Buhari inaugurates technical committee on national minimum wage

President Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated a technical committee that will work on the details and implementation of a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

The committee inaugurated on Wednesday at the Council Chamber of the State House Presidential Villa shortly before the commencement of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The committee is chaired by the Managing Director/CEO of Financial Derivatives, Lagos, Bismarck Rewane.

Other members of the team from the private sector are former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, Suleiman Barry, Ayo Teriba, and Akpan Ekpo.

From the public sector are the current Chairman of FIRS, Babatunde Fowler; Director-General of Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, who is the secretary of the committee; representative of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF); Chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Richard Egbule; Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack; and the Permanent Secretary General Service Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olusegun Adekunle.

Others are Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse; Permanent Secretary Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Olajide Odewale; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Ibukun Odusote; and Solicitor General Of the Federation and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Justice, Dayo Apata.

The rest are Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, office of the Vice President, Adeyemi Dipeolu; Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Economic Policy Joseph Nnanna; Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris; Director General Debt Management Officer, Patience Oniaga; Director General National Institute of Social and Economic Research, Folarin Gbadebo-Smith; Statistician General, National Bureau of Statistics, Yemi Kale, Aisha Hamad, Mamman Garba, and Tunde Lawal.

Buhari had while presenting the Appropriation Bill 2019 to the National Assembly said he would set up a technical committee on the implementation of a new national minimum wage.

Labour unions on Tuesday began a nationwide protest over the delay in the implementation of the new minimum wage.