The Senate has concurred with the House of Representatives, approving N30,000 as the accepted national minimum wage for the Nigerian workers following the prevailing economic realities in the country as against the N27,000 proposed by the Federal Government.
After the Senate dissolved into the Committee of the Whole for the clause by clause consideration of the report of the Ad-hoc Committee on the National Minimum Wage on the National Minimum Wage Act CAP N61 LFN (repeal and re-enactment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 722), it then reverted to plenary and reported progress.
The National Minimum Wage Act CAP N61 LFN (repeal and re-enactment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 722) was at the end of the day, read the third time and passed.
For effective and efficient implementation of the new approved Minimum wage, the Senate has asked the Ministers of Finance; and Budget and National Planning to as a matter of urgency, compute and forward to the National Assembly for inclusion in the 2019 Budget, the actual amount required for the new national minimum wage.
The Senate has also approved a fine not above N70,000 for not keeping records of employees, even as this is a sharp variation of a proposal of N5,000 by President Muhammadu Buhari as fine for failure to keep records of employees.
Senate’s approval Tuesday, followed the presentation of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on a New National Minimum Wage Bill, 2019.
Presenting the report Tuesday, at Plenary, Senator Francis Alimikhena (APC, Edo North), Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on a New National Minimum Wage Bill, 2019 and the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, said that the recommendations the recommendations were arrived at following the clause by clause consideration of the Bill and the prevailing economic realities of the Country.
In his presentation, Senator Alimikhena said that the Objective of the New Minimum Wage Bill was that it seeks to prescribe the National Minimum wage for the Country and provide a legal framework for ideal review of the national minimum wage in line with the period specified under the Bill.
On the analysis of the Bill, the Chairman said, “The 18-clause Bill provides for the establishment of a Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage by Mr. President with equal representation from the Federal, State Governments, Organised Labour and Organized Private Sector with the Secretariat to be domiciled in the National Salaries, incomes and Wages Commission.”
Also in his contribution, Senator James Manager, PDP, Delta South, who noted that it was very embarrassing that many states are not paying even the N18,000 minimum wage, said, “Despite all that has been happening, I believe the committee has done well. We need to always do things smoothly so that productivity will be high. It is embarrassing to know that the minimum wage is not applied by all governments.”
