By Felix Khanoba
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have called for improved workers’ welfare and a living wage, urging journalists to hold political leaders accountable for their economic policies ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The two labour centres made the call on Thursday in Abuja at the third annual Labour Conference of the Labour Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (LACAN), where they highlighted the failure to fully implement the 2023 wage award, rising living costs and the need for political parties to prioritise workers’ welfare in their programmes.
The TUC President, Comrade Festus Osifo, represented by the President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Bosun Agoro, said many workers had yet to benefit from the wage award negotiated in 2023, raising concerns about the implementation of future agreements between organised labour and the government.
He said the experience had influenced the TUC’s position on the ongoing debate over workers’ remuneration, stressing the need for a different approach to ensure that negotiated benefits reached their intended beneficiaries.
“The wage award that we entered into in 2023, many workers did not get anything out of it today. Many states did not put it into implementation. Even the Federal Government that implemented it didn’t pay according to what we agreed.”
Osifo added: “We felt that if we continue to do things the same way, we are most likely going to be getting the same result.”
He maintained that despite differences between the TUC and NLC over the appropriate approach to securing improved wages, both organisations agreed that workers’ welfare had deteriorated significantly.
“It is agreed by all parties today, whether NLC, TUC, or even the government, that the state of workers in Nigeria is deplorable, that workers’ remuneration, workers’ entitlement is almost at ground zero. That one is not bringing any form of disagreement.”
He added: “The only little thing that is causing (disagreement) is how we now rectify that error.”
The TUC president urged journalists to report labour issues accurately and avoid allowing disagreements between the two labour centres to overshadow the central question of workers’ welfare.
He also cautioned the Federal Government against taking advantage of differences between the unions, calling for stronger unity within organised labour ahead of negotiations with employers and the government.
Osifo further urged the media to provide proper context when reporting labour demands, citing a TUC statement that some commentators interpreted as a call for a N300,000 minimum wage. He said the omission of the words “for example” had changed the perceived meaning of the statement.
On the economy, he called on the government to ensure that increased revenue from higher crude oil prices translated into better living conditions for Nigerians rather than benefiting only a few.
He noted that rising fuel prices had increased transportation costs and worsened the financial burden on workers.
Similarly, the NLC called for a living wage that would enable workers to meet their basic needs, insisting that statutory minimum wage provisions should not be treated as sufficient when they fail to reflect prevailing economic realities.
The NLC Assistant Secretary, Chris Onyeka, who delivered the congress’s goodwill message at the conference, said the 2027 elections and negotiations for a new national minimum wage offered opportunities to address the hardship confronting Nigerian workers.
“Minimum wage is not a charitable gesture; it is the price of labour power, and any economic reform that suppresses wages in the name of ‘stabilisation’ is a reform against the worker, not for the economy,” Onyeka said.
He stressed that the struggle for better remuneration extended beyond statutory wage levels to the broader question of workers’ rights, social protection and decent employment.
“The battle for a living wage—not just a minimum wage—is a class struggle, and it requires a media that is armed with the truth, not compromised by the corridors of power,” he said.
Onyeka urged labour correspondents to scrutinise the economic programmes of political parties and demand specific commitments on wages, job security, pensions and collective bargaining rather than allowing campaign promises to go unexamined.
He also raised concerns about the changing nature of employment, particularly the growing use of casual labour, the expansion of the platform economy and the weakening of traditional employment arrangements.
“The Nigerian worker is already living in a dystopian version of this future: casualised, underpaid, and increasingly invisible in a digital economy that extracts value while denying rights,” he said.
According to him, technological advancement must not come at the expense of decent work, fair recruitment practices and adequate social protection for workers.
The NLC assistant secretary also called on LACAN to strengthen its participation in the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), arguing that professional solidarity was essential to protecting journalists’ welfare and press freedom.
“You cannot defend the rights of workers if your own house is not in order. The struggle for press freedom is intrinsically linked to the struggle for workers’ rights,” he said.
Onyeka cautioned journalists against publishing misleading reports capable of deepening divisions within organised labour, particularly over resolutions reached between the unions and the Federal Government.
“There is no crisis where there is none,” the NLC said, urging labour correspondents to clarify industrial relations processes rather than amplify propaganda.
He further advised journalists to pay greater attention to casual workers, low-income earners and other vulnerable groups whose concerns were often overlooked in policy discussions.
Earlier, the President of LACAN, Comrade Abulu Patrick, reaffirmed the association’s commitment to promoting workers’ interests and contributing to national development through professional labour reporting.
Describing the association’s role in connecting policy decisions with their effects on ordinary Nigerians, he said: “we are bridge between policy and the people, between government, products and the reality, in factories,…”
Abulu commended stakeholders who had supported the association over the years, particularly its founding members, whose contributions he said had helped sustain its vision.
He urged participants to take advantage of the conference to engage in meaningful discussions, challenge existing assumptions and develop perspectives capable of guiding policymakers and other stakeholders to ensure a better country.
The conference also featured presentation of awards to distinguished individuals, including the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, who was represented by his Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, NLC President, some founding members of LACAN, among others.
Meanwhile, the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, said his administration had implemented the national minimum wage of N71,000 following negotiations with labour representatives.
Represented at the event by the Kano State Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Mohammed Mai-Karfi, the governor said the state had also addressed outstanding issues affecting some categories of workers.
He listed regular salary payments, the release of promotion arrears, payment of death benefits and pensions, and the recruitment of more than 2,000 health workers among measures taken by his administration to ease the impact of economic reforms.
