FEDERAL WORKERS PUSH FOR ₦300,000 MINIMUM WAGE AMID RISING LIVING COSTS

The Federal Workers Forum has called on the Federal Government to urgently review the salaries of federal civil servants and raise the minimum wage to ₦300,000, arguing that the existing pay structure no longer reflects the economic realities facing workers.

The demand was contained in a letter dated September 2, 2026, and addressed to President Bola Tinubu and key officials of the National Assembly. The document was signed by the forum’s National Coordinator, Andrew Emelieze, and General Secretary, Ogundele Ayodele.

The workers said the current ₦70,000 minimum wage has become inadequate as employees continue to contend with increasing expenses on food, transportation, accommodation, electricity, cooking gas and other essential needs.

According to the forum, the pressure created by the rising cost of living has made it increasingly difficult for federal employees to meet their basic obligations on their existing salaries. It therefore argued that an immediate wage adjustment was necessary to prevent workers from falling deeper into financial hardship.

The group proposed a new salary structure that would place the minimum monthly salary at ₦300,000 for workers on Grade Level 1, while officers on Grade Level 17 would receive up to ₦1.5 million.

Under the proposed structure, salaries would increase progressively across the various grade levels. The forum said the adjustment was designed to provide a more realistic relationship between workers’ earnings and their current financial responsibilities.

The Federal Workers Forum also complained about what it described as incomplete implementation of the ₦70,000 minimum wage approved in 2024. The group alleged that federal workers had not received the full consequential adjustments and associated allowances arising from the wage review.

The 2024 minimum wage increased the national benchmark from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000. However, the forum argued that the implementation process had not adequately addressed the salary disparities experienced across the federal civil service.

Beyond the proposed minimum wage increase, the workers called for the payment of outstanding salary arrears, promotion arrears and other financial entitlements owed to federal employees.

They also renewed demands for the settlement of outstanding wage-related benefits, including allowances that they said had remained unpaid.

The forum maintained that its proposed salary adjustment was based on the realities of workers’ monthly expenses. It pointed to the rising costs of food, transportation, housing, electricity, cooking gas, water, communication and other household necessities as justification for the ₦300,000 minimum wage proposal.

The workers further argued that improved remuneration would help restore the purchasing power of federal employees and provide some relief from the economic pressures affecting households.

The latest demand comes amid renewed discussions over workers’ wages and the adequacy of the current minimum wage. Labour stakeholders have continued to call for measures that would ensure workers’ incomes keep pace with changes in the cost of living.

The Federal Workers Forum urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to consider its proposal and begin discussions on a fresh wage structure for federal civil servants.

For now, the ₦300,000 figure remains a demand from the workers’ group and does not represent a new minimum wage approved by the Federal Government. The current statutory national minimum wage remains ₦70,000 until any new agreement or legislation changes it.