By Agency Report

The Federal Government yesterday approved an increase of between 25% and 35% in salary for civil servants on the remaining six Consolidated Salary Structures.

It also approved pay rise for its pensioners under the Defined Benefits Scheme, DBS.

This came on a day labour leaders said the last year had been tough and agonising for workers and the masses.

The Salary Structure is the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS), Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS), Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure (CONICCS) and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS).

Recall that those in the tertiary education and health sectors have already received their increases which involved Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS) for Universities.

For Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, it involved the Consolidated Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Educational Institutions Salary Structure (CONTEDISS).

The health sector also benefitted through the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and Consolidated Health Sector Salary Structure (CONHESS).

A statement signed by the Head of Press, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Emmanuel Njoku, said the increases took effect on January 1, 2024.

The federal government had also approved increases in pension of between 20% and 28% for pensioners on the Defined Benefits Scheme with respect to the above-mentioned six consolidated salary structures with effect from 1st January 2024.

For the pensioners, it was gathered that in line with Section 173 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the government “convey approval for the implementation of new pension rates for pensioners under the Defined Benefits Scheme following the recent increase in the under-listed consolidated salary structures in the Federal Public Service as grade level 01 to 16 , (20 percent), grade level 17 (28 percent), grade level 01 to14 (20 percent), and grade level 15 (28 percent).

The pay rise also took effect from January 1, 2024.

As workers worldwide celebrate Workers Day today, labour said yesterday that workers and the masses in the country have in the last twelve months, been through tough and agonising experiences as a result of policies of the federal government.

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, agreed with the labour leaders, saying Nigerian workers have never had it so bad with government policies skewed against their welfare.

Meanwhile, the federal government has declared today a public holiday to enable workers celebrate it.

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