Three public service commerce unions have declared assist for the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) in rejecting the federal authorities’s N70,000 transport intervention.
They mentioned the allowance is insufficient amid the rising price of dwelling and are demanding improved salaries for staff.
The unions additionally disowned a press launch issued within the title of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) on 30 October 2026, accusing the council of excluding constituent unions from consultations and presenting an unauthorised place because the collective voice of public service staff.
The unions are the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government-Owned Companies (SSASCGOC), the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI), and the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP).
In a joint assertion signed by their respective presidents, Comrade Kayode Alakija, Comrade Dr John Alli, and Comrade Dr Kamal Ibrahim, the unions mentioned they have been neither consulted nor invited to any assembly wherein the problems contained within the JNPSNC assertion have been mentioned.
They maintained that they didn’t take part in its preparation, endorse its contents or authorise anybody to talk on their behalf, insisting that the assertion couldn’t be introduced because the collective place of public service commerce unions.
The unions additionally alleged that the Vice Chairman of the JNPSNC, representing the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), was not consulted.
They described the event as disturbing, noting that ASCSN, a constituent member of the council and a registered union representing over 300,000 public servants, was equally excluded.
According to them, excluding the council’s personal vice chairman and a serious constituent union known as the credibility of the session course of into query.
The three organisations mentioned they symbolize staff throughout federal and state authorities institutions, together with statutory firms, government-owned corporations, universities, instructing hospitals, basic hospitals and analysis establishments.
They faulted the alleged exclusion of their members from choices affecting their salaries, welfare and situations of service, arguing that unions shouldn’t be sure by positions reached with out their participation or mandate.
On the N70,000 transport intervention, the unions aligned themselves with the TUC’s place, arguing that the allowance couldn’t adequately deal with the financial pressures dealing with Nigerian staff.
They mentioned the rising prices of transportation, meals, housing and different important wants had made the intervention inadequate, stressing that staff deserved improved remuneration reasonably than short-term monetary reduction.
The assertion reads, “We align ourselves with the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) in rejecting the N70,000 transport intervention as grossly insufficient towards the prevailing financial hardship and escalating price of dwelling.
With transportation, meals, housing, and different necessities changing into more and more unaffordable, this intervention isn’t any substitute for respectable wages, honest remuneration, or sustainable enhancements in staff’ dwelling requirements. Nigerian staff deserve justice, not token gestures. Their labour should be matched with dignified and enough remuneration.”
“The three unions have been neither consulted nor invited to any assembly the place the problems contained within the assertion have been mentioned. They didn’t take part in its preparation, endorse its contents or authorise anybody to talk on their behalf.
This strategy undermined wage differentials and deprived staff. We demand transparency and a evaluate of that adjustment. Workers should not proceed to bear the implications of insufficient bargaining outcomes.
Our place is obvious: you can not converse for staff with out their mandate. You can’t declare consensus with out session. You can’t negotiate staff’ welfare whereas denying their unions the appropriate to illustration.”
The assertion additionally raised issues over the consequential adjustment arising from the earlier minimal wage implementation.
According to the unions, as a substitute of making use of the 133 per cent adjustment to the lowest-paid employee and appropriately cascading it throughout the wage construction, the JNPSNC negotiated a flat N40,000 across-the-board addition.
They argued that the association undermined wage differentials and deprived staff, calling for transparency and a evaluate of the adjustment.
Among their calls for, the unions known as for formal acknowledgement of their dissociation from the 30 October assertion, an finish to its presentation because the collective place of all public service commerce unions, and acceptable illustration of their organisations in related public service negotiating constructions.
They additionally demanded respect for the TUC’s rejection of the N70,000 transport intervention and its demand for a wage enhance.
The unions urged the federal authorities and related negotiating authorities to deal with the alleged exclusion and be sure that all negotiating constructions function inside their established mandates.
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