Civil servants group clarifies that minimum wage not 35% salary increase

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has applauded the federal government’s salary increase for workers as a welcome development.

ASCSN also clarified that the 25 percent and 35 percent increase in workers’ salaries announced by the federal government is not the minimum wage.

The president of the association, Mr. Tommy Okon, clarified while fielding questions from newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

Okon, who is also the Vice President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), said that the approval of the salary increase was to close the salary gap that existed in some ministries, departments, and agencies.

“Other sectors have benefitted from these increases; it is only the core Federal Civil Service. So, it is a good development, no doubt, but the people need to be informed.

“Some even saw it as if the government had ambushed the labour unions and then come out unilaterally to increase the minimum wage to that amount. However, it is not the minimum wage.

“The minimum wage is ongoing; what the government did was to correct some gaps that existed among the pay of those in those sectors listed,” he said.

Okon said the clarification was important for the generality of workers and the masses at large because the salary increase was to bridge the wage gap in the civil service.

The Federal Government on Tuesday announced an increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent in the salary of civil servants on the remaining six consolidated salary structures.

They included Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS), and Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS).

Others were Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure, (CONICCS) and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS).

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