NASS Speedily Passes ₦70,000 Minimum Wage Bill

The Senate and the House of Representatives swiftly passed the National Minimum Wage Act 2019 (Amendment Bill) on Tuesday.

The bill, which underwent second and third readings in both legislative chambers of the National Assembly within minutes of being transmitted by President Bola Tinubu, was promptly approved by both the Senate and the House.

Following a unanimous vote after clause consideration in the Committee of the Whole, the National Minimum Wage Bill passed its third reading and was approved by the Senate.

Similarly, the House immediately passed the bill in the same manner as the Senate.

President Tinubu is expected to sign the bill into law soon.

Earlier, President Tinubu had sent the National Minimum Wage Bill to the National Assembly for review and passage.

In separate letters to the Senate and the House of Representatives, the President requested the swift consideration of a bill to amend the National Minimum Wage Act, 2019, increasing the national minimum wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000.

The President also proposed reducing the time for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years, among other related matters.

Last Thursday, President Tinubu and the leadership of the Organised Labour agreed on ₦70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

This agreement came after a series of discussions between labour leaders and the President, following months of failed talks between labour organizations and a tripartite committee on minimum wage, established by the President in January.

The committee, which included representatives from state and federal governments and the Organised Private Sector, had proposed ₦62,000, while labour demanded ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage for workers, who currently earn ₦30,000.

Labour argued that ₦30,000 was unsustainable given the economic challenges of inflation and the high cost of living following the removal of the petrol subsidy by the President.

Despite initially insisting on ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage, Labour accepted the President’s offer of ₦70,000 last Thursday. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, explained that Labour accepted ₦70,000 but rejected a proposal by President Tinubu to set the minimum wage at ₦250,000 with an increase in petrol prices.

Ajaero also noted that Labour agreed to the ₦70,000 offer because the minimum wage would now be reviewed every three years instead of every five years.

The transmission of the wage bill occurred about six weeks after the President announced in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, that an executive bill on the new national minimum wage for workers would be sent to the National Assembly for passage.