Civil servants under the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) have called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the escalating cost-of-living crisis, issuing a September 30 deadline for urgent economic relief.

In a formal letter to the President, the labor coalition demanded that the Federal Government stabilize the pump price of petrol at N500 per liter, implement an immediate wage award, and conduct a general review of public service salaries and allowances.

The union also called for the immediate establishment of a committee to negotiate a new national minimum wage ahead of January 2027. According to the workers, recent surges pushing fuel prices to N1,430 and above in various parts of the country have severely worsened economic hardship.

The JNPSNC noted that the removal of fuel subsidies three years ago triggered a chain reaction, driving up the costs of essential goods and services and rendering everyday life increasingly unbearable for citizens.

Rejecting government-distributed food palliatives as an unsustainable remedy, the union argued that such measures fail to reach the majority of the population.

“It has dawned on Nigerian workers that the provision of palliatives such as bags of rice, Indomie, vegetable oil, garri, among other edible foods, is as good as weaponising Nigerians with poverty because it is a Pyrrhic intervention which is unsustainable, inaccessible to the majority of Nigeria’s population and also limited to political cronies,” the workers stated.

The union warned that the mounting financial pressure is creating severe tension among workers nationwide and urged the administration to take decisive action before the September 30 deadline.