N’Assembly postpones minimum wage bill transmission to Monday

The National Assembly has delayed the transmission of the minimum wage bill and may send it to President Bola Tinubu by Monday, findings by Sunday PUNCH have revealed.

The bill, which underwent second and third readings in both legislative chambers of the National Assembly within minutes of being transmitted by the President, was approved separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The National Assembly had said it would transmit the bill on Thursday, however, the bill had yet to be transmitted to the presidency for assent.

Speaking to our correspondent on Saturday, the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, Senator Abdullahi Gumel, confirmed that the bill was yet to be transmitted as earlier planned.

 He said, “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 further noted that the leadership of the National Assembly also wanted to personally deliver the bills to the president.

He added, “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.”

The President had through a letter sent the Minimum Wage Bill an executive communication 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, to reflect the new minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000.

Additionally, the President requested the lawmakers to reduce the period for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years.

This followed the agreement reached by Tinubu and labour leaders on N70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers after a meeting at the Aso Presidential Villa, Abuja.