The Senate and House of Representatives swiftly passed the National Minimum Wage Act 2019 (Amendment Bill).
The bill, which went through second and third readings in both legislative chambers of the National Assembly within minutes of being transmitted by President Bola Tinubu, was approved separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Following a unanimous vote after a clause-by-clause consideration in the Committee of the Whole, the National Minimum Wage Bill passed its third reading and was approved by the Senate.
The House of Representatives also passed the bill immediately, mirroring the Senate’s actions.
President Tinubu is expected to sign the bill into law.
Earlier, the President transmitted the National Minimum Wage Bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.
He separately wrote to the Senate and the House of Representatives, requesting prompt consideration of the bill to amend the National Minimum Wage Act 2019, increasing the National Minimum Wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000.
Additionally, the President requested lawmakers to reduce the period for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years, addressing related matters in the process.
Last Thursday, Tinubu and the leadership of the organised Labour agreed on ₦70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
This agreement followed a series of talks between labour leaders and the President over the past few weeks, after months of unsuccessful negotiations between labour organisations and a tripartite committee on minimum wage constituted by the President in January.
The committee, which included representatives from state and federal governments and the organised private sector, had proposed ₦62,000, while labour had insisted on ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage for workers, who currently earn ₦30,000.
Labour had argued that ₦30,000 was unsustainable given the economic challenges of inflation and the high cost of living following the removal of the petrol subsidy by the President.
Despite its initial insistence on ₦250,000, Labour accepted the President’s offer of ₦70,000 last Thursday.
Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, stated that Labour accepted ₦70,000 and rejected a proposal by President Bola Tinubu to pay ₦250,000 on the condition of increased petrol prices.
He also noted that Labour agreed to the ₦70,000 offer because the minimum wage would be reviewed every three years instead of every five years.
The transmission of the wage bill came about six weeks after the President announced in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, that an executive bill on the new national minimum wage would be sent to the National Assembly for passage.
PUNCH
