The Nigeria Labour Congress has called on the Federal Government to deploy part of the additional revenue from rising crude oil prices to cushion the impact of surging fuel prices on workers and other Nigerians.
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said the increase in petrol prices had worsened the economic hardship facing households, with rising transportation and food costs further eroding workers’ purchasing power.
Ajaero spoke at the 2026 National Pre-Retirement Summit organised by XEM Consultants Limited in Abuja.
He said the government should introduce intervention measures similar to those adopted by other oil-producing countries facing the effects of the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz.
Ajaero said: ‘As one of the oil-producing countries, they are making trillions because of the problem in the Strait of Hormuz. You can see that oil was pegged at maybe $70 or whatever dollars. It’s $100, so they are making an extra $30 or $40.
‘Now, can’t you use this money to embark on some interventionary measures like other countries where this is affected, so that we’ll now be alive till the time when they will say minimum wage?’
On the proposed review of the minimum wage, Ajaero cautioned against focusing solely on the nominal amount, saying inflation, fuel prices and food costs should determine workers’ real purchasing power.
He said: ‘Negotiations are not just figures,’ he said, adding that workers could receive a higher nominal wage while being unable to afford basic necessities because of inflation.
‘Assuming one naira is equal to $1, I would advise Nigerian workers to remain at ?70,000 because that would be big money for them, but you can see that you can equally get one million naira and a bag of rice is ?500,000, so what of that? What happens?’
Ajaero advocated the indexation of wages and pensions to inflation or the cost-of-living index, arguing that such a mechanism would allow incomes to adjust automatically as prices rise.
‘Unless you index it either based on cost of living index or inflation, immediately inflation goes like this, automatically it will adjust to this,’ he said.
He said the three-year minimum wage negotiation cycle was necessary to allow workers respond to changing economic conditions, noting that the current agreement was due for review around March or April.
‘This minimum wage is supposed to expire March-April, so the conversation ought to start early. That’s a three-year cycle,’ Ajaero said.
However, he said labour was currently more concerned about immediate survival than the next wage negotiation.
‘But now we are more concerned on ‘give us this day’ – how to survive today before that time. Because these policies of the fuel going up, jumping up, and the Nigerian government is making a whole lot of money from it,’ he said.
Ajaero also questioned the effectiveness of policies introduced to reduce transportation and energy costs, including the compressed natural gas initiative.
‘Where and where can you refill your tank? How many vehicles have been converted to CNG? How many electric vehicles are on the road?’ he asked.
Also speaking, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, called for an urgent review of workers’ wages, saying the current N70,000 minimum wage was insufficient to withstand the economic pressures facing employees.
Keyamo urged the Federal Government to meet labour halfway in the ongoing wage discussions, noting that unions were demanding as much as N500,000.
The minister recalled his involvement in previous minimum wage negotiations, which resulted in an increase from N30,000 to N70,000 in 2024, but said rising costs had continued to undermine workers’ purchasing power.
Keyamo also criticised heads of government agencies who, according to him, deny workers small travel allowances while approving substantial sums for their own international trips.
‘I will have none of it. Without these workers, we will not have a country,’ he said.
He stressed that workers’ welfare should be prioritised by government agencies and ministries, arguing that the human factor remained central to productivity and national development.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of XEM Consultants, Dr Eugenia Ndukwe, said the summit was designed to equip senior professionals with financial, health, entrepreneurial and digital skills for productive retirement.
Ndukwe said the programme focused on financial management, health and wellness, entrepreneurship and investment, estate and wealth management, and agricultural enterprise systems.
She added that XEM Consultants had partnered Galaxy Backbone to provide participants with digital skills and tools to explore opportunities for income generation after retirement.