The Federal Workers Forum has written to President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly, demanding an immediate review of the salaries of federal civil servants and an increase in the minimum wage from N70,000 to N300,000.
The letter, dated September 2, 2026, and signed by the National Coordinator, FWF, Andrew Emelieze, and General Secretary, Ogundele Ayodele, was addressed to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives through the Clerk of the National Assembly, with President Tinubu, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation also listed among the recipients.
The forum also proposed a salary of N1.5m for Level 17 officers, arguing that the current wage structure no longer reflects the economic realities confronting federal workers.
Backing its demand, the workers said in the letter, “We call for justice and immediate wage review now, adjust the federal minimum wage to N300,000 and a maximum wage of N1.5m for the Level 17 officers.”
The FWF said the demand was necessitated by what it described as the incomplete implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage approved in 2024, claiming that federal workers had yet to receive the full consequential adjustment and associated allowances.
The group stated, “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.”
According to the workers, the 2024 wage review increased the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 but resulted in what they described as a flat N40,000 increase across all levels of the federal civil service.
The forum said, “Only N40,000 was added to the salaries of every federal worker across all levels.”
The latest demand comes amid continuing disagreements over the implementation of the 2024 minimum wage and related allowances.
The N70,000 minimum wage replaced the previous N30,000 benchmark after negotiations between the federal government and organized labor, with the new wage framework subject to review after three years.
The FWF argued that the statutory three-year review period should not prevent the government from responding immediately to what it described as an emergency deterioration in workers’ purchasing power.
The forum said, “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 to meet up with the current economic realities in Nigeria.”
The workers complained that the rising cost of food, transportation, accommodation, electricity, cooking gas and other necessities had made the N70,000 minimum wage inadequate.
“Federal workers have been enduring the situation, and everything has been frustrating and nauseating. We cannot cope again. Federal workers are dying in instalments; we are suffering in silence; our salary is too poor; it is not taking us home,” the letter stated.
The FWF further alleged that some federal workers had become heavily indebted to microfinance institutions and digital loan platforms in an attempt to meet their daily needs.
“Federal workers are now heavily indebted to microfinances and, most times, federal workers resort to phone loan apps to get transportation to work,” the group said.
The forum also claimed that some workers had resorted to using firewood because they could no longer afford cooking gas.
It argued that the worsening financial situation could affect workers’ productivity and create conditions conducive to corruption.
“While the Federal Government is making more money now, the federal workers are underpaid and subjected to unprecedented sufferings and hardship,” the workers said.
The forum also linked its demand to the wider increase in government revenues and expenditure, arguing that federal workers, whom it described as the “engine room of governance,” should benefit from improved national earnings.
