Nigerian President Approves N500 Million for Minimum Wage Committee

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has approved N500 million for the inauguration and funding of the 37-man Tripartite Committee on New National Minimum Wage.

The initial request was for a budget of N1.8 billion, but the letter titled “Request For Approval Of Funds And Inauguration Of The Tripartite Committee On National Minimum Wage” scaled down the budget to N1,000,000,000.00. The committee is expected to be ready by April 1, 2024, according to law.

The President instructed the committee to cut down their budget by 50% and start with the approved budget of N500 million. Former federal lawmaker Shehu Sani commented on the development via his X handle. The committee was inaugurated by Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima on January 30, 2024.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, stated that most of the governors in the Tripartite Committee On Minimum Wage were not paying the N30,000 minimum wage to civil servants in their states.

Ajaero argued that the Federal Government brought in those who were not compliant or compliant in breaches to form the bulk of the membership of the minimum wage committee from the state government. He also noted that there is a minimum wage law criminalizing non-compliance of the minimum wage in states like Zamfara and Borno and Bauchi.