Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige

In what appears to be a sign of good things to come in President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure, the federal Government has just announced to workers that the implementation of the new minimum wage will soon take off.

But more exciting is the disclosure by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige that the federal government will arrears covering the period between when the President signed the bill into law and actual time of implementation.

Ngige made these disclosures while fielding questions on a live television programme on issues pertaining to the new minimum wage.

He announced that the Federal Government will, on Tuesday, May 28, 2019, in Abuja, inaugurate the N30,000 new national minimum wage implementation committee, almost one month after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the bill into law.

The Minister, however, did not state when government would start payment but said that arrears would be paid anytime implementation of the new wage began.

He said that there were still processes and procedures the new wage would undergo before the commencement of its implementation, even though it had been passed and signed into law.

“It is a whole process and the salary and wages commission will do its job before implementation,” the minister said.

He revealed that the committee was made of seven Ministers and the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, as Chairman.

He also said that those at the lowest cadre of employment whether in the public or private sector would earn N30,000 as the law provided.

He went on to say, the cadre of workers already earning above the minimum wage, there would be consequential adjustment from the top, adding that the relevant agency of government would soon issue a circular on the expected adjustments.