The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, on Monday said that his monthly salary and that of other ministers is N942,000 after taxation.
He also said that ministers do not have allowances except duty allowance when they have to travel for work.
Ngige, disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today Monday night amid calls for the government to increase the N30,000 national minimum wage.
“My salary is N942,000 a month. My salary with my PA — gross total after tax — my feeding, my transport, the transport of one PA, the salary of my gardener, my cook, they are all consolidated. After heavy taxation, they pay me N942,000.
“Every minister you see, that is what it is; special advisers earn around that amount too. The allowances are not anything, we don’t have any allowances except if you travel. You can get duty tour allowance like every other public officer,” Ngige said.
On the allowance, he further said, “It was reviewed to N100,000 for a minister, and I think ministers of states, N75,000; permanent secretaries, N70,000, and down the line. Level one, everybody else’s own was reviewed, not only our own,” he said.
On the high rate of unemployment which rose to 33.3% in 2021, Ngige argued that job creation was a responsibility of the private sector, not just the public sector.
“The point there is that job creation is a cross-cutting thing; it is not only for the public sector to do,” Ngige said.
“Everybody has it in mind that it is the government that creates jobs: ‘If we don’t work in federal ministry or government agency, we have not got a job.’ No, the private sector is there.”
“It is not something for government alone. And I am telling you now, if the economy is not good, you will not have enough money in the system to ginger the system in such a way that jobs are created. That is the problem; foreign direct investment has gone down,” he added.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
