Seven months after negotiations concluded with the new N70,000 minimum wage, the Federal Government began disbursing the updated salary and related adjustments to public servants across all levels of the federal civil service on Thursday.
This update affects over 1.2 million civil servants who will now receive the newly approved wage in their September pay. A warrant signed by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, and sent to the Budget Office, authorized the commencement of these payments.
Documents from the National Income, Salaries and Wages Commission outlined the annual earnings of civil servants under the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS) based on their cadre. For example, a Grade Level 1 officer will now earn N930,000 annually, while a Grade Level 17 officer, reserved for permanent secretaries, will receive N6,918,560 per year.
The new salary adjustments reflect various increments across all levels, with civil servants on steps 2 through 15 seeing progressive increases in their earnings. For instance, a Grade 1 officer at Step 2 will now earn N935,585, and by Step 15, they will make N1,008,209 per annum.
The Director of Press at the Office of the Accountant-General, Bawa Mokwa, confirmed that the new minimum wage payment began on Thursday, with some civil servants already seeing payment notifications. However, there is no update yet on the payment of arrears.
The warrant signed by the Accountant-General indicated that the September salary requests for Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Armed Forces, Paramilitary, and tertiary institutions would follow the new wage structure. In total, the government will spend N334.9 billion monthly to cover these salaries, equating to N4.019 trillion annually.
President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage bill into law on July 29, 2024, after discussions with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC). The wage commission clarified that the implementation date of July 29 was set to align with when the law was enacted.
While the NLC and TUC have praised the government’s implementation of the new wage, they urge other entities to adopt it as well. However, some civil servants have expressed dissatisfaction, arguing that the salary increase is insufficient in light of rising economic hardships. A Grade Level 12 officer noted, “This salary increase is too small compared to the challenges we’ve faced over the past year.”
Pensioners in the Southwest, represented by the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), have insisted that the N70,000 minimum wage is inadequate and called for a renegotiation, aiming for a monthly minimum wage of N250,000 due to soaring living costs.
The private sector, however, voiced concerns about the government’s directive for all companies to comply with the N70,000 minimum wage, with Dr. Ikenna Nwosu of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group pointing out that not all sectors, such as petty traders or small-scale businesses, can afford to meet this mandate. Nwosu emphasized that the Federal Government lacks the authority to legislate minimum wage for private businesses without proper legal frameworks.
