…As N-power portal reopens after May 29
From Magnus Eze, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) will next Wednesday deliberate on the recommendations of the joint-committee report on new national minimum wage.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who disclosed this in an interview in Abuja yesterday, said the N-power portal, which had been shut after the enrolment of the initial beneficiaries would be reopened immediately after the 2nd anniversary of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for the second phase of the social security net programme.
He said that if the FEC adopts the recommendations of the 29-member committee, which was also reviewed by a 16-man technical committee, the council, headed by Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, would go ahead to set up a new national minimum wage committee.
Ngige explained that the new minimum wage that would be released this time round would be generally acceptable since governors, private sector employers of labour, including Nigerian Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and other stakeholders would be fully involved.
“The new minimum wage will not be like the past because everybody will be involved including the governors, NECA, which is the umbrella body of employers; when they come with MAN, NASSI, we must come out with an acceptable agreement,” he stated. Giving insight into the recommendations of the joint-committee report, the Minister said they recommended that a governor would represent each of the six geopolitical zones in the committee that would be set up by FEC to fix new national minimum wage.
The recommendations of such committee, according to him, will be taken to the National Assembly in form of a bill where public hearings would be held before a new National Minimum Wage Act is passed.