Despite increasing the proposed 2024 budget by N1.2 trillion, the National Assembly has cut the amount of money for minimum wage and salary-related payments for government entities.

For ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), Tinubu had originally suggested allocating one trillion naira for minimum wage and salary-related payments. This amount was meant to cover severance compensation, minimum wage modifications, promotion arrears and salary hikes.

However, the National Assembly decided to cut N450 billion from the proposed amount, approving only N550 billion for these payments.

FIJ had earlier reported how the National Assembly inflated its budget by 75 percent and allocated N10 billion to projects like the NASS recreational centre and NASS car packs.

READ MORE: National Assembly Inflates Its Budget by 75%, Approves N4bn for Recreational Centre

The National Assembly also adjusted the service-wide vote, the foreign exchange differential and the revenue of government-owned enterprises (GOEs) in the budget.

This is the second time the National Assembly has slashed budgetary allocations to minimum wage-related payments within the last year. In 2023, the executive proposed that N210 billion be allocated to minimum wage and salary-related payments in the supplementary budget.

The National Assembly, however, reduced the proposed figure by 52 percent, approving N110 billion instead.

TINUBU PROMISED INCREASED MINIMUM WAGE FOR NIGERIANS

On the same day Tinubu signed the 2024 budget into law, he restated his administration’s commitment to increasing the living wage for Nigerians in 2024.

“It is in this spirit that we are going to implement a new national living wage for our industrious workers this new year. It is not only good economics to do this; it is also a morally and politically correct thing to do,” he said.

Earlier on December 1, the federal government announced that it would implement a new wage regime in April 2024. According to Idris Mohammed, the Minister for Information and National Orientation, the N30,000 minimum wage arrangement would end on March 30, 2024.

The repeated slashes in wage and salary-related allocations, however, raise concerns about the federal government’s seriousness about keeping its promise in 2024.