Minimum Wage Bill Awaits President Tinubu’s Signature

Minimum Wage Bill Awaits President Tinubu’s Signature

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will get a clean copy of the new minimum wage bill for assent following yesterday accelerated passage.

Both chambers of the National Assembly wasted no time during their separate plenaries to put the Bill through the three readings and with voice votes passed it.

The Executive Bill, which prescribed N70,000 minimum wage and three-yearly review of the wage, was red on the floors of both the Red and Green chambers by the presiding officers.

The President had presented the bill via a letter.

The bill gave legal backing to the N70,000 minimum wage agreed upon between organised Labour, the organised private sector and the government.

The bill also reduced the number of years for consideration and approval of a new minimum wage from five years to three years as promised by President Tinubu at his meeting with leaders of organised labour.

The President appealed to the lawmakers to expedite the bill’s passage.

Majority Leaders of both chambers, Opeyemi Bamidele and Julius Ihonvbere, moved motions to suspend relevant rules to allow for the consideration of the Bill for second and third reading.

At the House Minority Whip, Hon. Ali Isa JC (PDP, Gombe) seconded Ihonvbere.

All the Senators and House of Representatives members unanimously carried the motions when put to a voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House of Representatives Speaker Abbas Tajudeen.

Senator Bamidele, leading the debate on the general principles of the Bill, said it seeks to amend the National Minimum Wage Act, 2019 to increase the National Minimum Wage and reduce the time for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years and related matters.

He urged his colleagues to support the Bill for passage.

Majority Whip of the Senate, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, seconded the motion and lauded the provision which reduced the interval for periodic review of the Minimum Wage Act from five to three years.

No Senator opposed the Bill during its consideration by the Committee of the Whole.

The Senators also unanimously approved that the Bill be read for the third time and passed when it was put to voice vote by Akpabio.