The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has demanded an immediate reduction in the price of petrol, a nationwide wage award and to begin negotiations for a new national minimum wage, saying rising living costs have eroded workers’ purchasing power.
The NLC stated this in an Independence Day statement signed by its President, Joe Ajaero, on Wednesday, titled, “Our Hope Depends on the Choices We Make and the Actions We Take.”
The union said the demands had become necessary as workers and other Nigerians continued to struggle with rising transportation, food, rent, and education costs.
It particularly linked the worsening cost-of-living crisis to the increase in petrol prices following the removal of the subsidy in 2023.
“Petrol now sells at N1,430 per litre or higher in major cities and far more in remote areas. The surge in transportation costs drives up the prices of food, school fees, rent, and nearly every necessity of life, while nominal wages remain stagnant,” the NLC said.
The union argued that the Federal Government should urgently address the transmission of fuel costs to transportation and other areas of the economy. “Without cutting this chain, any effort to ease the suffering of the people is futile,” it said.
The NLC also demanded the immediate implementation of a nationwide wage award covering workers in the federal, state and local governments, describing the measure as an emergency response to declining real incomes rather than a form of charity.
“A wage award is not charity. It is an emergency intervention against the collapse of real income,” the union said.
