The Presidency has thrown the issue of minimum wage to Nigeria’s civil servants and workers in other sectors to employers of labour, based on ‘ability’ to pay.
A statement by the senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, defined the proper meaning of minimum wage and concluded: “employers, whether in Private or Public Sector, can pay more than the National Minimum Wage based on “ability to pay.”
According to Garba Shehu, minimum mage may be understood to mean the minimum sum payable to a worker for work performed or services rendered, within a given period, whether calculated on the basis of time or output.
He explained that such might not be reduced either by individual or collective agreement, which is guaranteed by law and which may be fixed in such a way as to cover the minimum needs of the worker and his or her family, “in the light of national economic and social considerations that should be taken into account in determining their rates.
“In practice, National Minimum Wage in Nigeria is a conglomeration of total remuneration due to a worker and does not refer to only the basic wage.
“In other words, National Minimum Wage is inclusive of the basic pay and any other allowance due to a worker, and is hence, his or her remuneration.”
