops the government from immediately raising existing wage levels.

Osifo insisted that temporary wage awards are unsustainable and noted that a previous wage award agreed upon between organized labor and the government was never fully implemented.

He cited the wage award agreement of October 2, 2023, which was meant to run until a new minimum wage was finalized in 2024, noting that it was breached and abandoned.

“How do we go back to the same wage award that never benefited all workers? How can workers be expected to trust fresh promises when previous obligations remain outstanding?” Osifo questioned.

He highlighted that even workers who received up to four months of the previous ₦40,000 wage award experienced irregular disbursements with multi-month gaps, while over 80 percent of state governments and informal sector employers failed to implement it altogether.

“From the foregoing we further reiterate our demand for a pay raise for all government workers as salary is the only consistent and far-reaching pay that workers could rely upon,” the TUC President declared.

He reaffirmed that this remained the union’s stance during consultative sessions, warning against sacrificing the long-standing sacrifices of Nigerian workers for ill-conceived temporary palliatives.

“Negotiations of a new national minimum wage must not become an excuse for postponing urgent pay increment,” Osifo added.

The labor leader noted that during previous interactions with government officials, the TUC pointed out that economic hardship cuts across federal, state, and local government workers, pensioners, private sector employees, and informal workers who face astronomical costs for food, commuting, healthcare, and basic essentials.

Consequently, the TUC urged governments across all levels to implement measurable interventions to lower costs for essential goods, ensure prompt salary and pension disbursements, protect employment, eliminate exploitative labor practices, and revive the productive sector to generate sustainable jobs.

The congress emphasized that these interventions must be inclusive, adequately funded, and backed by firm execution timelines, calling on the government to move beyond policy pronouncements and deliver visible improvements to the living standards of citizens.