Unrealistic demands by labour unions hampering implementation of 30,000 minimum wage ― FG

Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita

THE Federal Government has revealed that the new minimum wage of N30,000 is yet to be implemented in full across the board in the Federal Civil Service because of unrealistic demands of the labour unions.

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, made this known on Monday in Abuja while fielding questions from newsmen at a two-day retreat for the top management staff of Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and Manpower Development Institutes (MDIs) in Nigeria.

The retreat was organised by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation towards successful implementation of the training component of the 2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP).

Oyo-Ita noted that even though President Muhammadu Buhari was very keen about the immediate implementation of the new minimum wage as approved, issues around the salary adjustment, especially at the level of the senior staff had been contentious.

She, however, said the Presidential Committee on Consequential Adjustment of Salaries arising from the minimum wage has been sitting with the leadership of the labour unions within the public service in order to come out with the consequential adjustment of salaries of workers.

“There were a few, what I will call unrealistic demands from the unions but so as not to continue delaying the implementation of the well thought out and very dear policy to Mr President, we have to go ahead and seek his approval to implement the minimum wage effective from April, while we continue discussions on the consequential adjustment.

“We cannot allow the demands, mainly from the senior staff unions to continue to affect those who the minimum wage was really meant to address. Those are the workers with very low income.

“So, we have gone ahead to implement the new minimum wage as approved and signed into law while we continue the conversation with the unions, particularly the senior staff unions,” she said.

The Head of Service admitted that the Nigeria public service was weak and that the reforms being put in place were intended to make the service strong as the engine room of government.

She emphasized that if the country is to be brought out of economic doldrums, “it must start from the civil service”.

She said the retreat was part of the efforts to engage the top echelon of the Manpower Management Institutes in the country on the vision of the 2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, as it relates to capacity development and training.

Over 60,000 civil servants are targeted to be trained in line the desire for innovation and culture change as captured in the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan.

According to the plan, the transformation is expected to cost N1.6 billion and could reach as high as N40 billion given per reform.

Oyo-Ita, noted that the institutes were expected to provide facilities for the training programmes including the training modules, saying the government would not be leveraging on external consultants in order to save cost

According to her, the government spent money to established the institutes and never been put to optimal use, saying it was not time for them to sharpen their skills with the assignment at hand.

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Meanwhile, the Head of Service, Oyo-Ita has disclosed that the government has commenced the review of the public service rules that have been existence for over 18 years.

She said it was expedient to review it within the contemporary environment, adding that it was important to get the buy-in of the civil servants in order to come up with new rules that would ensure that workers provide optimum productivity and output for government and the Nigerian people.

She said: “Sometimes Nigerians find it difficult to connect the civil service with the economy. We may not be selling in the market but a strong civil service has a correlation with the economy.

“Any of the countries that you see with a strong and vibrant economy, check out their civil service, their civil service will be very strong. Any country that has a weak economy, check out the civil service, there is a problem.

“So, if we are going to bring our country out of economic doldrums, it must start with the civil service,” she said.