TUC rejects FG’s proposed N70,000 monthly transport allowance for workers

•Says govt has capacity to pay N300,000 *Pensioners blast NLC, FG over exclusion from N70,000 transport relief

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA—The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has rejected the proposed N70,000 monthly transport allowance for federal workers, which was agreed upon after a meeting between the federal

government and leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Tuesday.

This even as the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, condemned its exclusion from the transport allowance for workers, accusing the federal government and the leadership of NLC of abandoning retired workers who were battling the same punishing cost of living.

While rejecting the wage award, the TUC said the federal government had the capacity to raise the salary of the lowest-paid worker to N300,000 from the current minimum wage of N70,000, without waiting for a review of the minimum wage.

In a statement jointly signed by Festus Osifo and Nuhu Toro, President-General and Secretary respectively, the TUC said, in view of the prevailing economic hardship facing workers and the wider population, as well as the proposed measures to address it, what was needed was a salary increase and the implementation of the Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU Agreement.

TUC stated: “Our position is unequivocal, workers are not asking for favours, they are demanding social and economic justice that protects their dignity and livelihoods.

“The TUC will continue to defend workers’ rights without retreat, expose non-compliance and pursue every legitimate avenue to compel the government to honour its obligations.

“Workers’ welfare is not a privilege. Agreements must be honoured. Workers’ rights must be respected. Government must comply.

“The TUC rejects inadequate temporary relief and demands wage justice for all categories of workers, social protection, reduction of the cost of living for the vulnerable, and full compliance with agreements.

“The TUC, therefore, awaits the final outcome of the scheduled meeting with the government to decide on its next line of action.”

While noting that temporary wage awards were not sustainable or far-reaching, TUC stated further:

“The wage award agreed between the federal government and organised labour on October 2, 2023, was to be implemented until a new minimum wage was agreed in 2024, but it was never implemented holistically. Some workers are still being owed one or two months, while others never received the award at all.”

The trade union movement wondered why the government was returning to the same wage award that never benefited all workers. 

”How can workers be expected to trust fresh promises when previous obligations remain outstanding,” it queried.

Pensioners blast NLC, FG over exclusion from n70,000 transport relief

On its part, NUP National President, Godwin Abumisi, said the exclusion of pensioners from the six-month intervention, approved for public servants from November 2026, was “unjust” and a painful reminder that those who spent their productive years in national service were  being treated as an afterthought.

“Pensioners also depend on public transportation to access hospitals, attend medical appointments, purchase food, and other essential items,” Abumisi said, stressing that many retirees lived on inadequate pensions and had no other reliable income.

The union questioned why the NLC, which negotiated for serving workers, did not push for corresponding relief for retired colleagues, calling the omission evidence of the “insensitivity of civil servants to the plight of their former colleagues, now retired, whom they will eventually join in retirement.”

The union also frowned on the government’s failure to pay the ₦25,000 monthly palliative promised under the federal government’s October 2, 2023, Memorandum of Understanding with the NLC and TUC.

The agreement committed the government to pay ₦25,000 monthly for three months to 15 million households, including vulnerable pensioners, amounting to ₦75,000 per eligible beneficiary.