New minimum wage effective from April 18 – Ngige

The new minimum wage bill signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari takes effect from April 18, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, ha.

According to the minister, who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Friday, the new wage will be paid in arrears effective from April 18 when President Buhari signed the bill into law.

Ngige also said that it is a must for state governors to pay the new wage as the law is a national law that is binding on them.

While speaking with journalists in Abuja on Friday, Ngige said whenever the new wage was to be implemented, it would be done in arrears to reflect the date it was signed by Buhari.

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He said: “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.”

The minister also revealed that workers in the private sector had begun enjoying the new pay package.

“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″, Ngige said.

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