The Senate at its plenary session of Thursday, 24 January 2019, concluded debate on the National Minimum Wage (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2019. The Bill which seeks to repeal the National Minimum Wage Act, 2004 and enact the National Minimum Wage Act, 2019 was transmitted to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari via a letter dated 23rd January 2019.
Leading the debate on the Bill, the Senate Leader, Sen. Ahmad Lawan (APC: Yobe) explained that the objective of the Bill, was to prescribe the National Minimum Wage and provide a legal framework for its seamless review within a period of 5years and expressed delight over the efforts of the Federal Government to increase the minimum wage for public service workers from N18, 000 to N27, 000.
Although members of the Senate unanimously supported the Bill, they however expressed concern over the sum proposed by the Federal Government stating that it was important that the Senate review the proposed minimum wage upward. They noted that a further increase in the proposed wage would ensure that the needs of workers in the Civil Service were adequately catered for.
In addition, the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (PDP: Enugu) who presided over plenary explained that it was important to note that President Buhari had proposed and presented a single minimum wage of N27,000 to the Senate for implementation across the entire Federation rather than a slightly higher wage for workers at the Federal level as earlier anticipated.
The Bill has been referred to an Ad-hoc Committee, Chaired by the Chief Whip of the Senate, Sen. Olusola Adeyeye (APC: Osun) for further legislative scrutiny to report back in 2 weeks.
