Tinubu to Sign N70,000 Minimum Wage Bill into Law: Date Revealed.
ABUJA, NIGERIA – The Presidency has stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to sign the N70,000 minimum wage bill into law next week after passage by the National Assembly recently.
The bill would be finally ready on Wednesday and is to be transmitted to the President on Thursday, sources in the National Assembly have confirmed. This should reflect the urgency that the bill has been treated with by the legislature.
Senator Abdullahi Gumel, Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, further confirmed its transmission. “The bill will be transmitted today (Thursday),” he told our correspondent earlier on Thursday.
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The bill is sure to receive swift assent from the President, as it aims to amend the National Minimum Wage Act 2019. The Senate and the House of Representatives passed almost in record time the amendment bill during Tuesday’s plenary sessions. In both chambers, the bill had second and third readings within minutes before being passed following a clause-by-clause consideration by the Committee of the Whole.
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This came after President Tinubu had earlier forwarded an executive bill to the National Assembly for the review of the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000. He also pleaded that the period for periodic review of the minimum wage should be reduced from five years to three years.
Tinubu pegged the minimum wage at N70,000. The wage is meant to replace the former N30,000 minimum wage that was due for retirement on April 18, 2024.
The National Assembly hastened the passage of the executive bill to finally nail the agreement. In his speech while announcing the new wage benchmark, President Tinubu pointed out that it would be by a harmonized effort that would drive the economy. “We are driving this economy together. Let us look at the tenure of review. Let us agree on that and affirm three years. Two years is too short. We stand by three years. We will review it. I am going to move from the tripartite committee. I am going to edge a little bit forward, looking at the review we have done. Yes, no one in the federal establishment should earn less than N70,000. So, we are going to benchmark at N70,000,” he stated.
The Tripartite Committee on the New National Minimum Wage, constituted in the month of January, presented two different proposals to the President for his consideration, as stakeholders could not reach an accord. While the Government team and Organised Private Sector are proposing N62,000, Organised Labour insists on N250,000. Upon receiving the report of the committee, further dialogues were held between President Tinubu and relevant stakeholders to harmonize the figures before the executive bill is sent to the National Assembly.
This impending legislation is a drastic step to mollify wage concerns and ensure a more decent standard of living for the average Nigerian worker.
