N465bn Transport Allowance: Why Nigerian Workers Are Still Crying

Photo: The Punch

The Math Behind N465 Billion That Will Make You Shake Your Head

So the Federal Government has come out to say they are going to spend N465 billion on transport allowance for workers — six months of financial 'relief' meant to cushion the suffering that has followed the removal of fuel subsidy. Sounds like big money, abi? That's what they want you to think. But when you break it down, ehn, the story becomes something else entirely.

Nigeria has roughly 1.2 million federal government workers on the payroll. Now divide N465 billion by 1.2 million workers, then divide again by six months. You're looking at approximately N64,583 per worker per month. On the surface, that sounds like something. But let's be real with ourselves — is that number enough to cover what the average civil servant is spending just to get to work and back every single day?

Let's Talk About the Real Cost of Getting to Work in Nigeria

Abuja worker wey dey live in Kubwa and work on the Island — sorry, I mean in the city center — is spending anywhere from N1,500 to N3,000 daily on transport alone. That's N30,000 to N60,000 every month, and we haven't even touched food, rent, school fees, or light bill. In Lagos? Don't even let us start. A worker living in Ikorodu and working on the Island is practically doing a daily pilgrimage. We are talking about N2,500 to N5,000 every single day. Do the maths yourself.

Even in smaller cities like Benin, Kaduna, or Port Harcourt, the cost of moving around has more than doubled since the subsidy was removed. Okada fare don go up. Bus fare don go up. Keke fare don go up. Everything has gone up except the salary of the average civil servant. So when government says N64,000 per month for six months, the question is: which transport are they calculating?

TUC Has Entered the Chat — And They Are Not Happy

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria has flat-out rejected this arrangement, and honestly, can you blame them? The TUC's position is that this transport allowance deal is not a genuine response to the suffering of Nigerian workers — it is more like a band-aid on a bullet wound. Their argument is simple: the cost of living has exploded, salaries have remained stagnant, and a temporary six-month allowance does not address the root cause of worker hardship.

Think about it this way. If you have a leaking roof and someone gives you a bucket to catch the water for six months, have they actually fixed your problem? That's essentially what TUC is saying. They want a comprehensive wage review — a new national minimum wage that actually reflects current economic realities, not a short-term payment that will expire before the suffering does.

The TUC has been pushing for a new minimum wage that many labour analysts say should be at least N500,000 to N600,000 per month given the current inflation rate, which has been hovering around 28 to 30 percent. The government and labour have been going back and forth on this for months, and this transport allowance looks like an attempt to buy time rather than solve the problem.

The Everyday Worker Is the One Carrying the Cross

Let's not forget who we are really talking about here. We are talking about the nurse in a general hospital who leaves home before 5am to beat traffic. The junior civil servant who hasn't received a promotion in eight years but still shows up every day. The security guard who works double shifts because one salary cannot feed his family. These are the people at the center of this conversation, and they deserve better than a temporary fix.

Since the fuel subsidy was removed in May 2023, the price of petrol has gone from around N185 per liter to over N600 in many parts of the country. That one decision triggered a chain reaction — transport costs up, food prices up, electricity tariff up — everything went up. Electricity was hiked by 300 percent for certain categories of users. The poor Nigerian worker has been absorbing shock after shock after shock.

• Petrol price: Jumped from N185 to over N600 per litre
• Food inflation: Estimated at over 35% as of early 2024
• Transport costs: Increased by 100-200% in most Nigerian cities
• Electricity tariff: Hiked by up to 300% for Band A customers

N465 Billion — Big Number, Small Impact

Here is another angle that is worth considering. N465 billion sounds like an enormous sum. And it is — in absolute terms. But when you understand that Nigeria's 2024 budget is over N28 trillion, that N465 billion represents less than 2% of total government spending for the year. Meanwhile, the government's debt servicing allocation alone is over N8 trillion. So we are spending nearly 20 times more on paying interest on loans than on supporting the welfare of workers who keep government services running. Something is clearly wrong with that picture.

Critics have also pointed out that this money, if not properly tracked, could become another opportunity for ghost workers to feast. Nigeria has had a serious problem with ghost workers on the government payroll — people who do not exist but whose salaries are collected by corrupt officials. The government says it has cleaned up the payroll, but Labour unions want transparency. They want to see the breakdown of how this N465 billion will be distributed and who exactly is benefiting.

What Needs to Happen Now

The bottom line is this: Nigerian workers are not asking for the moon. They are asking to be able to afford a plate of rice after a hard day's work. They are asking that their salary can cover basic transportation without leaving them in debt. The TUC's rejection of this transport allowance is not just noise — it is a signal that the government needs to come back to the table with something more substantial.

A new national minimum wage negotiation needs to conclude urgently. The tripartite committee — government, employers, and labour — must stop dancing around the figures and agree on something that reflects what it actually costs to live in Nigeria in 2024. Anything short of that is just managing poverty instead of fighting it.

Until then, that civil servant will keep waking up before dawn, spending half their salary on transport, eating one meal a day, and wondering if things will ever get better. Government must do better. Full stop.