Gov Fubara on edge as TUC advocates N200,000 minimum wage for Rivers workers, seeks collaboration

EMMANUEL NLEWEDUM, Port Harcourt

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Rivers State is advocating for a significant increase in the minimum wage of civil servants in the state, recommending a monthly salary of at least N200,000.

Speaking during a solidarity visit by the Defense for Human Rights and Democracy (DHRD) to the union’s Secretariat in Port Harcourt, TUC Chairman, Comrade Samuel Ogan, emphasized that Rivers State should be paying its workers a higher minimum wage, citing examples of private sector companies paying their cleaners N100,000 to N200,000 monthly.

He said, “There are some states that pay above that minimum wage. And that is my position as Chairman. River State should not be at that level. River State should be paying a minimum of 200,000 naira to the workers.

“I keep using the private sector as an example. If you walk into some of these offices that you call the private sector, they don’t earn as much as the states, they don’t get revenue as much as the states, but there, you have cleaners earning 100,000 naira and some 200,000.

“There’s more in River State, the State can do better and together with us, we can negotiate better, and we’ll help the government channel those monies rightly for the residents and the citizens of Rivers State.”

The TUC Chairman stressed the importance of regular negotiations between civil servants and the government, citing international labour practices, while commending the TUC President’s call for collective bargaining and opined that civil servants should be able to negotiate their pay every two years.

Ogan appealed to Governor Siminalayi Fubara to recognize the current TUC executive under his leadership and engage in dialogue to improve workers’ welfare.

He also urged the governor to act impartially and stabilize the TUC in Rivers State, stating that trade unionism should not be politicized.

“Elections held in Rivers State in October 2025 and after the election, the national body officially wrote to the Rivers State Governor, introducing the current executive of TUC Rivers State to the governor, and copied the Director General of DSS in Abuja. Copies of those letters have been submitted to the governor’s office and the office of the Head of Service has a copy of that letter as well.

“All we require is for the governor to respond to that letter by recognising it, and we begin to have dialogue on how best to move the plight of the workers and the state itself forward. And once he does that response, we (Rivers TUC) shouldn’t be where we are.

“For us, we don’t see what our brothers are doing as any crisis, because the TUC as a Trade Centre that has 38 registered affiliates, with 28 active unions, so, the Associations alone, or only one union can never be bigger than the TUC as a body,” he said.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the Defense for Human Rights and Democracy, DHRD, Comrade Clifford Solomon, said they were at the TUC Secretariat in solidarity with the Samuel Ogan-led administration, condemning attempts to form a parallel executive.

Solomon urged Governor Fubara to recognize the legitimate TUC leadership led by Comrade Samuel Ogan and address the issue permanently.

“I felt bad that some persons are trying to form a parallel government in Rivers TUC. So, I said, Defense for Human Rights and Democracy will not sit on the fence. We come open and tell the world that the Trade Union Council under the leadership of Comrade Samuel Ogan is the rightful executive of TUC in Rivers State.

“And I’m also calling on the Executive Governor of Rivers State not to take sides and as a matter of urgency call the other persons trying to cause disunity in the TUC, Rivers State, to order.”