The Federal Workers Forum has written to President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly, demanding an immediate review of salaries for federal civil servants and an increase in the minimum wage from N70,000 to N300,000.

The demand was contained in a letter dated September 2, 2026, signed by the forum’s National Coordinator, Andrew Emelieze, and General Secretary, Ogundele Ayodele.

The letter, addressed to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives through the Clerk of the National Assembly, was also copied to the President, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

The forum proposed a new salary structure that would place the lowest-paid federal workers on N300,000 monthly and Level 17 Step 1 officers on N1.5 million.

The workers said the demand was driven by the rising cost of living and what they described as the incomplete implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage approved in 2024.

The forum said, “We call for justice and immediate wage review now, adjust the federal minimum wage to N300,000 and a maximum wage of N1.5m for the Level 17 officers.”

According to the group, federal workers had yet to receive the full consequential adjustment and associated allowances arising from the 2024 wage review.

“It will surprise you to hear that the Federal Government has not fully implemented the new national minimum wage since July 2024. We have been in the battle for full consequential adjustment of the new minimum wage,” it stated.

The forum claimed that although the minimum wage was increased from N30,000 to N70,000, workers across the various levels effectively received a flat N40,000 increase.

It said the current economic situation had made it increasingly difficult for workers to meet the cost of food, transportation, accommodation, electricity, cooking gas and other basic necessities.

“Federal workers have been enduring the situation, and everything has been frustrating and nauseating. We cannot cope again. Federal workers are dying in instalments; we are suffering in silence; our salary is too poor; it is not taking us home,” the group stated.

It also alleged that some workers had resorted to borrowing from microfinance institutions and digital loan platforms to meet their daily expenses, including transportation to work.

Under the proposed salary structure, Level 1 Step 1 workers would earn N300,000, while Level 2 to Level 7 workers would earn between N330,000 and N480,000.

Level 8 would earn N510,000; Level 9, N550,000; Level 10, N600,000; Level 12, N700,000; Level 13, N750,000; Level 14, N800,000; Level 15, N1 million; Level 16, N1.2 million; and Level 17, N1.5 million.

The FWF also demanded payment of outstanding salaries, promotion arrears and other entitlements, as well as the immediate implementation and payment of arrears of the 40 per cent peculiar allowance.

Other demands include a permanent Cost of Living Allowance, Family Support Allowance, an end to stagnation in the civil service, comprehensive health insurance for workers and pensioners, car and housing loan schemes, improved pension arrangements and long-service awards.

The forum further called for free education for children of federal workers and pensioners in federal institutions, tax relief on workers’ allowances and stronger social security programmes for unemployed and underemployed Nigerians.

It also urged the government to address insecurity, release kidnapped Nigerians and investigate reports that part of workers’ contributory pension savings may have been borrowed by the executive.

The group said the government should not wait until July 2027, when the statutory three-year review period for the minimum wage is due, before addressing workers’ declining purchasing power.

“Federal workers have suffered enough. It has been three years of torture, torment and agony for the federal workers since the removal of fuel subsidy,” the forum said.

The FWF urged the National Assembly to treat its demands as an emergency and engage the President on measures to improve workers’ welfare and purchasing power.