Public-private institutions must pay the minimum wage.
The federal government of Nigeria has ordered private employers to quickly implement the national minimum wage, which was agreed upon between the federal government and the Nigerian Labour Congress.
The two agreed to increase the minimum wage to N70,000, which was signed into law by the administration of Bola Amed Tinubu.
Since the minimum wage was signed, states had just recently begun to implement it after initially being opposed to it. The governors also protested not getting directly involved in the negotiation.
But there was an issue with the private-public institutions in the country after they tried to distance themselves from the agreed minimum wage.
Reacting to the actions of the private-public companies, the federal government said the minimum wage is a law that must be respected by everyone in the country.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollom Daju, stated this on Wednesday while speaking at the 13th Annual General Meeting of the Employers Association for Private Employment Agencies of Nigeria, held in Ikeja, Lagos.
“The minimum wage is now a law, and as a result, it is a punishable crime for any employer to pay less than N70,000 to any of its workers,” Daju, who was represented by the Director of Employment and Wages of the ministry, said.
“The private employment agencies should make it compulsory in any contract they take from their principal that their workers should not earn less than the minimum wage. The least paid worker in Nigeria should earn N70,000, and I think that should be after all deductions:
“The minimum wage is a law, and you can be jailed if you fail to implement it. The Federal Government is committed to ensuring that the least paid worker goes home with N70,000.”
