The federal government, through the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) has commenced a process for the review of the National Minimum Wage.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by the commission’s Head of Public Affairs, Emmanuel Njoku, noting that as part of the process to review the minimum wage, which would be due in 2024, series of meetings and trainings have been held towards a nationwide monitoring of the Minimum Wage Act 2019.
Njoku explained that the monitoring, which is expected to begin on January 23, would help ascertain the compliance level of public and private employers and organisations.
He further revealed that among other things, the monitoring team will confirm if employers keep adequate records of wage and conditions of service of employees.
“The exercise will enlighten the public and private employers and organisations on the economic benefits in adhering to the payment of the National Minimum Wage.”
“It will also help in obtaining baseline data on remuneration policies and practices of private sector organisations to enrich the commission’s data bank on staff compensation.”
“The monitoring exercise will cover the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory.”
Njoku said the monitoring team for the exercise would be drawn from key stakeholders including the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and Ministry of Finance and National Planning.
According to him, other stakeholders include the Head of Service of the Federation, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Budget Office of the Federation and National Bureau of Statistics.
He, therefore, urged all federal, state, and local government ministries, departments and agencies, including government-owned enterprises, private sector establishments and labour unions to cooperate with the monitoring officers.
