The Federal Government has
revealed that payment of the N30, 000 new wage started from April 18.
The date was when President
Muhammadu Buhari signed the Minimum Wage Amendment Act Bill into law.
The FG also declared that no
Governor in the 36 states of the Federation will renege on paying the new
N30,000 minimum wage.
Dr. Chris Ngige, the Minister of
Labour and Employment, gave the clarification, at the weekend during an
interactive session with newsmen in Abuja.
The Minister noted that a
committee is working out a new template for upward consequential adjustment for
those already earning above N30,000.
Ngige said, “It is a national law
and no governor can say he will not pay. (The) national minimum wage is Item 34
on the Exclusive Legislative List, of the Third Schedule of the 1999
Constitution, as amended.
“Issue of labour is also there
and not on the Concurrent List. If it is on the Concurrent List, then, they can
make their own state Assembly laws on that. Every state government is now owing
workers if they have not started paying N30,000.
“They (employers) are owing
workers, effective from 18th of April, a new minimum wage.
“We are now in a committee
working out a new template with which we will adjust upward the consequential
adjustment upstairs for those already earning above N30,000.
“The minimum wage is for the most
vulnerable down the ladder and that is the man on Grade Level 1, Step 1.
“So, you must consequentially
adjust for the man on Grade Level 2, Grade Level 3, Grade Level 4 and 5, because,
that man on GL 1 step 1 has over taken them with his new payment.
“That is what we refer to as
consequential adjustment. This consequential adjustment touches more the people
on the lower ladder and we are working it out. The negotiation is going to be
with the Joint Negotiating Council, at both the federal and at the state level.
“What we are trying to do now,
with the Salaries and Wages Commission is that we have a technical committee
working out what the federal government will do for their workers and advice
the state government, appropriately.
“In 2011, there was a mistake in
the consequential adjustment in some states, when they applied the principle of
percentage increase across board and they ran into trouble and were unable to
pay. What this N30,000 translates into is that there is a 67 percent increase.
“If a state government applies
the same 67 percent increase across board, there will be serious trouble. The
same with the federal government and when there is that trouble, there will be
trade dispute because the Principle of Ability to Pay will come in and the
International Labour Organisation encourages us to apply that principle in our
discussion.
“If I am unable to pay and my
workers know that I am unable to pay, we will sit down and agree on what I am
able to pay. So, there is a baseline now as no worker in Nigeria should earn
anything less than N30,000 provided that the establishment has more than 25
workers.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com