A 20-man committee comprising of government officials and organised labour has been inaugurated for salaries adjustment of the new minimum wage.
BOSS Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, has inaugurated the committee to negotiate the consequential adjustment in salaries arising from the new minimum wage.
The committee is to be chaired by the head of the Civil Service of the Federation with Mustapha as the alternate chair.
The committee has to complete its assignment in four weeks.
Members of the committee from the side of government include ministers of Labour and employment, minister of finance, minister of budget and national planning, minister of health, minister of education, attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, director general, Budget Office of the Federation, secretary, Federal Judicial Service Commission, secretary, National Assembly Service Commission, and chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission who is to serve as secretary of the committee.
On the side of the trade unions, 10 representatives have been nominated by the Joint National Public Service Negotiation Council as members of the committee.
The primary mandate of the committee will be to negotiate the consequential adjustment in salaries arising from the new national minimum wage.
“I have no doubt in my mind that you have abundant literature, reports and other materials to help this assignment,” Mustapha told the members during the inauguration.
According to him, “It is expected that the Committee will work assiduously to complete the assignment.
“I, urge the Committee to amicably consider the issue of relativity and consequential adjustment with thoroughness, bearing in mind the welfare of the nation’s workforce vis-à-vis the current economic reality.”
The secretary to the government of the federation also said that “It is in fulfilment of Mr. President’s commitment to issues concerning the welfare of Nigerian workers that he inaugurated the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage on 27th November, 2017.
“The President at the inauguration of that Committee acknowledged that the Nigerian Worker, like his counterparts all over the world, remain vital to the growth and development of modern nations and underscored the need to ensure a fair and decent living wage for workers, anchored on the principle of social justice and equity.”
The tripartite committee no doubt was painstaking in its assignment. Members met with various stakeholders and interest groups, visited every part of the Country, holistically considered the state of the economy and finally came up with its recommendation of N30,000.00 only as the new National Minimum Wage.
To further demonstrate Mr. President’s unwavering commitments to the welfare of all Nigerian workers, he signed into law, the new National Minimum Wage bill which recommended N30,000.00.
The outcome of the Tripartite Committee’s assignment is the reasons the committee was inaugurated.
“The President, out of a sense of fiscal responsibility and in seeking to use the budget as a tool for economic development, considered it necessary to appoint a Presidential Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) to advise on revenue optimization and a seamless implementation of the new wage and its consequential cost.
“I must add that Mr. President emphasized to that technical advisory committee to evolve ways of sustaining the new minimum wage in a manner that would guarantee all existing jobs. The Committee had also completed its assignment and submitted its report.
“It is important to reiterate the President’s remarks at the signing of the new National Minimum Wage Act, 2019 that the signing of the Act would pave way for the constitution of another Committee to negotiate the issue of relativity/consequential adjustment arising from the new National Minimum Wage of N30,000.00 (Thirty Thousand Naira) only, with the relevant Labour Unions. The purpose of this gathering is therefore to achieve that objective,” he said.