President Tinubu Announces N35,000 Wage Increase and Other Measures to Ease Fuel Subsidy Removal

President Bola Tinubu announced a N10,000 interim wage increase for workers today, along with other measures to ease the financial hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidies.

In his Independence Day speech, President Tinubu promised a N25,000 regional wage increase for low-grade workers. However, after a meeting tonight between the federal government and the labor unions, the regional wage increase was extended to all workers.

The Information and National Orientation Minister, Mohammed Idris, said in a statement tonight that the federal government also added another N10,000 to the provisional wage increase. This was after a meeting with the labor unions to avert their planned strike on October 3. The federal government also approved the suspension of VAT on diesel products for the next six months, he added.

Here is the full statement:

"On October 1, 2023, the Federal Government met with the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to discuss how to resolve the dispute that arose from the removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

The parties agreed on the following:

i) The Federal Government has announced N35,000 as a temporary salary increase for all Federal Government employees paid by the Treasury for six months, after further consultation with President Bola Tinubu.

ii) To address the public transportation problems resulting from the removal of PMS subsidies, the Federal Government is committed to quickly providing Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses.

iii) The Federal Government pledges to provide funds to micro and small businesses.

iv) For the next six months, there will be no VAT on diesel.

v) From October 2023 to December 2023, the Federal Government will start paying N75,000 to 15 million households at a rate of N25,000 per month.

MEETING OUTCOMES:

The main outcomes of the meeting, based on the discussions that took place during the meeting, were:

i) The Federal Government asked the labor unions to refrain from going on strike because the issues at stake can only be settled while workers are at work.

ii) Labor unions made their case for a higher salary increase.

iii) A subcommittee will be set up to determine the details of implementing all government initiatives to mitigate the impact of removing fuel subsidies.

iv) The conflict between the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in Lagos State needs to be resolved immediately.

The NLC and TUC will consider the Federal Government’s offers with a view to postponing the strike in order to allow for more discussions on the implementation of the above resolutions.

The meeting was chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and attended virtually by Governors Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Abdulrazak Abdulrahman of Kwara State.

Also present were Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Simon Lalong, Minister of State for Labor, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Betta Edu, and Doris Uz, Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment.

The leaders of the labor delegation included NLC President Joe Ajaero, TUC Deputy President Dr. Tommy Etim Okon, NLC General Secretary Emma Ugboaja, and TUC General Secretary Nuhu Toro."