The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has mandated the Presidential Committee on Salaries and Wages to review and realign the earnings of employees of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government, with the aim to check disparity in salaries and wages, as well as reduce the cost of governance. Ngige pointed out that in examining this disparity, the committee will have regard to the qualifications of employees and their stipulated work load in relation to their counterparts across various MDAs. Ngige added that the committee has also made recommendations to fuse government parastatals performing similar or the same functions.
It would seem that this move is pursuant to the implementation of the Oransaye report on restructuring the civil service, which President Buhari approved in April, 2020. However, the Labour Minister noted that the report will not be adopted in its entirety. Addressing fears over job losses, the minister assured employees of federal establishments and trade unions that the Federal Government is looking to cut cost by merging parastatals and harmonising salaries, adding that the process is not intended to result in job losses. However, he noted that if there must be loss of jobs, the principle of redundancy as contained in the Trade Union Act will apply, to ensure fairness and due process.