Federal civil servants have asked President Bola Tinubu to urgently review wages, proposing ₦300,000 as the new national minimum wage and ₦1.5 million for Level 17 officers.
In a letter dated September 2, 2026, the Federal Workers Forum (FWF) said the ₦70,000 minimum wage approved in 2024 had been overtaken by inflation and was no longer sustainable.
The letter, signed by FWF National Coordinator Andrew Emelieze and General Secretary Ogundele Ayodele, was sent to the National Assembly, with copies to the President, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
“It will surprise you to hear that the Federal Government has not fully implemented the new national minimum wage since July 2024. We have been in the battle for full consequential adjustment of the new minimum wage,” the forum stated.
The group argued that workers cannot wait until the statutory 2027 review before wages are adjusted.
“As a matter of fact, it is suicidal for the federal workers to continue in this ugly situation. Hence, based on the current cost-of-living crisis, it can only be a matter of justice that the federal wages be immediately reviewed,” it said.
FWF said rising costs of food, transport, rent, electricity and gas had made the ₦70,000 minimum wage inadequate.
The forum claimed that many workers now depend on loan apps and microfinance institutions to meet basic expenses and get to work.
“Federal workers are now heavily indebted to microfinances and, most times, federal workers resort to phone loan apps to get transportation to work,” the letter read.
“Federal workers are dying in instalments; we are suffering in silence; our salary is too poor; it is not taking us home.”
Under its proposal, Level 1 would start at ₦300,000 and rise to ₦1.5 million for Level 17 officers. FWF said the proposed figures reflect workers’ basic monthly needs and can fit into current government earnings.
The forum also called for the payment of salary and promotion arrears, implementation of the 40 per cent peculiar allowance with arrears, a cost-of-living allowance, health insurance, housing and car loans, and free education for workers’ children.
It further called for a probe into the alleged borrowing of contributory pension funds.
“The federal workers are the goose that lays the golden egg, but we are alienated from our labour,” FWF said, urging the National Assembly to treat the matter as an emergency.
