Fuel Subsidy Removal: Trade Union Asks Government To Keep Promise, Pay N35,000 Wage Award

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has asked the federal government to pay the N35,000 provisional wage award as promised during a meeting held after the fuel subsidy removal.

At a press briefing after an emergency national executive council meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, TUC President Festus Osifo said most workers had received only a one-month payment, meant for September. Only a few workers received payment for October.

"We wish to call on the government to fastrack all the payments now. We learned that they're putting some things in place to ensure the payment, but people are not ready to listen to excuses," he said, Punch reported.

Osifo urged the government to immediately release the N35,000 wage award to the bank accounts of federal civil servants without making any excuses.

"We want the government to tighten their belts, government at all levels – the federal government, the state and local governments because a situation where they are asking Nigerians to keep tightening their belt and they (government officials) are living in affluence is unacceptable," he said, Business Day reported.

The TUC president warned that if the government failed to pay the workers, there could be an increase in the level of crime in society.

"When the people are hungry, it increases the level of crime in society because people will keep looking for what's to eat," Osifo noted.

Nigeria ranked 103 out of 121 countries in last year's Global Hunger Index. It got the same ranking out of 116 countries in 2021, while it was placed 98 out of 107 countries in 2020.

Nearly one month after the fuel subsidy was scrapped in May, thousands of young Nigerians attacked the National Emergency Management Agency warehouses in Kaduna and Adamawa and looted grains and other items.

In October, the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) said food insecurity was threatening the country's peace and stability. Many were not even sure if they would be able to have their next meal or not, it added.

Oluyemisi Adeaga, president of NRCS, said about 25 million Nigerians are at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition.

TUC had earlier threatened to go on a nationwide indefinite strike from Oct. 3 over fuel subsidy removal. However, the government held a meeting with the union and assured that N35,000 would be paid to employees every month from September.