Dr. Chris Ngige who is the Minister of Labour and Employment has pointed out that the Federal Government has approved a pay raise for civil servants in the country.
Ngige made this known on Wednesday night when he featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme which was made available to Africa Today News, New York.
The minister said the salary increment became important in view of the current economic reality of the country, however adding that President Muhammadu Buhari, is yet to approve the percentage used for the increment.
This is as he noted that the pay rise was already included in the 2023 budget and would take effect from 1st January, 2023.
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‘The Federal Government is looking at giving people in the public service a pay raise to take care of the increased cost of living.
‘In the Presidential Committee on Salaries, we have done something for the civil servants for those who are on Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure and some corporations, MDAs that are on that CONPSS. CONPSS is the salary scale for civil servants.
‘We put a percentage for the President to approve, we have approved it at our own committee level. We said it should take effect from January 1, 2023.’
Ngige, who was a member of the committee that negotiated the present minimum wage in 2019 from ₦18,000 to ₦30,000, noted that the country’s minimum wage should be reviewed every five years to fit the current standard of living.
He said the discussions would involve the public sector, private sector, and state governments, and according to the last bill passed should start a year before it officially takes effect.