The decision was reached at the council's meeting which took place at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, January 22, 2019, with former presidents and military heads of states, governors and leadership of the National Assembly in attendance.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, disclosed the decision to State House correspondents after the meeting. He said the Federal Government will increase the amount to N30,000 for federal workers while noting that state governors can do the same for state workers.
"The bill approved by the Council include N30,000 minimum wage for Federal workers and N27,000 for states and private sector," he announced.
The minister also revealed that the council approved the frequency of review of five years for the minimum wage and also created an exemption for organisations with less than 25 employees.
The decision comes just two weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated a Technical Advisory Committee on the implementation of an increase in the National Minimum Wage.
The country's organised labour has been negotiating with the Buhari administration for over a year to increase the minimum wage for workers nationwide.
In November 2018, he received the recommendation of a tripartite committee he had set up in 2017 to propose a new minimum wage. The president expressed his commitment towards getting the recommendation passed by the National Assembly as soon as possible, with the new wage pegged at N30,000.
State governors have been the most vocal critics of the minimum wage increment as many have lamented that they cannot afford to pay the proposed N30,000 without having to resort to tough measures as drastic as a nationwide downsizing of the workforce.
During the inauguration of the Bismarck Rewane-led committee on January 9, Buhari expressed his commitment towards ensuring that the minimum wage is reviewed upwards despite prevailing fiscal challenges especially experienced by some state governments.