The President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, (ASCSN), Mr. Tommy Okon has clarified that the 25% and 35% increase in workers’ salaries announced by the Federal Government on Tuesday, 30 April 2024 is not the same as the minimum wage expected by Nigerian workers. He clarified this while fielding questions from newsmen on Wednesday, 1st April 2024 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 of government.

“Other sectors have benefitted from these increases. 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”

He stated, “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.

It was reported that the Federal Government on Tuesday, 30 April 2024 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 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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