The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has clarified that the 25 per cent and 35 per cent increase in workers’ salary announced by the Federal Government is not minimum wage.

The ASCSN President, Tommy Okon, made the clarification while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.

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

He said: “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. Whereas it is not the minimum wage.

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“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.”

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

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

They include 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).

The government also approved an increase in pension of between 20 per cent and 28 per cent for pensioners on the Defined Benefits Scheme.

The Star