Dr. Chris Ngige is a person respected by quite a number of people: his term as governor or Anambra state is story to behold any day but as Minister for Labor and productivity Ngige may well lose that respect if care is not taken. Recently he told the public that the government of Muhammadu Buhari will raise the minimum wage of salaries paid to workers in Nigeria. His pronouncement comes at a period when the Federal Government in Nigeria is finding it hard to pay salaries of workers which attracts a wage bill of over N165billion monthly!Ngige seems to have joined the ranks of Abuja politicians who do not know that Nigeria is in a recession and that people are really suffering to make ends meet.
The Minister said, “minimum wage is a constitutional issue and is in the exclusive list.
“The Nigerian workers are entitled to a review of their pay under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The various committees handling this matter are all working hard to realise the objective. Some are at the final stages of their work.”
He said the kind of minimum wage being worked out by the Buhari administration, would be enforceable by workers in both private and public sectors.
Ngige said that the new minimum wage would be couched in such a way that any employer of Labour in the country who would pay his workers below the minimum wage would be held liable.
Ngige has not been without controversy at his position. He told financial institutions in Nigeria not lay off workers but the banks in the country have laid off thousands of people months after the pronouncement. The country goes into a festivities this year with many people on the unemployment market which is not really good for the reputation of the Buhari Administration.
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