THE Federal Government of Nigeria, Tuesday, approved ₦70,000 monthly transport allowance for public service workers across all levels to cushion the effect of rising living costs. This was disclosed during the meeting between government and labour leaders. The allowance is for six months, running from November 2026 through April 2027.
UNFORTUNATELY, the agreement reached between the Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) applies automatically only to federal public workers.
THE nagging question is, why would labour leaders reach a consensus with the federal government for only federal workers leaving the states and local government workers at the mercy of its leaders for onward implementation when all workers in the country are confronted with the same economic hardship caused by the fuel subsidy removal.
IT is on record that, states previously handled subsidy-relief allowances such as earlier wage awards or transport grants differently depending on individual state fiscal capacities, which did not go down well with some states and local government workers. Also, there has already been a great margin of salary disparity between the federal and other civil servants in the country.
TO domesticate the newly approved ₦70,000 monthly transport allowance for States and Local Government workers, organized labor and sub-national authorities must take deliberate legislative and administrative actions.
STATES and local governments should endeavor to participate and adopt similar intervention measures for their own workforces, recognizing that states and local authorities hold separate financial responsibilities for their employees.
STATE Governors should, as a matter of urgency, set up Joint Negotiating Councils comprising state government officials, local government service commission representatives, and state chapters of the NLC and TUC, while state executive councils should formally adopt the allowance structure through an Executive Order or transmit an appropriation bill amendment to the State Houses of Assembly to provide legal backing and budgetary allocation.
MINISTRIES of Local Government Affairs and individual LG Chairmen should capture the ₦70,000 allowance directly into their respective local council budgets to avoid payment defaults.
STATES and local government workers will not automatically receive the N70,000 allowance unless their respective state governors or local government councils independently enact and fund the policy. We therefore , urge the NLC and affiliated unions to push for implementation at the sub-national levels.
WE also call on the government to reconsider some of the neglected allowances which have been scraped from workers salaries over the years, which were much better than short term allowances.
THE best palliative Nigerian Civil Servants are yearning for, to cushion the current economic hardship, is making policies that will control prices, and a permanent alternative to reduction in fuel hike, which will automatically reduce the high cost of living in the country.
WE appeal to the government to also consider retired workers in the transport relief package.
