President Muhammadu Buhari has said negotiations with workers on the new National Minimum Wage is not over yet.
The President said this on Wednesday when he inaugurated the technical advisory committee on the implementation of the national minimum wage in Abuja.
Buhari, who named Economist and Financial Expert, Bismarck Rewane, as the head of the team, said there is no question about whether the National Minimum Wage will be reviewed upwards as he is committed to it.
He, however, added: “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.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
President Buhari said given the urgency of the situation, the committee has one month to submit its report.