The federal government of Nigeria has revealed that a new pay structure based on civil servant productivity is being implemented.
This was revealed during a meeting with Labour Correspondents by Dr. Nasir Raji-Mustapha, the Director-General of the National Productivity Centre (NPC), who also added that different workers on the same level could receive different salaries under the system.
According to Raji-Mustapha, the federal government realised that productivity was a crucial component in the expansion of Nigeria’s economy, which is why they were considering creating a novel wage structure.
“We are in the process of developing a productivity-led wage system that will ensure that those who are productive are rewarded for their efforts irrespective of their grade level. Under the proposed system, employees on the same salary scale can earn different wages,” Raji-Mustapha said.
When questioned about whether organised labour was supporting and contributing to the new proposal for a productivity-led wage system, the NPC CEO emphasised that labour was necessary for the completion of this task.
“Of course, labour as a critical stakeholder is being carried along in this exercise. As researchers, we don’t just do things without considering the recipient of the reports. When we started the project about three or four years ago, we held a stakeholders’ forum in which the labour unions participated. We even went further to send a memo to NLC and TUC to ask them whether they will support the proposed Wage System and they said they will welcome it,” Raji-Mustapha added.
He said that the first phase of the study’s report was completed and that different stakeholders would be consulted before it was ultimately submitted to the federal government for review and potential adoption.
The CEO of NPC also revealed that the Centre was working with a few foreign organisations and agencies to guarantee that Nigerian workers’ productivity and skills are significantly increased in order to have a positive economic impact.