The federal government has said that it will begin the process of reviewing the national minimum wage on January 23.
This was made known by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) on Sunday, January 15.
The spokesperson of NSIWC, Emmanuel Njoku, while confirming the development, said that the commission had held a series of training and meetings in preparation for nationwide monitoring of the act.
“The exercise will enlighten the public and private employers and organisations on the economic benefits of adhering to the payment of the national minimum wage,” Njoku said.
“It will also help in obtaining baseline data on remuneration policies and practices of private sector organisations to enrich the commission’s data bank on staff compensation.
“The monitoring exercise will cover the 36 states of the federation including the federal capital territory (FCT),” he added.
Njoku also noted that the monitoring team for the exercise would be drawn from key stakeholders including the ministry of labour and employment, and ministry of finance and national planning.
He added that other stakeholders will include head of service of the federation, office of the accountant-general of the federation, budget office of the federation, and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), The Cable reports.
The spokesperson called on federal, state and local government ministries, departments and agencies, including government-owned enterprises, private sector establishments and labour unions to cooperate with the monitoring officers.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2019, signed the minimum wage act that approved N30,000 for both federal and state workers in 2019.
However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in October 2021, called on the federal government to look into reviewing the current minimum wage.
Ayuba Wabba, NLC president, noted that, “N30,000 cannot even buy a bag of rice, and we know how the cost of goods or services has gone up.
“In fact, the worst thing is that when you retire, you have to struggle to get your benefits.”
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