Buhari’s position on minimum wage this year
Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has said President Muhammadu Buhari is itching to give Nigerian workers an enhanced pay package that will be acceptable to all stakeholders in 2018.
Ngige told journalists in a chat at Ifitedunu, Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State on Sunday.
The National Tripartite Committee set up by President Buhari on minimum wage, he said, has been working, and may finish up by the third quarter of this year.
“We had our inaugural meeting on December 14 and we did a framework for our work. We will finish our job before the third quarter of this year, but we may finish earlier.
“Minimum wage is a national matter and only the Federal Government can legislate on it. Labour matters and the issue of national minimum wage are in the exclusive list.
“President Buhari is monitoring it strictly, and I am monitoring it too. I wear a double cap as minister of labour, who is the regulator and also as the deputy chairman of the committee.”
The committee comprises the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, representatives of the Nigerian workers, and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Assembly.
“We have state governors; one from each geopolitical zone, five ministers and the Head of Service in the committee. States will key into the new minimum wage when we are done because they are part of it.
“We will fix a minimum wage, but states can pay more than that. I give you an example, today minimum wage is N18,500, but Adams Oshiomhole was paying N25,000 before he left office.
“Minimum wage is just to set the baseline, but states can pay more.”
Ngige said he would not reveal what the minimum take-home will liik like, but that he would rather table it before the committee and back it up “with productivity indices.”
He stressed that one of the cardinal principle of negotiating wages as stipulated by the International Labour Organisation is ability to pay.
The Nigerian labour have been comparing workers’ salaries to politicians in Nigeria, claiming the political class, especially the federal lawmakers are the highest paid in the world.