Following the struggle by the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, to have their minimum wage increased, the Nigerian Senate, has approved the payment of N30,000 as the new minimum wage to be paid to workers as minimum wage.
The upper chamber passed the report of the Ad-hoc Committee on the National Minimum Wage on the National Minimum Wage Act CAP N61 LFN (repeal and re-enactment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 722).
The Bill,
which was laid and presented by Senator Francis Alimikhena, sets the new
minimum wage at N30,000. Speaking on the passage of the Bill, President of the
Senate Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki said: “Let me join our colleagues to commend
the efforts of the committee. More importantly, let me commend the patience of
Nigerian workers and the leadership of the Labour Union, who have over the
years been calling for this minimum wage and have carried their efforts
responsibly “I want to commend the leaders of the organizations of the union.
Let me also state that as government, we should ensure that at times like
these, we should not wait for there to be strikes to do what is truly deserving
for our workers. “I hope that with this minimum wage our workers will double
their efforts to increase their productivity, so that we can also improve the
general productivity of the country. It is my hope that the implementation of
this will start immediately,” the Senate President said.
