Public Servants Begin Three-day Strike over FG’s Failure to Slash Petrol Price to N500 per Litre

Public servants under the aegis of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) have commenced a three-day warning strike over the failure of the federal government to address their lingering demands.

The strike notice was contained in a circular issued on Thursday by Gbenga Olowoyo, national secretary of JNPSNC and general secretary of the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU), to the national presidents and general secretaries, state chairmen and secretaries of affiliate unions of the JNPSNC.

In the circular entitled “Declaration of three day Warning Strike; action with immediate effect”, JNPSNC directed the unions to ensure total compliance with the industrial action.

The union had on Tuesday threatened to embark on the strike if the federal government failed to slash the price of petrol to N500 and approve a new wage award for workers.

Olowoyo, in a statement, had said the September 30 ultimatum they earlier handed to the government to address the rising cost of petrol and begin negotiations for a new national minimum wage remained sacrosanct.

He said the council had mobilised workers to embark on the industrial action should President Bola Tinubu fail to announce a drastic cut in petrol price and a new national minimum wage in his Independence Day speech.

Olowoyo said the council had on September 21 written a letter to Tinubu in which it made three demands, including the commencement of negotiations for a minimum wage of no less than N500,000 from 2027 and reduction of fuel price to N500 per litre, among others.

In Thursday’s circular, Olowoyo said Tinubu’s failure to address the demands had left the unions with no other option than to proceed with the strike until Sunday.

“Please, recall the position of the National leadership of JNPSNC that if Mr President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Tinubu refuses to address our requests as contained in the letter to his exalted office (dated September 21, 2026), the three day warning strike earlier scheduled shall commence immediately,” the circular reads.

“Consequent upon the above, the strike shall start with effect from midnight of Friday, October 2, 2026, to Sunday, October 4, 2026.

“In the same vein, all public servants in the services of federal, state and local governments are to join the warning strike because an injury to one is an injury to all, most especially all workers, their dependants, vulnerable and hapless Nigerians are groaning terribly under the present economic hardship.

“The economic and mental hardships are becoming unbearable and frustrating. The time to act and mobilise workers for the three days warning strike is now. Please, disseminate the information. Surely, there is victory for us.”