NASS passes N70,000 national minimum wage

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

Both houses of the National Assembly passed the bill separately through second and third readimgs just minutes after it was transmitted by President Bola Tinubu.

Taking a vote after a clause consideration in the Committee of the Whole, the National Minimum Wage Bill scaled third reading and was passed at the Senate.

The House also passed the bill immediately just like the Senate.

President Tinubu is expected to sign the bill into law.

Earlier, the President transmitted the National Minimum Wage Bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.

The President separately wrote the Senate and the House of Representatives requesting expeditious consideration of a bill for an Act to amend the National Minimum Wage Act, 2019 to increase the National Minimum Wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000.

The President also asked the lawmakers to reduce the time for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years and related matters.

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

The truce between the government and labour sides followed a series of talks between labour leaders and the President in the last few weeks after months of failed talks between labour organs and a tripartite committee on minimum wage constituted by the President in January.