Minimum wage: N27,000 approved by National Council of State

The Nigeria’s National Council of States has approved 27,000 as the national minimum wage.

The Council of State is made up of the President, Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, former presidents and heads of State, Chief Justices of Nigeria, State Governors, among others.

The Council took the decision to peg the minimum wage at the figure at its meeting on Tuesday.

Following this development, the new minimum wage bill is expected to be sent to the National Assembly on Wednesday.

According to Dr. Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, the workers in the employ of the Federal Government will be getting extra 3,000 naira in addition to the approved amount.

The Minister added that the states are at liberty to augment the new agreement as they see fit.

The amount approved by the Council of State is N3,000 short of the N30,000 that the Tripartite Committee on Review of National Minimum Wage recommended.

The committee, chaired by a former Head of Service of the Federation, Ms Ama Pepple, had submitted the report, which contained the recommended figure, to President Muhammadu Buhari on November 6, 2018, after many months of deliberations.