By Damilare Adeleye
The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced that a new minimum wage will come to effect on April 1st, 2024.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed, said this during an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
By implication, the current minimum wage of N30,000 would expire at the end of March 2024.
It is understood that in the upcoming years, the government plans to spend N24.66 trillion on salaries for 2024, 2025, and 2026.
The decision follows the removal of the fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu in May 2023, after which the government agreed to pay N35,000 to each worker as a temporary measure.
Minister Mohammed also noted that the new wage is intended to replace the temporary relief provided after the fuel subsidy removal.
He said, “Certainly, there is a new wage regime that will come in on April 1, 2024. That is why these palliatives were targeted so they would cushion economic hardship before then. In our negotiation with Labour, we said that the wage issue was not something one could just fix. A committee that will also involve Labour itself will work on it.
“The committee is being constituted and we are talking to Labour about it. And by the time this current wage regime expires by the end of March, we will expect that a new wage will begin by April. It is in this wage regime that we will now have a proper salary structure for workers across the length and breadth of Nigeria. We expect that the private sector and state governors will also do the same.”
A top official of the NLC also corroborated that, saying the organised Labour had initiated talks with the government.
He said, “By April 1, 2024, the current minimum wage will expire. We have all agreed to set up a national wage negotiation committee, and that the committee should comprise all parties.”