FG makes U-turn, says no salary increment

The Federal Government, on Friday said it was not planning any upward review of salaries for civil servants as reported in some national dailies a few days ago, saying only some “peculiar allowances” are being reviewed.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who made this clarification in a statement by the spokesman of the ministry, Olajide Oshundun, stressed that salary component of workers were not being reviewed.

Ngige, while briefing State House correspondents on Tuesday, had said the Presidential Committee on Salaries was doing a review and was expected to come up with salary adjustment in the New Year.

But the minister on Friday said Ngige said the increase he talked about was on the remuneration and emoluments of the affected workers especially the civil servants, adding it is still work in progress.

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He noted that the end-product of the review of allowances would be submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for consideration and final approval and that this was one of the Labour issues he briefed the President on, that day.

“It’s hoped that this rightful step which the Federal Government had embarked upon on compassionate grounds without any prodding or threat to strike will help to cushion the debilitating effects of spiraling inflation especially that which affects food and energy prices (Electricity and Petroleum product),” he said

The statement added, “The Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS) through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) received recommendations for review of allowances of many Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.

“Because salary component is not being reviewed for now by the committee, it addressed the allowances component of the requests including the peculiar allowance for Federal Civil Servants amongst others.

“In Labour parlance as par payment for compensation for work done, REMUNERATION or EMOLUMENT is made up of salary component and earned allowance component.

“Therefore, the Federal Government through the PCS could not have engaged on the review of salaries without involving the workers through their unions, represented by these two Labour federation of workers in Nigeria – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), salary review or renegotiation is part of social dialogue and the product is usually a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) usually agreed to by both parties – employers and employees.”