See the newly updated salary scale for all government workers as implemented by the federal government of Nigeria.
Last year, the Federal Government (FG) agreed to a salary scale for all workers that will come into effect in 2020. This new salary scale for all Nigerian workers is the result of protracted negotiations with organised labour, which led to a resolution.
This article will provide more details on the new salary scale that the FG has established and how it will affect Nigerian workers in 2021.
Firstly, a salary scale is a scale that displays the salary rate of all workers in Nigeria at different levels in ministries, civil service, and private organisations.
The Nigerian salary scale also shows a salary increase when there is a promotion or salary raise. In Nigeria, the FG is responsible for the salary scale for all workers through the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission [NSIWC].
Provisional Salary Increment by N10,000
The Federal Government has mandated a provisional salary increment for its workers. This was revealed by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu during his Independence Day address to the country.
The Nigerian government has increased the provisional salary for federal workers, announced by President Bola Tinubu on 1 October, by N10,000.
Workers will receive a provisional monthly salary of N35,000 for six months. The salary increment has also been expanded to “treasury-paid federal government workers”, as announced by the Minister of Information and National Orientation.
The salary hike is the product of meeting between the government and organized labour leaders so as to prevent a strike slated for 3 October.
The strike was announced by the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) after plenty of failed discussions to get the government to offer demanded palliatives to reduce the impact of the removal of petrol subsidies on workers and other Nigerians.
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New FG Salary Scale for All Workers
The FG, through the National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission (NSIWC), has begun to implement a new salary scale that will take effect in early 2020.
That is due to the release of the new minimum wage, which reveals that workers who are recruited into the Nigerian civil service in Grade Level 01, Step 1, are expected to earn a minimum of 360,000 Naira as a yearly salary.
In contrast, those at the zenith of the Nigerian public service will receive a minimum of 6, 215, 435 Naira as a yearly salary.
The analysis shows that workers in Grade Level 04 Step 1 earn nothing less than 36, 000 Naira per month. In contrast, the workers at the pinnacle of the Nigerian civil service will cart home over 500,000 Naira monthly as a monthly salary.
Workers that are on GL 1, S 15, are going to be paid 422, 566 Naira as a yearly salary and 35,000 Naira as monthly income. The New FG Salary Scale for All Workers also reveals that GL 5 S 15 will earn 534, 834 Naira as yearly pay and 44,500 per month as salary.
Workers on GL 7, S 1, will take home 638, 133 Naira as a yearly salary, while workers on GL 7, S 5, will be paid 961, 577 Naira as an annual salary.
Workers on GL 10 S 1 will take home 1,060,833 Naira annually, and workers on GL 10 S 15 will have a yearly salary of 1, 535,417 Naira.
Further details reveal that GL 14 S 14 will take home N1, 503,149 as a yearly salary, and GL 17 S 9 will earn as high as 6,215,435 Naira as an annual salary.
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Why the New FG Salary Scale?
- Nigerian workers are getting poorer. The New FG Salary Scale will improve the living standard.
- The erstwhile FG Salary Scale, which pegged the minimum wage at 20,000 Naira, was not in tune with the increase in goods and services or inflation.
- Nigerian workers will spend more, and it will, in turn, boost the economy
- It will reduce income gaps and inequality.
- It will generate more revenue for the FG through taxation.
Nigerian Minimum Wage
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari approved a revised minimum wage bill in April 2019. The bill establishes a new salary scale for Nigerian employees, with the federal government quickly putting it into effect.
“All employers of labour in Nigeria must pay their employees the amount of N30,000,” according to the bill.
Several governors are against the N30,000 minimum wage, claiming that they will be incapable of paying their employees. Other private entities, on the other hand, have yet to comply with the law.
However, it “gives workers the opportunity to sue their employer to collect the balance if they are forced to accept a pay that is less than N30,000 due to any condition.”
It also empowers the minister of labour, as well as anybody authorised or approved by the minister of labour in any ministry, department, or agency, to act quickly on your behalf against your boss to collect the rest of your earnings.
Regardless of the law, many local and state governments continue to pay the old N18,000 minimum wage.