Tinubu asks national assembly to pass N70k minimum wage bill

President Bola Tinubu has asked the national assembly to pass the minimum wage bill into law. 

Tinubu’s request is contained in letters dispatched to the national assembly leadership.

The letters were read by Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house; and Senate President Godswill Akpabio, during plenary on Tuesday.

The bill seeks to formalise the N70,000 minimum wage recently agreed between the federal government and organised labour.

The president urged the legislators to speedily pass the bill for implementation.

Last week, Tinubu asked the national assembly to increase the 2024 appropriation Act by N6.2 trillion.

The president said N3.2 trillion is for infrastructure projects and N3 trillion for recurrent expenditure.

Defending the president’s request before the house of representatives committee on appropriations on Monday, Atiku Bagudu, minister of budget and economic planning, said the N3 trillion is intended to cover the new national minimum wage.

Bagudu explained that the N3.2 trillion proposed for infrastructure projects will cover several road and rail projects, including the one linking Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, traversing Rivers, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, and terminating in Borno state.

BACKGROUND

On June 3, the labour unions grounded the nation’s economy over the minimum wage dispute.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had proposed N494,000 as the new national minimum wage, citing inflation and the prevailing economic hardship in the country.

Organised labour later reduced the amount to N250,000 after several meetings with representatives of the federal government.

On July 11, leaders of organised labour met with Tinubu at the presidential villa over the new minimum wage.

The labour leaders eventually accepted N70,000 as the new minimum wage for workers after yet another meeting with Tinubu on July 18.