TUC Reiterates Demand For Salary Increase, Rejects Fresh Wage Award

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has reiterated its demand for a sustainable salary increase for Nigerian workers, insisting that another wage award would not provide a lasting solution to the worsening economic challenges confronting employees.

The congress said the federal government had failed to fully implement the 10-month wage award palliative agreed with organised labour in October 2023, arguing that workers received an average of only three months’ payment out of the agreed period.

The position was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of an emergency meeting of the TUC National Administrative Council (NAC) in Abuja and signed by its secretary-general, Comrade Nuhu Toro.

The NAC maintained that a salary increase remained a more sustainable intervention for improving workers’ purchasing power and living standards, particularly amid prevailing economic difficulties.

It recalled that the wage award agreement of 2 October 2023 was intended to remain in force until the new national minimum wage was signed into law on 29 July 2024.

According to the congress, the incomplete implementation of the agreement reinforced the need for a more permanent intervention, namely an upward review of workers’ salaries, rather than another temporary palliative.

It also stressed that the national minimum wage represents the statutory minimum employers must pay and should not be treated as a ceiling on workers’ earnings.

The NAC consequently reaffirmed the position earlier communicated in its 21 October 2026 press release.

On the concerns raised by some of its public-sector affiliates, including 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), the TUC said their positions were consistent with the earlier stance of congress.

It emphasised that the pursuit of workers’ welfare must respect the collective bargaining rights of affected unions and their legitimate responsibility to represent members in negotiations concerning their conditions of service.

The communique reads in part, “The NAC reiterated that congress is demanding a salary increase and not another wage award, particularly in view of the federal government’s failure to fully implement the wage award palliative agreed upon on 2 October 2023, which was intended to run until the new minimum wage was signed into law on 29 July 2024.

The council maintained that a sustainable salary increase offers a more meaningful intervention to improve workers’ purchasing power and living standards, emphasising that the minimum wage is a statutory floor, not a ceiling, on workers’ earnings.

Workers’ welfare cannot be advanced by disregarding the collective bargaining rights of affected unions or undermining their legitimate representation in matters concerning their conditions of service.

It resolved to pursue constructive, results-oriented engagement with the government to implement the resolutions of the NAC meeting held on 8 October 2026 in Abuja and to dismantle the barriers confronting federal and state government employees.

The council resolved that its leaders should refocus their efforts on securing a salary increase for workers by engaging relevant stakeholders and refraining from public exchanges on the matter.”