Nigeria’s federal government has approved a 40 percent peculiar allowance for federal civil servants after a lengthy meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, ending a dispute that had been building for nearly two years. The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission released the implementation circular during the meeting chaired by Didi Walson-Jack at her office.
The decision lands after a period of mounting pressure over wage adjustments tied to the N70,000 national minimum wage, and it came just days after the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council had scheduled a nationwide strike for May 21. Gbenga Olowoyo said the approval would be backdated to May 1, 2026, giving workers a concrete timeline for when the new arrangement takes effect.
Walson-Jack said the government needed to build trust with labour leaders and keep industrial disputes from escalating. She said unions have the constitutional right to make demands, but added that there must always be room for constructive dialogue to sustain industrial harmony.
Olowoyo called the move a major victory for Nigerian workers and said it was a positive step toward improving welfare amid current economic hardships. He said members of the council had been waiting since July 2024 for the adjustment to reflect the new minimum wage template, and he urged state governments to adopt the federal circular as well.
The approval effectively removes the immediate threat of a national industrial showdown, after nearly two years of tension had built up around the wage dispute. The kind of pressure that has driven recent calls for higher payments in public service, from allowance debates to housing and feeding requests, has now produced a formal federal response. For now, the strike has been pushed back and the government has chosen negotiation over confrontation.
