PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu, on Monday, July 29, assented to the N70,000 National Minimum Wage Act increasing the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 monthly, ending months of deliberations and back and forth negotiation among government officials, the organised Labour and the private sector employers. .
The signing ceremony, held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, was witnessed by the leadership of the National Assembly, led by Senator Godswill Akpabio, and other government functionaries, days after the National Assembly passed the Bill into law.
Following the ceremony, Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Senator Basheer Lado, said in a statement: “The signing of the Minimum Wage Bill into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is both a promise kept and a demonstration of his people-centric governance model.
“Tinubu promised to pay a living wage to Nigerian workers during his electioneering campaigns and he has kept that promise.”
Recall that the organised Labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), represented by their leader, Comrades Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo, respectively, had initially proposed ₦494,000 at a time government was offering ₦60,000. But after a series of negotiations, the workers reduced their demand to ₦250,000, while government upped it offer to N62,000.
But on July 18, the Federal Government and the Labour agreed on ₦70,000 at a meeting in Abuja.
“We are happy to announce that both the organised Labour and the Federal Government have agreed on an increase on the N62,000 minimum wage.
“The new national minimum that Mr. President is expected to submit to the National Assembly is ₦70,000,” Minister of Information, Mr. Mohammed Idris, told State House Correspondents after the meeting.
Tinubu subsequently transmitted the Bill to the National Assembly for passage. The Bill thereafter scaled through the First, Second and Third Readings and was passed into law in one day.
