The National Minimum Wage Bill (2019), on Thursday, got accelerated legislations from both the Senate and House of Representatives as a means of aiding speedy passage into law.
In Senate, the bill scaled both first and second reading in the Senate after which it was committed to a Special Ad-hoc Committee for further legislative work.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, noted that the Senate decided to give the National Minimum Wage Bill presented to it by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday an accelerated hearing due to its importance.
Ekweremadu added that this is the first time that the 8th Senate would suspend its rules to take a First and Second Reading of an Executive Communication.
Senate Majority Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye (South West), was named the Chairman of Special Ad-Hoc Committee while other members include Senator Abu Ibrahim, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour; Senator Shehu Sani (representing the North West), Senator Sam Egwu (South East), Senator Suleiman Adokwe (North Central), Senator Francis Alimikhena (South South); and Senator Binta Masi Garba (North East).
Speaking on the Second Reading of the Bill, Ekweremadu said: “Let me congratulate the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and all those who have brought this to this point. I would also like to thank my Distinguished colleagues for the speedy consideration of this Bill.
“This will be the first time the 8th Senate is reading an Executive Communication and suspending our rules to take a First and Second Reading and assigning the Bill to a Committee, all in one day. This shows how committed we are to this issue.
“I believe what we have said so far will suffice in guiding the Committee. Just to clarify: the new minimum wage brought to us is set at N27,000. There were news reports of N27,000 for state workers and N30,000 for the Federal Government workers, but this is a single national minimum wage of N27,000.
Another issue of concern is whether this affects organisations and establishments employing less than 25 persons. “If this does not affect these people, it means a number of people are left outside the minimum wage and that is not right. In most countries, the minimum wage applies to all workers, regardless of the number of people in an establishment.
“I believe that at the public hearing, we will be able to clarify and sort it all out. We must try our best to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor,” the Deputy Senate President said.
The Committee was directed to report back to the Senate in Plenary within two weeks. Prior to the Second Reading of the Bill, Senators weighed in on the proposed National Minimum wage. “Let me congratulate the Federal Government, the 36 States of Nigeria and stakeholders on this Bill for the increase in the minimum wage from N18,000 to N27,000.
Our Civil Servants will be excited about this. It may not be all they hoped, but it is still an improved situation. Nigeria cannot develop without the help of our civil servants,” Senate Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan said.
“It is important that we lend our voice to see to the realization of this Bill. Even though this may not be enough, productivity is sure to increase,” Senator Shehu Sani stated.
“We will work hard, but it is important that this does not become another election gimmick. Let the people who should get paid, actually get paid,” said Senate Minority Leader, Senator Biodun Olujimi.
“This increase, to me, is just a little scratch,” said Senator Barnabas Gemade, “I think the Federal Government should be able to pay N30,000 as opposed to N27,000. Let us accelerate the passage of this Bill, it should not be delayed any further.”
In a similar development, the new National Minimum Wage bill on Thursday passed second reading at the House of Representatives.
The bill which was initiated by the Executive and presented by the Deputy Leader, Rep. Idris Wase (APC-Plateau), seeks to increase the national minimum wage from N18,000 to N27,000.
Contributing to the bill, Rep. Edward Pwajok (PDP-Plateau), commended the leadership and members of the house for turning up to deal with the issue of minimum wage.
Pwajok said that section 3 of the bill states that no employer of labour shall pay less than N27,000 to workers.
The lawmaker said that there would be sanctions against any employer who disobeyed the law and that affected workers could approach the National Industrial Court.
Pwajok, however, explained that employers with less than 25 workers were exempted from complying with the new minimum wage bill when passed into law.
In his contribution, the Deputy Whip of the house, Rep. Pally Irease (APC-Edo) said that the bill had to reflect the agreement reached by the tripartite committee on minimum wage.
According to him, some states say N30, 000 is not sustainable but it is clear that the cost of governance could be reviewed to pay workers.
Irease urged members of the house who would work on the bill at committee level to review the amount for the house to pass N30, 000 as the new minimum wage.
Rep. Kayode Oladele (APC-Ogun) said that the poverty level in the country was very high and it was not a respecter of religion and tribe.
He said when the bill is passed into law; it would further address the menace of poverty in the country.
According to Oladele, when workers earn well, they will be happy and productivity will increase.
He urged members to support the bill and pass it for the benefit of the Nigerian worker.
Rep. Adamu Chika (APC-Niger) said though the increase in the minimum wage was a welcome development, N27, 000 was not acceptable.
He said that economic indices showed that N27, 000 was grossly insufficient and that the clause in the bill which states that the law cannot be reviewed in the next five years should be reduced to two.
Also Rep. Sunday Karimi (PDP-Kogi) said that given the inflation rate in the country, the increase in minimum wage was a decrease when compared to the last time the wage was reviewed.
According to him, it is not that the government cannot pay N30,000 but corruption has been the problem.
Karimi said that rather than fighting corruption squarely, political fight was being fought in the guise of fighting corruption.
The legislator said some states were owing workers several months salaries while others were under paying in spite of receiving the Bail-out Funds and Paris Fund.
Karimi said there was a need to pass a law that would prevent public funds from ending up in private accounts.
After many contributions, the house set up an ad hoc committee headed by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Yussuff Lassun, for further legislative process on the bill.
In his ruling, the Speaker of the house, Mr Yakubu Dogara mandated the committee to conduct a public hearing on Monday, January 28 and report to the house on Tuesday, January 29 for passage.
(Source: The Vanguard/NAN)
