Public servants across Nigeria are expected to stay away from work from Friday as the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council begins a three-day warning strike over worsening economic conditions.
The industrial action, scheduled to run from October 2 to October 4, was announced in a circular dated October 1 and signed by the council’s National Secretary, Olowoyo Gbenga.
The council directed its national and state leaders to mobilise workers in the federal, state and local government services for the strike.
The action followed what the council described as the Federal Government’s failure to respond to demands contained in a September 21 letter to President Bola Tinubu.
The council said the strike would commence “with effect from midnight on Friday, 2nd October, 2026 to Sunday October 4th, 2026.”
Among the demands previously submitted to the government are a reduction in the pump price of petrol to N500 per litre, an immediate wage award for workers and the constitution of a tripartite committee to negotiate a new national minimum wage ahead of 2027.
The council said the measures were necessary to cushion workers from the rising cost of living and declining purchasing power.
It urged public servants across the three tiers of government to participate in the warning strike, saying workers, their dependants and vulnerable Nigerians were being severely affected by the economic situation.
“The economic and mental hardships are becoming unbearable and frustrating,” the council stated.
It also directed its leaders to intensify mobilisation ahead of the action, declaring that “the time to act and mobilise workers for the three-day warning strike is now”.
The warning strike comes amid continued increases in the cost of essential goods, transportation and other household expenses, which have put pressure on workers’ incomes.
The council maintained that the strike would proceed as scheduled and urged its members to circulate the notice nationwide.
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