Federal Government set to review minimum wage in Nigeria

There is some good news for government workers in Nigeria as the government has finally put plans in motion to set up a tripartite committee to deliberate on a new minimum wage for workers in the country. Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, the General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the FG had written them to forward a list of its representatives to the committee on minimum wage. According to Punch, Ozo-Eson said: “A week ago, we were informed in a letter that the government has now agreed on a chairman and that we should send our list and we did that immediately. “What we are waiting for now is the inauguration of that committee so that it can do its work and we hope that is something that will happen without further delay.” It was also said that the committee is expected to include representatives of the government, NLC and employers.

However, Ozo-Eson noted that what Osinbajo said had nothing to do with the agitation for a new minimum wage in the country, noting that the vice president was specifically talking about wages in the public sector. “From my reading of what the vice president said, I think he was referring to wages in the public sector. He was saying rather than consider a review of all wages in the public sector, the
government would likely consider specific parastatals. “That has nothing to do with the agitation or the demand for a new minimum wage. The minimum wage as it stands is excessively eroded in value. It cannot be regarded as a living wage. The demand for the committee to start work on the minimum wage is completely on course. We expect that process to start as soon as possible,” the NLC scribe said. 

We gathered that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who was speaking at an interactive session with newsmen in his office, revealed that government has appointed Chairman of National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) as committee secretary.