Tinubu’s Assent Pending for Minimum Wage Bill

The Minimum Wage Bill awaits President Tinubu’s approval. Get insights into the bill’s importance and the changes it aims to bring.

The National Assembly’s two chambers promptly conducted their individual plenaries and swiftly subjected the Bill to three readings, then approved it with a voice vote.

The Presiding Officers passed the Executive Bill in both the Red and Green chambers, mandating a N70,000 minimum wage and triennial reassessment of it.

The N70,000 minimum wage agreed upon by organized labor, the organized private sector and the government was granted legal support through the bill.

Hon. Ali Isa JC (PDP, Gombe), serving as the House Minority Whip, offered his support to Ihonvbere’s proposal by seconding it.

The motions received unanimous support from both Senators and House of Representatives members, following a voice vote conducted by Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Abbas Tajudeen.

During the discussion on the fundamental aspects of the proposed legislation, Senator Bamidele disclosed that its objective was to modify certain provisions in the National Minimum Wage Act of 2019. Specifically, it aims to elevate the current national minimum wage rate and decrease how often it is evaluated from every five years down to three years; among other relevant issues.

He encouraged his coworkers to endorse the Bill for its approval.

Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, the Majority Whip of the Senate, supported and praised a provision to decrease the time period for periodic review of the Minimum Wage Act from five years to three.

There was no Senator who objected to the Bill when it was being discussed by the Committee of the Whole.

When Akpabio put the Bill to a voice vote, it was unanimously agreed by the Senators that it should be read for the third time and passed.

At his meeting with organized labor leaders, President Tinubu promised to reduce the number of years for reviewing and approving a new minimum wage from five years to three. The bill has now fulfilled this promise.

The lawmakers were urged by the President to hasten the passage of the bill.

The Bill was able to proceed for second and third reading as a result of the motions put forward by Opeyemi Bamidele and Julius Ihonvbere, who are both Majority Leaders in their respective chambers. These included suspending relevant rules.