FCT, Abuja – President Bola Ahmed Tinubu today forwarded a bill to the House of Representatives and the Senate prescribing a minimum wage of N70,000 for Nigerian workers.
The bill, which came on Tuesday, July 22, is to legalise the agreed minimum wage as a result of the tedious negotiation between the government and Organised Labour, in alliance with the Organised Private Sector. In the letter read on the floor of the House, the President urges the lawmakers to accelerate the passage of the bill, so that the workforce can benefit from it immediately.
The President was quoted as saying, by The Nation and other sources as well, that the passage of the bill will ultimately provide the needed legal framework for the execution of the new wage. His pleading for a fast track legislative process underscores that urgency.
The Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Olusegun Dada, disclosed this on his X handle, @DOlusegun, saying the new wage will be effective from April 2024 when assented to, and that workers would receive arrears from the said date.
Federal lawmakers, according to Senator representing Imo West, Osita Izunaso, would, under the same bill, extend the new wage to domestic workers, so the law will accommodate all.
Francis Okoye, APC chieftain, hailed President Tinubu over the commitment to workers’ welfare improvement in Nigeria, commending the interventional effort of the President to no small measure in the area of negotiation to resolve labour disputes.
This development means the standard of living of Nigerian workers would take a new turn as the national assembly is now left with the responsibility to transform the proposal into law.
