ICYMI: Government Starts N70,000 Minimum Wage Payments, Raising Salaries To N4 Trillion

ICYMI: Government Starts N70,000 Minimum Wage Payments, Raising Salaries To N4 Trillion....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

Seven months after negotiations concluded with a new minimum wage of N70,000, the Federal Government officially commenced payments on Thursday, implementing the salary adjustments for public servants across all levels of the federal civil service, according to The PUNCH. This means that over 1.2 million civil servants will receive the newly approved minimum wage starting this September…….CONTINUE READING 

A salary warrant signed by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, directed the initiation of these new payments to the Budget Office of the Federation. Documents obtained by The PUNCH from the National Income, Salaries, and Wages Commission detail the new annual earnings for civil servants under the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure.

The breakdown shows the following annual salaries by grade: level one officers will now earn N930,000, while level two officers will earn N934,160. Salaries for level three officers increase to N937,713, and level four officers will earn N950,243. Level five officers will make N973,123, level six will receive N1,041,786, and level seven will earn N1,277,667.

For higher ranks, grade level eight public servants will earn N1,479,276, level nine officers will make N1,641,226, and level ten will receive N1,806,041. Senior officers will see grade level 12 salaries rise to N2,007,152, grade level 13 to N2,182,637, and grade level 15 to N2,358,936. Grade level 16, reserved for top officials, will now earn N3,611,689, while grade level 17, for permanent secretaries, will receive N6,918,560.

A civil servant who wished to remain anonymous confirmed the new payment system, stating that some colleagues had begun receiving their salary alerts. According to the salary warrant, 1,236,824 workers from various Ministries, Departments, Agencies, the Armed Forces, Paramilitary, and tertiary institutions will benefit from the new wage.

The Committee on Consequential Adjustments in Salaries for civil servants had previously agreed to set the effective implementation date as July 29, 2024, when President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage into law. The National Salaries and Wages Commission explained that the July date was chosen as it coincided with the presidential signing of the bill.

The letter from the Accountant-General, dated September 24, 2024, indicated that the payment of the new minimum wage and adjustments for certain salary structures would begin this month. It was reported that N334,925,372,928.14 would cover the monthly costs for over 1.2 million workers, equating to an annual wage bill of N4.019 trillion.

In response to the wage implementation, the Organised Labour, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), urged other organizations to follow suit. NLC spokesperson Benson Upah and TUC deputy president Tommy Etim both advocated for swift adoption of the new wage across sectors.

However, some civil servants have expressed concerns that the wage increase falls short of addressing the economic challenges they face. A grade-level 12 officer remarked that the increase was inadequate considering the economic hardships over the past year, while pensioners in the Southwest called for a renegotiation of the minimum wage, demanding a monthly salary of N250,000 in light of current economic realities.

Stay connected via Google News

Follow us for the latest travel updates and guides.