Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has declared that the implementation of the new minimum wage will begin in the third quarter of 2018.
Ngige made this known in Abuja on Monday while speaking at the 40th-anniversary celebration of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) revealing that the negotiation committee for the new minimum wage for workers has received memoranda from all the stakeholders involved in the process.
“Well, we all know the economic situation of the country as of today. The negotiation committee has members from all the tripartite bodies, which means the government cannot force its way,” he said.
“The committee has received memoranda from all the critical stakeholders and should begin the implementation of a new minimum wage in the third quarter of this year.”
It will be recalled that the labour union made a proposal that the minimum wage be revised upwards to N56, 000 as the current minimum wage of N18, 000 came into effect in 2011.
The federal government had earlier said that it would prepare a supplementary budget to accommodate the costs of increased salaries when the new minimum wage is approved and formed a 30-man Committee, headed by Ama Pepple, a former Head of Service of the Federation (HoS) to work out modalities for a new minimum wage structure.
