The director-general, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, says the 2018 budget, at present, cannot accommodate the minimum wage as proposed by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). He said the federal government might go for a supplementary budget to implement the new minimum wage if approved by the law.
Akabueze disclosed this at the Media and CSOs Dialogue on the 2018 budget on Wednesday in Abuja. "When an agreement is reached, the financial implication would be quantified and if need be, there would be a supplementary budget.“The only provision that exists is what we call public service wage adjustment, but that is barely over N40bn provided on that line, and that may not be enough to cater for any adjustments that may be necessary".
President Muhammadu Buhari had, in November 2017, inaugurated a 30-man tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee, calling on the members to come up with a fair and decent wage for Nigerian workers. Buhari said the re-negotiation of a new national minimum wage had become imperative because the existing minimum wage instrument had since expired. "We all know that the last minimum wage instrument has expired.
"It is in recognition of the need to ensure a fair and decent living wage that the Federal Government put in motion necessary mechanisms so that we can, today, inaugurate this large committee with a big task ahead of you. "You are all aware that during the period following the increase in petrol pump price in May 2016, a technical committee was established to examine and make recommendations to government". Buhari, at the time, said the measures to be adopted would cushion the envisaged painful effects of the increase on workers and the Nigerian populace at large.
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