The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Federal Government to immediately introduce a reasonable wage award for workers as petrol prices rise to about ₦1,430 per litre in major urban centres, warning that the increase is eroding incomes and worsening the cost-of-living crisis across the country.
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NLC President, Joe Ajaero, made the demand in a statement titled “Save the Situation Now,” issued on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, in which the labour centre also asked the government to make sufficient crude oil available to local refineries in naira and expand the country’s petroleum storage capacity.
According to Ajaero, petrol now sells for about ₦1,430 per litre in major cities and even higher in less accessible areas, a development he said had significantly reduced workers’ purchasing power and put further pressure on household incomes.
He warned that the impact would extend far beyond the cost of buying petrol, arguing that rising transport fares would inevitably feed into the prices of food, school fees, rent, tariffs and other essential goods and services.
“These new costs continue to inflict or deepen poverty among the populace, stressing the quality of life to the limits,” Ajaero said.
The NLC president linked part of the latest surge in petrol prices to renewed conflict in the Gulf and the resulting pressure on international energy markets, but said Nigeria’s position as a major oil-producing country should provide its citizens with some protection against such external shocks.
“As a nation, and as a people endowed with enormous fossil resources, we are deserving of a certain level of protection or buffer against the gales from the Gulf,” he said.
Ajaero therefore urged the Federal Government to adopt a combination of measures, including an immediate wage award for workers, the sale of adequate volumes of crude oil in naira to domestic refineries and an expansion of national petroleum storage capacity to strengthen energy security and prepare the country for emergencies.
He argued that such measures would not only provide relief from international market volatility but also stimulate domestic economic activity, create employment and improve the country’s capacity to respond to energy and security challenges.
“These measures will create jobs, economic value as well as deal with mutating security challenges,” he said.
The labour leader also criticised a situation in which Nigerian refineries have to import crude oil despite the country being a major producer, describing the arrangement as inconsistent with efforts to build sustainable domestic refining capacity.
Ajaero further argued that government intervention through subsidies or emergency palliatives should not be ruled out where citizens face severe economic pressure.
“There is nothing wrong with government subsidising the needs of citizens, especially in emergency situations like this,” he said, adding that oil-producing countries had introduced different forms of intervention to shield their populations from global energy shocks.
He also maintained that the Federal Government was benefiting from higher international crude prices, claiming that Nigeria was earning between $35 and $40 per barrel above the budgeted crude benchmark in the international spot market, which he said translated into significant additional revenue. That figure represents the NLC president’s assessment rather than an independently established government revenue figure.
For the NLC, the central concern is that workers’ earnings have not adjusted to the speed at which transport and other living costs are rising, leaving households to absorb repeated increases in the prices of necessities.
The Congress warned that labour would continue to speak out and, where necessary, take action in defence of workers and other citizens if the economic pressure continues without adequate government intervention.
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