Senate passes N30,000 minimum wage bill

The Senate has approved N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

After a report by the Ad hoc committee on National minimum wage was presented by Senator Francis Alimikhena, the upper legislative chamber passed the National Minimum Wage Act CAP N61 LFN (repeal and re-enactment) Bill, 2019, after it was read for the third time.

A clause by clause consideration of the report of the Ad-hoc Committee was done by the Chamber.

During deliberation on the report of the committee, Senate leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan said, “The Ad-hoc Committee promised to give a new minimum wage to Nigerians and they have fulfilled the promise. This gesture should be appreciated. We do not have to wait until we are threatened with strike action before we take action. The Nigerian workers must show that the government is paying them and they are paying the government in service.”

After the bill was passed, Senate President Bukola Saraki commended the leadership of the labour union and urged government to be proactive in labour matters.

“I want to commend the leaders of the organisations of the union. Let me also state that as government, we should ensure that at times like these, we should not wait for there to be strikes to do what is truly deserving for our workers,” he said

The House of Representatives had earlier passed the minimum wage bill.