FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DIFFICULTIES WITH MINIMUM WAGE

the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has warned that delay in agreement for the full implementation of the new minimum wage of N30,000 may put the Federal Government and states in a difficult position to pay because of the attendant backlog of arrears.

Although the FG in August commenced payment for federal civil servants on levels one to six with the promise to pay arrears dating back to April 18 when President Muhammadu Buhari signed the bill into law, it had yet to reach an agreement with organised labour on levels seven to 14.

Speaking when the executive of the Nigeria Labour Congress, led by the president, Ayuba Wabba, paid him a courtesy in Abuja on Thursday, the minister said a new government team would be constituted to open fresh negotiation with labour, promising that government was committed to pay workers based on what the present economic reality could afford.

He said, “It is important that we advise them that if they keep on piling debts, the FG might go into problem of payments, the state governments that have always not been regular with payments will have problem.”

The NLC president urged the minister to speed up processes to enable all workers benefit from the increment.