Dr. Chris Ngige, has promised that President Muhammadu Buhari’s 30-member tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee will deliver a new national minimum wage before the end of 2018.
He said, “We had our inaugural meeting on December 14 and we did a framework for our work. We will finish our job before the third quarter of this year, but we may finish earlier.
“Minimum wage is a national matter and only the Federal Government can legislate on it. Labour matters and the issue of national minimum wage are in the exclusive list.
“President Buhari is monitoring it strictly, and I am monitoring it too. I wear a double cap as minister of labour, who is the regulator and also as the deputy chairman of the committee.
“We have state governors; one from each geopolitical zone, five ministers and the Head of Service in the committee. States will key into the new minimum wage when we are done because they are part of it.
“We will fix a minimum wage, but states can pay more than that. I give you an example, today minimum wage is N18,500, but Adams Oshiomhole was paying N25,000 before he left office.
“Minimum wage is just to set the baseline, but states can pay more.”
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