Senate Passes National Minimum Wage Bill To Law

By Ayodele Oni

The Senate has passed a Bill  amending the National Minimum Wage Act from N30,000 to N70,000 after the first, second, and third readings on Tuesday.

By this development, the bill will now await the concurrence of the House of Representatives before it is transmitted by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Sani Magaji Tambawal, to President Bola Tinubu for assent into law.

President Bola Tinubu had earlier on Tuesday sent the bill to the House of Representatives to make ₦70,000 the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

This comes after the President and labour leaders agreed on the amount last Thursday.

After the Bill titled: “Minimum Wage Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (SB. 550)” was read for the first time, Majority Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele moved a motion that the Senate should suspend its relevant rules to enable the members to consider the Bill for Second and Third reading.

All the senators unanimously adopted the motion when it was put to voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Senator Bamidele, while leading the debate on the general principles of the Bill, said it seeks to amend the National Minimum Wage Act, 2019 to increase the National Minimum Wage and reduce the time for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years and related matters.

He urged his colleagues to support the passage of the bill.

The Majority Whip, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, seconded the motion and lauded the provision which has reduced the interval for periodic review of the Minimum Wage Act from five to three years.

No Senator opposed the Bill during its consideration by the Committee of the Whole.

The Senators also unanimously approved that the Bill be read for the third time and passed when it was put to voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.