Buhari inaugurates committee to examine N30,000 minimum wage proposal

The president inaugurated the committee at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday, January 9, 2019, with a directive to complete its deliberations and submit its report and recommendations within one month.

The 24-member committee will be headed by Bismarck Rewane, an economist and financial expert with Ben Akabueze serving as its secretary.

other members of the committee being experienced economists and administrators from the private sector working together with all the relevant officials in the government.

While speaking at the inauguration, President Buhari said a review of the national minimum wage is necessary as it was last done in 2011.

He noted that he's committed to ensuring that the minimum wage is reviewed upwards despite prevailing fiscal challenges especially experienced by some state governments.

The country's organised labour has been negotiating with the Buhari administration for over a year to increase the minimum wage for workers nationwide.

In November 2018, he received the recommendation of a tripartite committee he had set up in 2017 to propose a new minimum wage. The president expressed his commitment towards getting the recommendation passed by the National Assembly as soon as possible, with the new wage pegged at N30,000.

State governors have been the most vocal critics of the minimum wage increment as many have lamented that they cannot afford to pay the proposed N30,000 without having to resort to tough measures as drastic as a nationwide downsizing of the workforce.

Rewane's committee's main task would be to help the Federal and State governments avoid a fiscal crisis with the proposed new wage by advising on ways of funding an increase in the minimum wage, and the attendant wage adjustments, without having to resort to additional borrowings.

Members of the committee include a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Joseph Nnanna, Suleiman Barau, Dr Ayo Teriba, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, Mrs Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, Richard Egbule, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, Olusegun Adekunle, Dr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, Olajide Odewale, Mrs Ibukun Odusote and Dayo Apata.

Others are Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu, Mrs Aisha Hamad, Ahmed Idris, Dr Babatunde Fowler, Ms Patience Oniha, Dr Folarin Gbadebo-Smith, Dr Yemi Kale, Mamman Garba, Tunde Lawal and a representative of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF).

Read Buhari's full statement below:

ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE INAUGURATION OF A TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE ON WEDNESDAY, 9TH JANUARY 2019 AT THE PRESIDENTIAL VILLA, ABUJA

Protocols:

The last time Nigeria’s national minimum wage was reviewed was in 2011. It is therefore evident that a review is necessary, despite the prevailing fiscal challenges. This is why I constituted the Tripartite Committee of Government, Organized Private Sector and Labour to consider the National Minimum Wage and make recommendations to Government for its upward review.

2. That Committee has since submitted its report with some recommendations. We are currently working on the final steps that will lead to the submission of a National Minimum Wage Amendment Bill to the National Assembly.

3. I want to make it clear that there is no question about whether the National Minimum Wage will be reviewed upwards. I am committed to a review of the Minimum Wage.

4. Also, it is important to explain that even though the subject of a National Minimum Wage is in the Exclusive Legislative List, we have been meeting with the State Governors because it is imperative that the Federal Government carries the State Governments along in determining any upward review of the minimum wage for workers.

5. This is especially necessary considering the prevailing public sector revenue challenges, which have made it extremely difficult for some of the governments to pay workers as and when due.

6. As you know we, at the Federal level, have made adequate provision for the increase in the Minimum Wage in our 2019 Budget proposals which we submitted to the National Assembly. Therefore, we will be able to meet the additional costs that will be incurred in moving up all personnel who are currently earning below the new minimum wage.

7. However, we anticipate that after the new minimum wage has been passed into law we will be going into negotiations for salary review for all the workers who are already earning above the new minimum wage. It is therefore important that we are properly prepared to meet these demands.

8. We must therefore look at ways of implementing these consequential wage adjustments in a manner that does not have adverse effects on our national development plans, as laid out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). The ERGP sets appropriate targets for levels of Capital Expenditure, Public Debt, Inflation, Employment, etc. It is absolutely important that the implementation of a new minimum wage does not adversely affect these targets, and thereby erode the envisaged gains for the workers.

9. It is against this background that I have set up a Technical Committee to advise Government on how best to fund, in a sustained manner, the additional costs that will arise from the implementation of the consequential increases in salaries and allowances for workers currently earning above the new minimum wage.

10. The Technical Committee being inaugurated today will be chaired by an Economist and Financial Expert, Mr. Bismarck Rewane. Other members of the Committee are experienced economists and administrators from the private sector working together with all the relevant officials in the Government.

11. The Terms of Reference of the Committee are:

a. To develop, and advise government on how to successfully bring about a smooth implementation of impending wage increases;

b. Identify new revenue sources, as well as areas of existing expenditure from where some savings could be made in order to fund the wage increases without adversely impacting the nation’s development goals as set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan;

c. Propose a work plan and modalities for the implementation of the salary increases;

d. Any other suggestions that will assist in the implementation of this, and future wage increases.

12. Given the urgency of this exercise, the Committee is expected to complete its deliberations and submit its report and recommendations within one month today.

13. It is now my pleasure to formally inaugurate the Technical Advisory Committee on the Implementation of an Increase in the National Minimum Wage.

14. Thank you and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.