Former presidential aide and Arise Television’s Morning Show anchor, Dr Reuben Abati, has criticised the Federal Government’s N70,000 transportation allowance for public sector workers, describing the initiative as discriminatory.
According to him, it excludes employees in the private sector.
Abati argued that rising transportation costs and high fuel prices affect Nigerians across the public and the private sectors, questioning why the government’s intervention was restricted to public servants.
He also questioned the timing of the initiative, suggesting that it could be politically motivated.
The media personality made the remarks on Wednesday while discussing the Federal Government’s plan to provide transportation support to public workers amid the rising cost of living.
“So, federal government now said there is 70,000 naira transportation allowance for workers that are working in the public service.
“Well, I have an issue with that. Why is it only the public service? It’s not only organised labour that is affected in the public service, everybody is affected.
“Private sector, who is going to give us 70,000 naira transportation costs? We all go to the same market. No, we are all buying fuel at a very high cost,” Abati said.
Abati further faulted the government over its directive to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, arguing that the proposed measure had yet to produce tangible results for Nigerians.
“And the directive to NNPC, that has not even happened. We have not seen it, so we are all affected.
“So this is discriminatory,” he added.
DAILY POST reported that the Federal Government approved the N70,000 monthly transportation intervention following a conciliation meeting with the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Abuja on Tuesday.
Under the agreement, the allowance is scheduled to run for six months, beginning in November 2026, to cushion the impact of rising living costs on public service workers across all levels.
The agreement also covers outstanding allowances and other workers’ welfare issues.