TUC demands permanent incorporation of N70,000 transport allowance into workers’ monthly salaries

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has outlined seven major reasons for rejecting the Federal Government’s proposed N70,000 transport allowance, insisting that workers need a permanent salary increase rather than temporary financial relief.

The Secretary-General of TUC, Nuhu Toro, gave the reasons during an interview with TVC News on Wednesday.

He said the Congress rejected the proposal because it was a temporary six-month intervention that would not provide sustainable relief to Nigerian workers.

“History has shown that no wage award in Nigeria is sustainable. As I speak to you today, there are MDAs, parastatals and government agencies that have not paid the wage award,” Toro said.

He recalled that some government agencies were yet to settle the N40,000 wage award introduced in 2023, describing the situation as evidence that temporary wage interventions could fail to benefit workers.

The TUC secretary-general argued that the N70,000 should instead be incorporated into workers’ monthly salaries as part of their transport or housing allowances.

“Why don’t you embed it into the component of salary? Say, for instance, N70,000 is added to either transport or housing allowance of workers,” he said.

According to him, incorporating the allowance into salaries could raise the value of the existing minimum wage to about N140,000 and give workers a stronger position during subsequent minimum wage negotiations.

Toro also questioned what would happen when the six-month payment period expired without a new minimum wage agreement.

“What happens if between now and six months the new minimum wage does not set in? Are we going to say workers should stop earning it?” he asked.

Another reason for the rejection was the alleged exclusion of some public service unions from the negotiations that produced the allowance.

The union also cited outstanding agreements with the Federal Government, including commitments concerning judicial workers, as part of its broader demands.

Toro said the Congress had presented its demands to the government before the N70,000 allowance was announced and that discussions were continuing with a government delegation led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

He insisted that workers should not accept a temporary arrangement in place of a permanent improvement in their earnings.

“We insist that the N70,000 should be embedded into their salary preceding negotiation of the minimum wage,” he said.

The TUC has also proposed a N300,000 salary for the lowest-paid worker.