N70,000 Minimum Wage: FG Begins Payment as National Wage Bill Rises to N4tn

The Federal Government has started implementing the N70,000 minimum wage increase, pushing the national wage bill to N4 trillion. Learn more about the impact of this salary adjustment on civil servants and the economy.

Seven months after initiating negotiations that culminated in the establishment of N70,000 as the new minimum wage, the Federal Government commenced the disbursement of the revised salary and its consequential adjustments to public servants at all tiers of the federal civil service on Thursday, as reported by OBASANJONEWS.

This development signifies that over 1.2 million civil servants on the Federal Government’s payroll will receive the newly sanctioned minimum wage in September.

A warrant for this month’s salary, signed by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, and directed to the Budget Office of the Federation, authorized the initiation of the new payment.

Documents obtained by OBASANJONEWS from the National Income, Salaries and Wages Commission outlined the earnings for civil servants under the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure by cadre.

The breakdown indicates that officers at level one will now earn N930,000 annually, while those at level two will receive N934,160. The salary for level three officers has increased to N937,713, and grade level four officers will now earn N950,243.

Grade level five officers will receive N973,123, level six will earn N1,041,786 annually, and level seven will be compensated with N1,277,667.

In addition, grade level eight public servants will now earn N1,479,276, level nine officers will receive N1,641,226 annually, and level ten will earn N1,806,041.

For senior-level officers, the document indicates that grade level 12 officers will now earn N2,007,152 annually following the approval of the consequential adjustments.

Grade level 13 officials will receive N2,182,637, level 15 officials will earn N2,358,936, and public servants at level 16 will be compensated with N3,611,689 annually.

Grade level 17 officers, a position designated for permanent secretaries and the highest rank within the civil service, will now earn N6,918,560.

One of our correspondents noted that for each level, a specific salary allocation for civil servants is established, which is subject to annual adjustments prior to their advancement to the subsequent level.

For example, a public servant at grade one, step two, will receive a salary of N935,585, while those at step three will earn N941,173, N946,859 at step four, N952,345 at step five, N957,931 at step six, N963,518 at step seven, N969,104 at step eight, N974,690 at step nine, N980,270 at step ten, N985,863 at step eleven, N991,449 at step twelve, N997,035 at step thirteen, N1,002,621 at step fourteen, and N1,008,209 at step fifteen.

In an interview, Bawa Mokwa, the Director of Press at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, confirmed, “The new minimum wage payments will commence today (Thursday) for this month.

“You may inquire with civil servants regarding when they begin receiving alerts. You can verify that. There is currently no information regarding arrears payments. I am not aware of that. However, payments will initiate this month.”

A civil servant, who requested anonymity due to lack of authorization to discuss the issue, corroborated this information, stating, “Yes, some individuals have already begun to see it.”

According to the warrant, which detailed the distribution of workers across various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, as well as the Armed Forces, Paramilitary, Federal Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education, a total of 1,236,824 workers are accounted for.

It is noteworthy that the Committee on Consequential Adjustments in Salaries for civil servants convened on Friday to discuss the new minimum wage framework and agreed that the effective date for its implementation would be July 29, 2024.

President Bola Tinubu enacted the new minimum wage law on July 29 following discussions with leaders from the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.

READ ALSO: NLC, TUC React to FG N70,000 Minimum Wage Payment

The National Salaries and Wages Commission indicated that the decision to set the implementation date for July 2024 was influenced by the timing of the President’s signing of the bill into law in July.

The correspondence from the Accountant-General, dated September 24, 2024, stated, “We are forwarding the requests for September 2024 warrants concerning MDAs, retired heads of service, permanent secretaries, the Nigeria Police, Military, Para-Military, and tertiary institutions for your review and funding.

“Please be informed that the New National Minimum Wage, as sanctioned by Mr. President, will be implemented this September 2024. Additionally, the 35 percent and 25 percent salary adjustments for personnel on CONPSS, CONRAISS, and CONPASS, also approved by Mr. President, will take effect this September 2024.

“A new MDA, the FEDERAL UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL WUKARI, has been established and added to the payroll this September 2024, with a total of 239 staff and a gross amount of N52,322,098.82.”

“Enclosed are both hard and soft copies of the warrants for your approval and funding. Please accept the warm regards of the Accountant-General of the Federation.”

According to the attached breakdown, a total of N334,925,372,928.14 will be allocated to cover the expenses for over 1.2 million workers each month.

This indicates that the government is projected to incur an annual expenditure of N4.019 trillion as part of its new wage obligations.

It is important to note that the government has initiated additional revenue measures to facilitate the payment of the new minimum wage.

This change, which has implications for revenue distribution to states, has elicited mixed reactions, particularly following an update on statutory allocations that revealed a transfer of N200 billion into the non-savings account during the August FAAC meeting, bringing the total to N595 billion.

In response to the initiation of the new payment structure, the Organised Labour, which includes the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, urged organizations and others to commence the payment of the new wage.