The Federal Government has said that it cannot promise an “impossible” minimum wage that it would not be able to afford.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, made the assertion in an interview on a television programme on Wednesday monitored by newsmen.
The minister, however, expressed the government’s commitment to improving the welfare and wages of doctors, nurses and other health workers in the country.
“We appreciate them. There are few who chose to go abroad for training. We’ve approved for some of them to go to other places to be trained. We expect that when they train, they will come back home.
“We are expanding the training of those who are around and improving the working conditions.
“In the context of the wage review that is ongoing in the country, of course with the Salary Incomes and Wages Commission, we have made submissions to have some adjustment of the remuneration of the health workforce,” he said.
The minister’s comment comes hours after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, stepped down a minimum wage review memo to allow for more consultations.
Recall that in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, President Bola Tinubu assured the Organised Labour that an Executive Bill on the new national minimum wage for workers would soon be sent to the National Assembly for passage.
Tinubu is expected to make a decision on the N62,000 proposal of the government and private sector side; and Labour’s N250,000 demand.
Peoplesmind
