New minimum wage: Confusion trails Ngiges statements
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he said that the ministers statement that the wage would no longer be paid in september amounted to double-speak on the matter1 chinyere bassey1 on may 30 ngige announced that the new national minimum wage would not be paid to workers by the end of september contrary to a previous announcement by the federal government1 the news agency of nigeria nan labour correspondent reports that ngiges announcement appears to have dampened the morale of workers who have been expecting a new wage in september1 nigeria currently operates a wage structure for civil servants described as one of the lowest in the world despite its position as africas top oil-bearing nation1 addressing newsmen in lagos the president of the ulc mr joe ajaero told ngige to clarify his statement to avoid creating tension among workers1 the united labour congress ulc on friday told labour and employment minister chris ngige to explain his double-speak on the planned new minimum wage to avoid confusion on the issue1 ajaero described the ministers statement as unfortunate saying that he should have consulted with members of the tripartite committee on the minimum wage before making an announcement on the wage1 we are not sure the stakeholders who are members of the committee were consulted and this is undemocratic and lacks due process1 our fear and worry is that the statement is laden with intentions1 ajaero said there was need to be sensitive to the plight of nigerian workers who had been facing immense hardships over the years1 the labour leader said it would not be good for any government official to sabotage the interest of workers vowing that the labour movement would not accept anything that would affect workers adversely1 he assured workers that labour would continue to put pressure on government to ensure that the committee submitted its report next month1