The crisis rocking organised labour over the Federal Government’s N70,000 transport intervention has deepened with three public service affiliate unions openly disowning the position of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, JNPSNC, that accepted the amount.
The unions including the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government-Owned Companies, SSASCGOC, Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, SSAUTHRIAI, and Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, NUAHP, said they were neither consulted nor invited to any meeting where the agreement was reached.
In a joint statement issued on November 1, 2026, and signed by their Presidents, Kayode Alakija, John Alli and Kamal Ibrahim, the three unions dissociated themselves from the JNPSNC statement of October 30, 2026, describing it as unauthorised.
They said even the Vice Chairman of the JNPSNC representing the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, a union with over 300,000 members, was sidelined, raising questions about the credibility of the process.
The unions, which represent workers in statutory corporations, government-owned companies, universities, teaching hospitals and research institutes, described it as contradictory to recognise their members as public servants when imposing obligations but exclude their unions from decisions on salaries and welfare.
They aligned with the Trade Union Congress, TUC, in rejecting the N70,000 transport allowance for six months, arguing that it was grossly inadequate against rising cost of living and was no substitute for decent wages.
They also faulted the handling of the last consequential adjustment, alleging that instead of applying the 133 per cent adjustment to the lowest paid worker and cascading it appropriately, the JNPSNC negotiated a flat N40,000 addition across board, undermining salary differentials.
The unions stressed that the JNPSNC is a negotiating platform established in 1948 and not a third national labour centre alongside the NLC and TUC, warning that any attempt to usurp the functions of the centres would be resisted.
In an earlier statement, the JNPSNC National Secretary, Gbenga Olowoyo, defended the October 27 agreement reached with the Federal Government under the chairmanship of the Minister of Labour, Mohammed Dingyadi, and led by NLC President Joe Ajaero.
Olowoyo said the six-hour negotiation produced enforceable commitments including the N70,000 transport allowance from November 2026, implementation of 40% peculiar allowance reflecting the minimum wage with arrears from May 2026 in three tranches, payment of 19 months arrears of health workers allowances from December 2026, and issuance of circular on hazard allowance for agricultural officers within three weeks.
He added that the government agreed to set up a tripartite negotiation committee immediately and to reconvene monthly to evaluate implementation, while describing the rejection by any union not part of the talks as inconsequential to its implementation.
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(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
