N70,000 Transport Allowance: Osifo Challenges NLC’s Authority to Negotiate for TUC

The President of the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo, has faulted the Nigerian Labour Congress for negotiating the N70,000 transport allowance with the Federal Government without the participation or consultation of his organisation. Osifo described the agreement as an aberration, insisting that the NLC could not negotiate on behalf of the TUC, regardless of the number of affiliated unions under its umbrella. Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, Osifo challenged NLC President Joe Ajaero to produce any International Labour Organisation regulation authorising one labour centre to negotiate on behalf of another. He maintained that both organisations must participate in negotiations involving their members, stressing that the fact that the NLC has more affiliates does not give it the authority to represent the TUC without its consent. According to him, the two labour centres are expected to come together during negotiations involving workers and the government.

The TUC president also questioned the legitimacy of the meeting where the N70,000 allowance was agreed upon, arguing that it was not a formal meeting of the Joint Public Sector Negotiating Council. He said neither the Minister of Labour nor Ajaero was a member of the council and insisted that its constitutional requirements, including the provision for a quorum, were not fulfilled. Osifo further criticised the application of the N40,000 difference between the former N30,000 minimum wage and the new N70,000 wage as a general adjustment for federal workers, arguing that the approach failed to provide adequate consequential adjustments. He accused Ajaero of mishandling the process and said he had personally confronted the NLC president over the matter. The disagreement highlights growing tensions between the two major labour centres over representation and the handling of negotiations with the Federal Government.

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