NEC Endorses N18,000 Minimum Wage For Workers

The National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday endorsed the proposed N18,000  minimum wage for civil servants.

Gov. Adams Oshiomhole disclosed this at a news conference after the NEC meeting,  presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

Oshiomhole said that NEC, however, set up a sub-committee to look at some “technical  issues” noticed in the proposal so that its implementation would be hitch-free.

“The sub-committee is chaired by the Vice President and the technical issues will be  raised with the Nigeria Labour Congress,’’ he said.

He said that other members of the sub-committee included himself, Governors   Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, Sullivan Chime of Enugu, Gabriel Suswam of Benue and  Sule Lamido of Jigawa.

Oshiomhole said the Committee had two weeks to submit its report to NEC, which would  meet in three weeks time.

NAN recalls that the new pay package was announced by President Goodluck Jonathan on  1May , when he was the Acting President.

The proposal,  as against the present N7,500 would, according to Jonathan, take  effect from August.

In a related development, NEC said that some aspects of the National Sovereign  Wealth Fund (NSWF) Bill should be streamlined before it would be sent to the  National Assembly for passage into law.

Gov. Ibrahim Shema of Katsina state, who briefed newsmen on the issue, said the  Council agreed that the bill would be sent for further deliberations.

NEC had on 20 April , endorsed the formation of NSWF as a substitute to Excess Crude  Account (ECA), an account currently managing the nation’s extra earnings from the   crude oil.

To become operative, NSWF requires an Act of the National Assembly.