The federal government of Nigeria has approved 25 per cent and 35 per cent salary increase for civil servants on the six Consolidated Salary Structures, an official said on Tuesday.
The salary increase is, however, separate from that being discussed at the ongoing negotiation between the government and labour unions following the removal of subsidy on petrol and the effect of the subsidy removal on Nigerians.
The Head of Press, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Emmanuel Njoku, announced the salary increase on Tuesday in Abuja.
“The federal government has approved an increase of between 25 per cent and 35 per cent in salary increase for Civil Servants on the remaining six Consolidated Salary Structures.
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“They include Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS) and Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS).
“Others are: Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure (CONICCS) and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS).
“The increases will take effect from January 1,” he said.
According to Mr Njoku, the federal government has also approved increases in pension of between 20 per cent and 28 per cent for pensioners on the Defined Benefits Scheme.
He said this was in respect of the above-mentioned six consolidated salary structures and would also take effect from 1 January.
He said the move was in line with the provisions of Section 173(3) of the Nigerian Constitution.
The official recalled that those in the tertiary education and health sectors had already received their increases.
“This involves Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS) for universities.
“For Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, it involves the Consolidated Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Educational Institutions Salary Structure (CONTEDISS).
“The Health Sector also benefitted through the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and Consolidated Health Sector Salary Structure (CONHESS),” Mr Njoku said.
Talks ongoing with NLC, TUC
The talks between the government and labour unions, NLC and TUC, for a substantial increase in the salaries of government workers are still ongoing.
PREMIUM TIMES reports that the two labour unions want the government to increase the minimum wage of workers from N30,000 to N615,000 following the economic impact of the removal of petrol subsidies.
Food prices as well as the prices of goods and services have doubled in many parts of the country since the removal of the subsidy last year.
Last Friday, the President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Festus Osifo, said the new minimum wage may not be announced on 1 May.
“The negotiation by the Tripartite Committee is still ongoing. If you remember, the TUC earlier submitted N447,000 as the new minimum wage but we have harmonised our figure with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
“It is now N615,000. Regarding the when for the new minimum wage, the committee is still working,” he said.
That committee has yet to conclude its task but the wage increase that would to be arrived at after negotiations is expected to be significantly higher than the 25-35 per cent increase for some categories of workers announced by the wages commission on Tuesday.
