In a swift move, the Senate passed the National Minimum Wage Act 2019 (Amendment Bill) on Tuesday, just minutes after receiving it from President Bola Tinubu.
The bill, which aimed to increase the national minimum wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000, was unanimously approved after a clause-by-clause consideration in the Committee of the Whole.
Earlier that day, President Tinubu had transmitted the bill to the National Assembly, requesting expedited consideration.
He also sought to reduce the periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years.
The development came after a truce was reached between the government and labour leaders last Thursday, agreeing on ₦70,000 as the new minimum wage.
This followed a series of talks between labour leaders and the President, after months of failed negotiations between labour organs and a tripartite committee on minimum wage.
Initially, labour had demanded ₦250,000, while the committee proposed ₦62,000. However, labour accepted the President’s offer of ₦70,000, citing the agreement to review the minimum wage every three years instead of five.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero, confirmed that labour accepted ₦70,000 and rejected a proposal to increase petrol prices. He also highlighted the benefit of more frequent wage reviews.
The transmission of the wage bill came six weeks after President Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech, where he promised to send an executive bill on the new national minimum wage to the National Assembly for passage.
