The federal government told civil servants they'd finally get their 40 percent allowance. Then the government office that hosted the meeting said it never approved anything.

Here's what happened on Tuesday. The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Esther Walson-Jack, convened a meeting with labour leaders. The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission formally presented a circular. Civil servants were told the 40 percent peculiar allowance they'd been waiting for since July 2024 was being implemented, backdated to May 1. A strike scheduled for May 21 was called off. Union leaders described it as a major victory.

Here's what happened next. The Office of the Head of the Civil Service issued a statement. It said the Tuesday meeting was strictly "interventionist and conciliatory." It said the OHCSF neither approved nor conveyed approval of any allowance to any labour union. It said the actual circular had been issued by the NSIWC on April 23. It said the Head of Service announced the government's approval of a welfare package back on April 24, which included an upward review of peculiar allowances.

So the allowance exists, was announced in April, and Tuesday was a meeting to discuss implementation. The problem is that workers had been demanding an unambiguous implementation circular since April. They hadn't received one. That's why they threatened to strike on May 21. Tuesday's meeting produced the circular. Now the government says the circular wasn't an approval of anything new.

Federal civil servants have been living on a salary structure that hasn't kept up with two years of inflation since the minimum wage changed in 2024. The N70,000 minimum wage was itself an inadequate response to what living in Nigeria actually costs in 2026. The 40 percent allowance attached to it was meant to close some of the gap. Whether that allowance has now been approved, clarified, confirmed, or backdated to when it was already approved in April depends on which government statement you read.

Workers are still waiting to see the money in their accounts. That's the test that matters.