ABUJA – (Federal Ministry of Labour & Employment Report) – The attention of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Nwabueze Ngige (Sen) has been drawn to the news item portraying that the Federal Government is reviewing the salaries of Public and Civil servants which was a fall out of his interaction with State House Correspondents after his recent audience with Mr President.
The publicity issued from the Press & Public Relations Unit of the Ministry on Friday 30th December 2022 indicated that the Minister wishes to clarify that the increase he talked about was on the REMUNERATIONS and EMOLUMENTS of affected workers, especially civil servants.
“The Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS) through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) received recommendations for review of allowances of many Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government. Because salary component is not being reviewed for now by the Committee, it addressed the allowances component of the requests, including the peculiar allowance for Federal Civil Servants amongst others,” the report mentioned.
“In Labour parlance as per payment for compensation for work done, REMUNERATION or EMOLUMENT is made up of salary component and earned allowance component. Therefore, the Federal Government through the PCS could not have engaged on the review of salaries without involving the workers through their Unions, represented by this two Labour Federation of workers in Nigeria – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC). Salary review or renegotiation is part of social dialogue and the product is usually a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), usually agreed to by both parties: employers and employees.”
The Minister inscribed that for the avoidance of doubt, it should be clear to the press corps that it is still work in progress and that the end-product of this review of allowances will be submitted to Mr President for consideration and final approval and that this was one of the Labour issues he briefed him on that day.
He expressed hope that this rightful step which the Federal Government is embarking upon on compassionate grounds without any prodding or threat to strike will help to cushion the debilitating effects of spiraling inflation, especially that which affects food and energy prices (Electricity and Petroleum products).
Chris Ngige reassured the Committee’s optimism that Mr President will receive and consider the recommendations before the end of the first quarter of 2023.
