A circular was recently released by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC). This is the body responsible for determining and implementing what he wages of Nigerians at different sectors should be, especially those working in federal government establishments.
The circular was released for the implementation of the new national minimum wage and it shows that school leavers, who enter the Civil Service on Grade Level (GL) 04 Step (S) 1 will receive an annual salary of N242,994 while officers at the peak of the Public Service on GL 17 – S1 will receive N4,183,600 annually. If not for the rise in the cost of commodities, one may say this is a fair price.
A 12-month breakdown of the above shows that the school leaver will receive N20,249 while the director will receive N348,633. A school leaver can still call this a considerably good amount since it is far beyond what was termed as minimum wage in Nigeria. A diploma certificate holder who enters the Service on GL 07 – S 01 will receive an annual salary of N517, 965 which translates to N43,163.75 if broken down to monthly income.
However the table did not carry details of emoluments of permanent secretaries and heads of parastatals and the details concerning the salaries of these individuals are yet to be made public by the NSIWC. Be that as it may, the table shows officers from GL 12 – 14 will terminate on Step 11 while those on GL 15 – 17 will terminate on Step 9, which marks the point where they will not receive salary increment anymore until they retire from the Federal Government Civil Service. .
A further breakdown of the table shows that the least paid cadre, GL 01 S 1 will receive an annual salary of N226,800 which translates to N18,900 monthly. This is of course the civil servants with that entered into federal government employment with very low certificate.
For the school leaver who are on GL 04 and who manages to get to S 15, the annual salary will be N363,794 which translates monthly to N30,316,167, while the diploma certificate holder who is on GL 07 – S15 will receive an annual salary of N780,501 which translates to a monthly pay of N65,041.75.
It is true this circular was released for ratification, but no one can say in particular when it will be finalized and made to come to effect. However, feelers reaching us gives the impression that it will not be delayed in the least since the government seem to be hell bent on implementing a change in the salary scale of Nigerians towards moving the country out of recession.
A graduate on GL 08 – S15 will receive an annual salary of N978,663 which when divided by 12 gives N81,555.25. On the other hand, a director on GL 17 – S9 will be paid an annual pay of N5,452,136 which translates to a monthly income of N454,344.67.
A breakdown of the cadres in between the ones mentioned above shows that officers on GL02 – S1 will receive an annual salary of N230,128 and receive N311,935 at same GL on S15. The same form of limitation that applies to the ones mentioned earlier also apply to these middle officers in that they will not be allowed to promote beyond certain steps in their career as detailed in the said circular.
GL 03 – S1 officers will receive an annual salary of N232,970 and this means they will collect N333,522 every month once they attain S15 while officers on GL05 – S1 will receive an annual salary of N261,298 and once they attain S15 will receive N401,637. It should be kept in mind that the salary scales described in this circular is all inclusive. This means everything the federal government civil servant will be paid in form of allowances have all been included in the package being presented.
Those officers, who are presently on GL06 – S1, will be paid an annual salary of N316,229 and once they attain S15, they will be paid N487,295 on annual basis. On the other hand, their counterparts on GL09 – S1 will be paid N780,656. Things will change once these officers have attained S15 at a time they will start getting N1,152,698 per annum.
Those officers that are on GL10 – S1 will receive an annual salary of N914,511. Once these officers reach S15 on the other hand, they will be paid N1,323,635 on annual basis by the federal government. Furthermore, their colleagues that are on GL 12 – S1 will be paid N1,053,208 on annual basis and their salaries will increase to N1,506,493 on terminating at S11 where they stop. This is entirely different from what happens to their subordinates who reach S15.
Officers who are on GL 13 – S1 will be paid an annual salary of N1,174,233. But their salaries will be increased to N1,653,453 once they have out in some years in the federal government civil service and have reached S11. You must also know that federal civil service workers who have attained GL14 – S1 will be paid an annual salary of N1,295,818. Be that as it may, things will change when these officers reach S11; this is when they will start receiving N1,811,724 as their annual salaries.
On their part, officers on GL 15 – S1 will receive an annual salary of N1,778,616 and on terminating at S9, their salaries will be increased to N2,363,140. For those of their colleagues, who are on GL 16 – S1 will receive an annual salary of N2,197,677 and also on terminating at S9 will receive N5,452,136.
According to the Chairman of the NSIWC Chief Richard Egbule, the table which was approved by President Goodluck Jonathan, will come into effect from the date the President signed the new minimum wage of N18,000 last March.
Introducing the table, he said the “President of the Federal Republic has approved the adjustment of the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), with effect from 23rd March 2011.”
However, allowances were not mentioned at all in the table, which gives the impression tha the pay described above is all-inclusive. Also, officers hardly get to Step 15 before they are promoted to the next GL