Public Servants Begin Three-Day Warning Strike Over Fuel Price, Wage Demands

Public sector workers across Nigeria have commenced a three-day warning strike over what the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) described as worsening economic hardship and the Federal Government’s failure to address key demands.

The industrial action began at midnight on Friday, October 2, and is scheduled to run until Sunday, October 4, 2026. The JNPSNC directed federal, state and local government employees, including workers in ministries, departments and agencies, to comply with the strike.

The council comprises several public-sector unions, including the Nigerian Civil Service Union, Medical and Health Workers Union, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria and National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, among others.

The warning strike followed a September 21 letter sent by the JNPSNC leadership to President Bola Tinubu outlining demands aimed at addressing the rising cost of living and declining purchasing power among workers.

Among the major demands is a reduction of the petrol pump price to ₦500 per litre. The unions also want the Federal Government to approve an immediate wage award to cushion the impact of rising living costs and establish a tripartite committee to begin negotiations for a new national minimum wage ahead of 2027.

The unions had given the Federal Government until September 30 to respond to their demands, warning that failure to do so would trigger the three-day industrial action. The council said President Tinubu’s Independence Day address did not address the specific demands on petrol prices and a wage award, prompting it to proceed with the strike.

In a circular dated October 1, JNPSNC National Secretary Olowoyo Gbenga directed affiliated unions to mobilise their members for the action, saying economic and mental hardship had become increasingly difficult for workers, their dependants and vulnerable Nigerians.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has also called for measures to reduce petrol prices, introduce a nationwide wage award and begin negotiations for a new minimum wage. NLC President Joe Ajaero said rising transport costs, inflation, unemployment and insecurity were worsening the economic pressures facing workers.

The NLC also called for the implementation of tax relief measures it said were agreed with the government during previous discussions with labour, alongside greater transparency in public spending and measures to address unemployment and insecurity.

The current action is a warning strike rather than an indefinite shutdown, with the JNPSNC directing workers to resume after the three-day period unless further decisions are taken by the unions. Reports on the strike confirm that the action covers public servants across the federal, state and local government levels.