The National Assembly has postponed the transmission of the minimum wage bill and may deliver it to President Bola Tinubu by Monday, as revealed by Sunday PUNCH.
According to The PUNCH, the bill, which swiftly passed the second and third readings in both legislative chambers after being sent by the President, received separate approvals from the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Although the National Assembly had intended to transmit the bill on Thursday, it has not yet been sent to the presidency for assent.
In a conversation with our correspondent on Saturday, the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, Senator Abdullahi Gumel, confirmed the delay.
He stated, “Yes, we delayed the transmission of the Minimum Wage bill because the money bills; the N6.2tn 2024 Appropriation bill (Amended), and the Finance bill were not ready.
“The Appropriation committees still had one or two things to tidy up on the money bills, so they were no point transmitting the Minimum Wage bills without sending the bills that will cater to the money required to pay the minimum wage.”
Senator Gumel also mentioned that the National Assembly leadership wished to personally deliver the bills to the president.
“Also, the leadership wants to take the bills to the president themselves, so they’d take it to him either this weekend or by Monday,” he added.
The President, through an executive communication, had submitted the Minimum Wage Bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.
He separately wrote to the Senate and the House of Representatives, requesting prompt consideration of the bill to amend the National Minimum Wage Act 2019, raising the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000.
Additionally, the President asked lawmakers to shorten the period for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years.
This followed an agreement between Tinubu and labor leaders on a new minimum wage of N70,000 for Nigerian workers, reached during a meeting at the Aso Presidential Villa, Abuja.
