Federal workers back ₦500 fuel price demand, warn of strike

Federal workers have thrown their weight behind organised labour’s demand for an immediate reduction in petrol pump price to ₦500 per litre, warning they are ready to join a three-day warning strike if the government fails to act, Vanguard reports.

In a communiqué issued Tuesday, the Federal Workers Forum (FWF) said it “unanimously agreed” to support the Joint National Public Service Negotiation Council’s (JNPSNC) call to cut petrol to ₦500 by September 30, demanding the reduction also apply to kerosene, diesel and cooking gas.

The forum, signed by National Coordinator Andrew Emelieze and General Secretary Ogundele Ayodele, urged federal workers to “mobilize and prepare for any industrial action called by labour leadership” and dismissed subsidy removal as “a scam designed to extort the citizenry.”

The FWF further demanded the reinstatement of the wage award as a Cost of Living Allowance, full implementation of the ₦70,000 minimum wage with consequential arrears, and a salary review to between ₦300,000 and ₦1.5 million for Level 17 officers.

It also condemned moves to privatise unity colleges like King’s College, rejected the Organized Private Sector’s objections to wage reviews as “anti-worker,” and called on the NLC and TUC to rethink their negotiating strategy — with the forum even urging the UN to classify Nigeria’s wage conditions as “a crime against humanity,” underscoring the scale of worker frustration building toward the strike deadline.