Get Guardian on Google…NLC seeks inflation-linked minimum wage ahead of 2027 review
THE Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) has dismissed the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC)’s rejection of the N70,000 transportation allowance for public servants, declaring that the position would not affect implementation of the agreement reached with the Federal Government.
This was as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) called for an inflation-linked national minimum wage in the 2027 review, insisting that workers’ earnings must reflect prevailing economic realities, including the cost of housing, transportation, food and other essential needs.
The council argued that TUC was not part of the negotiations that produced the agreement, insisting that NLC, JNPSNC and Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) secured the intervention after more than six hours of negotiations with the government.
JNPSNC’s National Secretary, Gbenga Olowoyo, stated this in a circular addressed to presidents and general secretaries of its affiliated unions, as well as state chairmen and secretaries of the council.
He maintained that although the TUC had the right to express its opinion, it could not reject an agreement in whose negotiation it had not participated.
“TUC was never part of the discussion, although it has an explicit right to express its opinion on any matter it is directly involved in, but not on what it was not part of at any stage of the engagement or negotiation with the Federal Government,” he said.
Olowoyo, however, challenged TUC to negotiate a higher transportation allowance for public servants, saying any additional benefit secured for workers would be welcome.
He said the agreement, signed on October 27, 2026, followed constructive engagement and exhaustive negotiations at a meeting presided over by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, with the NLC delegation led by its President, Joe Ajaero, and representatives of JNPSNC and JOHESU.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said the next minimum wage negotiation should move beyond arbitrary figures and adopt a framework that accounts for inflation and the cost-of-living index to ensure that workers’ wages retain their purchasing power.
Speaking at the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN) Conference in Lagos, where he spoke on the theme ‘Workers at the Centre of Nigeria’s Political Transition: Defending Rights, Advancing Welfare and Building Economic Justice’, Ajaero argued that successive wage reviews had failed to adequately protect workers because increases were often determined without sufficient consideration of the rising cost of essential goods and services.
He said organised labour would not approach the next negotiation by simply demanding a particular amount, such as N500,000 or N1 million, without examining the economic factors that determine what workers need to earn to maintain a decent standard of living.
“If inflation moves by a particular percentage, then you adjust wages accordingly. Or we look at how much the cost of living is, how much house rent is, how much transportation costs, and factor these into the calculation,” he said.
Ajaero’s position comes amid growing concerns over the erosion of workers’ purchasing power, despite the increase in the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 under the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act.
He also insisted that preparations for the next review should be guided by April 2027, arguing that the three-year review cycle introduced by the 2024 legislation should not be delayed by negotiations or the eventual signing of an agreement.
The NLC president explained that the 2024 Act amended two major provisions of the previous minimum wage legislation: increasing the statutory wage floor from N30,000 to N70,000 and reducing the review period from five years to three years.
He maintained that the review timetable should be respected, warning against a situation in which negotiations could be delayed until the end of the year, with the government subsequently treating the signing date as the commencement of the review cycle.
For Ajaero, however, the next wage review must also address the broader economic conditions undermining the value of workers’ incomes.
He recalled that organised labour had, during previous negotiations, emphasised the need for complementary interventions in transportation and other essential services to reduce the financial burden on workers.
