FG committed to review of minimum wage - Ngige

Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, has said that the Federal Government was committed to putting in place measures to ensure that all employers of labour in the country comply with the new minimum wage for workers when it is eventually put in place.


The minister also said that the government has put on hold the proposed agreement between the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Qatar in view of the wide report of unfair and slave labour practice in the country.

Speaking when the Secretary General of the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC), Sharon Baron, visited him in his office, the minister said, “Minimum wage is good; we are already working on it. We have a technical working committee in place and the current administration is poised to ensure that employers at all levels comply with this law by ensuring that everybody is carried along through the composition of an all inclusive committee.”

The minister expressed the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria to the efforts of the International Labour Organisation at combating slave labour in Qatar.

Speaking earlier, the Secretary General of the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC), Sharon Baron, applauded the stance of the Federal Government of Nigeria in the promotion of decent work, requesting the support of Nigeria in the fight against slave labour in Qatar.

She said “Nigeria has always been a strong government in defence of decent work and we need your support in this fight against slave labour as the government of Qatar runs a system where the workers’ rights are determined by the employers and not by the government, even in the issues of minimum wage. We need your help to protect Nigerians in Qatar,” she said.