The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has rejected one other wage award, demanding a sustainable salary increase to enhance workers’ welfare and buying energy.
The place was contained in a communiqué signed by TUC Secretary-General, Nuhu Toro, following an emergency National Administrative Council (NAC) assembly, as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.
The Congress stated one other momentary intervention wouldn’t adequately tackle workers’ monetary challenges, insisting {that a} everlasting salary increase was vital to enhance their dwelling requirements.
TUC rejects one other momentary wage award
The TUC stated its demand for a salary increase adopted the Federal Government’s failure to totally implement the 2023 wage award settlement reached with organised labour.
According to Toro, the settlement signed on October 2, 2023, supplied for a wage award as a palliative for workers till the brand new nationwide minimal wage turned regulation on July 29, 2024. However, workers obtained a mean of solely three months out of the ten months agreed upon underneath the association.
- “The Congress is demanding a salary increase and not another wage award,” he stated.
Toro maintained that one other wage award would supply solely momentary aid reasonably than the sustainable intervention required to enhance workers’ buying energy and dwelling situations.
He additionally confused that the nationwide minimal wage represents a statutory ground for workers’ earnings and shouldn’t be handled as a ceiling that limits additional salary negotiations.
The Congress stated its place was in keeping with that of its public-sector associates, together with the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRAI), the National Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) and the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC).
TUC remembers unfulfilled 2023 wage settlement
The union’s newest place displays its issues over the implementation of the earlier wage award, which was agreed upon by the Federal Government and organised labour in October 2023.
- In its earlier rationalization of the dispute, the TUC stated some workers had been nonetheless owed one or two months of the allowance, whereas others didn’t obtain it. Some workers who obtained funds received as much as 4 months of the N40,000 award, however skilled irregular disbursements and gaps of 1 or two months.
- The union additionally claimed that greater than 80% of states and the casual sector didn’t implement any type of wage award.
- It argued that everlasting salary changes would supply extra reliable aid than momentary funds whose implementation might be inconsistent.
- Beyond the wage dispute, the TUC insisted that workers’ welfare couldn’t be improved by disregarding collective bargaining rights or undermining the authentic illustration of unions in negotiations over situations of service.
Toro cited International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98, which defend freedom of affiliation and the suitable to organise and cut price collectively. He reaffirmed the TUC’s standing as a recognised commerce union centre with the mandate to symbolize and negotiate for its members.
The Congress stated it remained dedicated to constructive engagement with the federal government to implement resolutions reached at its October 8, 2026 assembly in Abuja.
TUC renews N300,000 salary demand
The TUC’s demand for a everlasting salary increase follows its October 8, 2026 letter to the Federal Government, submitted by way of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, calling for pressing measures to deal with financial hardship.
- In that demand, the union proposed that the government raise the salary of its lowest-paid federal worker from the current N70,000 minimum wage to N300,000, with relevant consequential changes for different salary ranges.
- The Congress argued that the federal government didn’t want to attend for a brand new minimal wage negotiation earlier than rising workers’ pay, noting that some states had already launched minimal wages above N100,000.
- The demand comes amid continued strain from organised labour over rising dwelling prices and declining buying energy.
- In October 2026, Nairametrics reported that 77.2% of Nigerian households perceived inflation as high in September, up from 67.2% in August, in accordance with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s inflation expectations survey.
- Households incomes beneath N70,000 recorded the very best inflation notion at 80%.
Also in October, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) gave the Federal Government a two-week ultimatum to cut back petrol costs, start minimal wage renegotiations and tackle excellent workers’ demands, together with the February 2026 settlement with the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU).
The TUC has additionally known as for well timed fee of salaries and pensions, safety of present jobs, motion in opposition to exploitative labour practices and measures to cut back the price of important items and companies. It stated the hardship impacts not solely federal workers but additionally state and native authorities workers, pensioners, private-sector workers and other people within the casual economic system.
