By Chinedu Echianu
The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has called on the Federal Government to take decisive steps to strengthen the naira, arguing that the currency remains grossly undervalued despite its recent relative stability against the US dollar.
TUC President, Engr. Festus Osifo, made the call in Abuja at a world press conference, where he also urged the government to fast-track the establishment of state police and ensure a permanent resolution of the ongoing industrial dispute in the aviation sector.
Osifo said although the naira had strengthened from about N1,700-N1,800 to the dollar when the TUC began its advocacy in 2024 to around N1,380 currently, the union still considered the exchange rate excessively high.
He argued that the fair value of the naira, based on purchasing power parity and assessments attributed to international economic institutions and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), should be between N900 and N1,000 to the dollar.
“We still believe that our Naira is still undervalued. It is not overvalued, but undervalued,” Osifo said.
“We strongly believe that the fair value of our Naira using purchasing power parity could be somewhere around 900 Naira, maximum 1,000 Naira to a dollar.”
According to him, a stronger naira would help reduce inflation and bring down the cost of goods and services, particularly because the exchange rate component is embedded in virtually every aspect of the Nigerian economy.
He said the impact of currency depreciation had been particularly harsh on workers because the prices of goods had adjusted significantly to exchange-rate movements while workers’ incomes had not received comparable increases.
Osifo said the failure to fully implement consequential adjustments following the new minimum wage had further weakened workers’ purchasing power.
He explained that while imported products directly reflected the exchange rate, locally produced goods were also affected because key inputs such as fertiliser were either imported or priced with reference to the dollar.
The TUC president therefore urged the government to act decisively to strengthen the naira, saying the benefits would eventually be reflected in inflation and the prices of goods in the market.
TUC Demands Fast-Track Passage of State Police Bill
On insecurity, Osifo called on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to fast-track legislation establishing state police, arguing that the security needs of the majority of Nigerians should not be sacrificed because of fears that politicians could misuse state-controlled security institutions.
He said the argument that state police should not be introduced ahead of the 2027 elections was not sufficient justification for delaying the reform.
According to him, Nigerian politicians constitute less than 0.1 per cent of the country’s population, and their interests should not outweigh the security needs of the overwhelming majority.
“We think that the time to implement state police is now,” he said, urging the government to fast-track the bill through the National Assembly and subsequently secure the required support from the states.
Osifo argued that the current political configuration, with the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) controlling the Federal Government and holding a majority in the National Assembly, provided an opportunity to move the legislation through the constitutional process.
He also called for greater deployment of technology and modern equipment to tackle insecurity, describing the security situation as requiring urgent and exceptional attention.
TUC Backs Aviation Workers’ Strike, Demands Resolution
On the ongoing industrial action in the aviation sector, the TUC president said the union fully supported its affiliate, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), and urged the parties to address the underlying issues rather than merely negotiate an end to the strike.
Osifo said one of the major grievances involved alleged refusal by some airlines to allow workers to organise and belong to trade unions.
He described the right to organise as a fundamental labour right protected by international labour standards and Nigerian law.
The TUC leader also alleged that airlines had failed to remit a five per cent ticket charge meant for workers, putting the outstanding amount at about N25 billion.
He said the TUC had been involved in efforts to broker an amicable resolution of the dispute but warned that simply persuading the unions to suspend the strike without addressing the underlying grievances could lead to another industrial action.
“It is better we go to the root cause and resolve the issues once and for all,” Osifo said.
He said the union was particularly concerned about the disruption caused by the strike to air travel, noting that flights from Abuja and Lagos had been affected.
The TUC president also called on the government to sustain measures aimed at improving food availability, arguing that insecurity had prevented farmers from returning to their farms and that food imports should not be discontinued until domestic production and supply had sufficiently recovered.
Osifo further called for a restructuring of government ownership in the country’s refineries, advocating a model in which government would retain a maximum 49 per cent stake while competent private investors would hold the majority share.
He said such an arrangement would reduce political interference and bring commercial considerations into the management of the refineries.
The TUC also commended the Department of State Services (DSS) for recent arrests of suspected terrorists and bandits, urging the security agency to sustain its efforts and ensure that suspects are prosecuted.
Osifo equally commended the Federal Government for increasing military salaries by between 50 and 80 per cent, but called for similar improvements across the wider Nigerian workforce.
