Nigerian workers have confirmed the receipt of the Federal Government’s new minimum wage of N70,000. This was disclosed in separate statements by Benson Upah, spokesperson of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and Tommy Etim, Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Thursday.
Upah commended the Federal Government’s action and encouraged other establishments across the country to follow suit by adopting the new wage structure. The confirmation follows an exclusive report indicating that the government had commenced the payment of the new minimum wage.
“Yes, I think so. We ask other entities to emulate this example”, he said.
Similarly, TUC’s Etim said, “FG’s committee on consequential adjustments already released a template, so, no one has any moral ground to delay the payment of the minimum wage. We now advise that all other parties follow suit and commence the payment of the new minimum wage.”
A civil servant working in the office of the Head of Civil Service, who is not authorized to speak, also confirmed that he has received a new minimum wage payment for September 2024.
“I got an alert around 2 pm on Thursday. I am hoping the arrears will come too”, he told DAILY POST.
Some of the federal workers confirmed that they received an additional N40,000 to their previous salary, as consequential adjustment.
The implication meant that over 1.2 million workers under the federal government’s payment have begun to receive payment of the new minimum wage.
On Tuesday Chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta, confirmed that the government has approved the upward review of the consolidated public service salary structure, CONPSS in line with the Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2024.
This followed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of N70,000 new Minimum wage on July 18, 2024.
Tinubu’s approval was followed by the Senate passage of the new minimum wage bill into law.
The N70,000 minimum wage was a 100 percent pay rise from the N30,000 paid under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
Meanwhile, the payment rise implementation for Nigerian workers came at the same time prices of goods and services had hit the rooftops as Headline and Food Inflation stood at 32.15 and 37.52 percent in August 2024.
