Finally, FG Reveals When Payment Of Minimum Wage Will Begin

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has revealed that the new minimum wage will kick-start from April 18, 2019, when it was signed into law.

This was made known to newsmen on Friday by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.

The Labour minister noted that whenever the new wage was to be implemented, it would be done in arrears to reflect the date Buhari signed it into law.

“It is a national law and no governor can say he will not pay. Issue of the national minimum wage is item 34 on the exclusive legislative list of the third schedule of the Nigerian constitution. Every state government is now owing workers if they have not started paying N30,000. We are now in a committee working out a new template with which we will adjust upward,” Ngige said.

He added that “Employers in the private sector adjusted immediately; but in the government sector, the bureaucracy and bottleneck of government are responsible for the delay. You know that you must budget for it. However, whenever the encumbrances are removed, we will pay with effect from 18th April, 2019.”