On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu forwarded the National Minimum Wage Bill to the National Assembly for consideration and potential passage into law.
This move follows an agreement reached last Thursday between the President and the leadership of the Organised Labour, setting the new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers at ₦70,000.
The agreement came after a series of negotiations between Labour leaders and President Tinubu, following months of failed talks between Labour representatives and a government-appointed tripartite committee on minimum wage.
This committee, established by the President in January, included representatives from both state and federal governments as well as the Organised Private Sector (OPS). The committee had proposed a ₦62,000 minimum wage, while Labour initially demanded ₦250,000, citing the unsustainable nature of the current ₦30,000 minimum wage amid rising inflation and living costs following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Despite its original demand for ₦250,000, Labour accepted the President’s offer of ₦70,000. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, explained that Labour agreed to the ₦70,000 proposal while rejecting a conditional offer to increase the minimum wage to ₦250,000, which would have included a further rise in petrol prices. Ajaero also noted that Labour accepted the ₦70,000 wage because the minimum wage would now be reviewed every three years instead of every five years.
The submission of the Wage Bill 2024 to both chambers of the National Assembly follows President Tinubu’s promise in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, to send an Executive Bill on the new national minimum wage for consideration.
This legislative step aims to formalize the new wage agreement and provide Nigerian workers with a more sustainable income amidst ongoing economic challenges.
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