A new wage system based on employee’s productivity in the civil service is underway, the Federal Government said on Monday.

The government said with the system, workers on the same level could earn different salaries.

The government said the formulation of an innovative wage system was being considered because it realised that productivity was a key factor in the growth of the country’s economy.

The Director-General of the National Productivity Centre, Nasir Raji-Mustapha, disclosed this on Monday during a meeting with Labour correspondents.

He said: “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.”

When asked whether the new proposal on a productivity-led wage system had the support and input of organised labour, the NPC boss stressed that such a task couldn’t be carried out without the input of labour.

Raji-Mustapha said, “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 the NLC and TUC to ask them whether they will support the proposed wage system and they said they would welcome it.”

Raji-Mustapha added that the report for the first phase of the study was ready, adding that the next stage would be to engage various stakeholders to consider and make inputs before finally presenting it to the Federal Government for its consideration and possible adoption.

The NPC boss also disclosed that the Centre was collaborating with several international agencies and organisations to ensure that the productivity and skills of Nigerian workers are greatly improved to impact positively on the economy.

Specifically, he said the NPC had widened its scope of collaboration between it and international agencies such as the International Labour Organisation, Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Africa Productivity Association and Asia Productivity Association.

According to him, the centre has done a lot in the area of productivity promotion and advocacy for youths, especially the youths corp members at the NYSC camps, adding the NPC had resuscitated preaching and promoting productivity at the NYSC camps.

He also disclosed that the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, would be the keynote speaker at the two-day National Productivity Summit organised by the centre and holding in Abuja today (Tuesday).

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