₦70,000 Transport Support Is Relief, Not Pay Rise – FG
By Patience Ikpeme
The Federal Government says the ₦70,000 monthly transport support for federal civil servants is a short-term relief measure. It is not a pay rise and it is not the result of any wage negotiation.
The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, said this in a signed statement. He said the money is meant to give workers quick relief while government prepares for wider talks on a minimum wage that can be sustained.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the payment. Each eligible federal civil servant will get ₦70,000 every month for six months, which comes to ₦420,000 in total. The money will be paid on top of what workers already earn.
Mr Yakubu said the President started the payment on his own. “It was not requested by organised labour, and it did not come through the usual bargaining process between workers, employers and the Federal Government,” he said.
He explained that the aim is to help workers deal with higher transport fares, so that they have more of their pay left for food and other needs at home. He said prices have been rising partly because of changes in world energy markets, supply problems and higher costs of production.
According to him, because everyone gets the same amount, lower-paid workers will feel the benefit more, since ₦70,000 is a bigger part of their income.
The Budget Office chief warned that a temporary transport allowance and a permanent salary rise are not the same thing for government finances. “The six-month support has a clear end and a fixed cost,” he said. “A salary increase means government must keep paying the higher amount every year, along with other costs that come with it.”
He said this difference shows why government must balance quick relief for workers with what it can afford to pay over the long term.
Mr Yakubu added that the payment is the Federal Government’s own commitment to its own workers. He said other employers are not forced to do the same, because every employer has a different financial position and must decide what it can afford.
On the next national minimum wage review, he said it is due in July 2027 under the current three-year cycle. However, the Federal Government has agreed to a proposal to start talks earlier than that date.
He said organised labour, employers and government will all take part. The Budget Office will supply the financial figures to guide the talks, so that any agreement improves workers’ welfare and can be paid without trouble.
Mr Yakubu said the transport support should help workers get through the present period of high living costs. “The coming wage talks will deal with workers’ longer-term pay and welfare,” he said.
He said government wants to meet workers’ urgent needs while making sure that whatever it promises in future can be paid when the time comes.
