The Senate at its plenary session on Tuesday, 19 March 2019, approved N30, 000 (Thirty Thousand Naira) as the National Minimum Wage following adoption of its Ad-hoc Committee’s report.

Presenting the report of the Ad-hoc Committee on the National Minimum Wage Bill, Sen. Francis Alimikhena (APC: Edo) summarized the objective of the Bill as prescribing a legal framework for the review of the National Minimum Wage. He then stated the highlights of the Bill as follows:

• Establishment of a Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage by President Muhammad Buhari with equal representation from the Federal and State Governments, organized labour and the private sector with a secretariat domiciled in the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission.
• Composition of the Tripartite Committee which shall comprise of a Chairman, Secretary, Representative of the Government and Head of the Civil Service with other members such as the Ministers of Labour and Employment; Finance; Budget and National Planning; Representatives of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission; Governors from each of the 6 Geo-political Zones; National Labour Congress; Trade Union Congress; etc.
• An empowered Tripartite Committee with relevant officers of the civil service that can enforce implementation of the National Minimum Wage, employers obligations as well as to monitor compliance and penalties for offenders.

Sen. Alimikhena further noted that the Ad-hoc Committee had deliberated exhaustively on the Bill before requesting Senate’s approval on the recommendations below:

• That the sum of N30,000 be approved as the new National Minimum Wage;
• That the fine prescribed for non-compliance for record keeping of employees shall not exceed N75,000;
• That the Federal Government should develop procedures that will lead to a review of the Revenue Sharing Formula in order to enhance the capabilities of States towards the implementation of the new minimum wage; and
• That the Ministers of Finance; and Budget and National Planning should present to the National Assembly, the amount required for the new minimum wage for inclusion in the 2019 Budget.

It would be recalled that the Senate at its sitting of Thursday, 24 January 2019 had announced receipt of the New Minimum Wage (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2019 (transmitted to the National Assembly) from President Muhammadu Buhari.

Click here to view the full report of the Ad-hoc Committee