Senate okays N70,000 as new national minimum wage

By Ignatius Okorocha, Abuja

The Senate on Tuesday at plenary fast- tracked passage of the Amendment to the National minimum wage Act to N70,000 for Nigerian workers.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu had earlier transmitted   a  national minimum wage bill to the Senate Assembly for consideration and passage.

Also note that President and the leadership of the Organised Labour had last Thursday agreed on ₦70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

Information Minister Mohammed Idris had said “the new national minimum that Mr President is expected to submit to the National Assembly is ₦70,000”.

The executive bill, which was received from the executive arm of government, seeking amendment to the Act to enable upward review of workers’ salaries, was laid for first reading.

Based on the exigency of the passage of the Bill  and  its assent by the President for implementation, the Red chamber fask- tracked its passage by applying section 80, sub-section 1 of it’s rules.

Reading the general principles of the bill, Senate Leader, Senator Bamidele Opeyemi  explained that the bill, if passed, would reduce the period of review of the minimum wage from five years to three years in line with economic realities, given that the Act was last amended in 2019.

Senators were unanimous on the need to approve the bill, which followed negotiations between the executive and organized labour.

The Senate immediately passed the bill for second reading after which the Upper chamber  dissolved into the committee of the whole for its passage for the third reading and final passage of the Bill.