Nigeria’s Minimum Wage Increase ‘Delayed’ – September No Longer Feasible

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has disclosed that the country’s new national minimum wage may not materialise in September as earlier envisaged.

Speaking with newsmen on Tuesday, Ngige said his committee – established to look into the issue in 2017 – will only conclude its work in September.

After that, he explained, it will have to go to the government “for deliberation and approval”, at which point an executive bill will be sent to the National Assembly.

“The committee on the new National Minimum wage is expected to conclude its work by the end of September and present its report to the government for deliberation and approval before an executive bill is sent to the National Assembly on the issue”.

The minister, however, said that the issue of capacity to pay was also paramount in the deliberations on the minimum wage.

According to him, it is to get the input of all those concerned including state governments and the organised private sector that the committee embarked on zonal public hearing across the country.

The minister said further that in the course of the zonal public hearings, many state governments made different submissions ranging from N22,000 monthly to N58,000.

Nigeria’s minimum wage – currently set at 18,000 naira ($50; £37) a month – has not risen since 2011.

Meanwhile, South Africa has just set its first minimum wage at $1.59 an hour, or $278 a month.

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