THE Nigerian Senate during its plenary session on Tuesday has passed the national minimum wage of 30,000 after the third reading.
The decision of the Senate is sequel the presentation of the bill by the Ad-hoc Committee on the National Minimum Wage headed by Edo lawmaker, Senator Francis Alimikhena.
The bill, National Minimum Wage Act CAP N61 LFN (repeal and re-enactment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 722), had passed first and second reading at the red chamber on Thursday, January 24, 2019.
The bill was then referred to the ad-hoc committee for further legislative work.
The Nigerian Government and workers fell out late 2018 following government’s failure to review the minimum wage of N18,000 — one which most workers consider inadequate given the rising inflation and Nigeria’s economic realities.
While the NLC pegged the new minimum wage at N54,000, the Government at its Council of State meeting approved N30,000 for Federal workers and N27,000 for those in states.
Labour has, however, rejected the proposal of lower minimum wage for state workers.
Meanwhile, 30 states have agreed to pay its workers the N30,000 minimum wage.
Speaking on the passage, Senate President Bukola Saraki commended the Nigerian workers for their “patience”. Saraki also praised the leadership of the Labour Union that “have been calling for this minimum wage and have carried their efforts responsibly.”
The Senate President said he hoped the Nigerian workers would double their efforts to increase their productivity with the new minimum wage. “It is my hope that the implementation of this will start immediately.
“Let me also state that as government, we should ensure that at times like these, we should not wait for strikes to do what is truly deserving for our workers,” Saraki concluded.