Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, says the federal government will soon make some pronouncements on salary increase for workers.
Ngige said this while speaking to state house correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on December 23.
The minister said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss issues concerning his ministry, including employment and productivity.
Asked if the issue of salary increase came up, he said the presidential committee on salaries is working with the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) on the matter.
“The commission is mandated by the act establishing them to fix salaries, wages, and emoluments in not only the public service,” he said.
“So, they have the matrix to do the evaluation. They are working with the presidential committee on salaries, chaired by the finance ministry and I am the co-chair, to look at the demands of the workers.
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“Outside this, I said discussions on that evaluation are going.”
On if a timeline has been fixed for implementation of a salary increase, Ngige said “as we enter the new year, the government will make some pronouncements in that direction”.
Speaking further, Ngige said 2022 has been a year of industrial disputes with the Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) going on strike, and threats from various unions, including the medical doctors’ association, demanding salary increase.
“Asking for wage increase can also be understandable because of what inflation had done in the economy and the attendant cost of living for people who have to be workers in the public sector,” he said.
“However, I’ve briefed him (Buhari). We are doing some review within the presidential committee on salaries, and discussions are ongoing.
“The doctors are discussing with the ministry of health; insurance people in the public sector are discussing, and there is a general calmness.
“Hopefully, within available resources, the government can do something in the coming year.”
