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JUST IN: President Tinubu Sends N70,000 Minimum Wage Bill To NASS, Payment To Take Effect From April 2024

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Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Tuesday transmitted a national minimum wage bill to the House of Representatives in the National Assembly for consideration and passage.

The President of Nigeria and the leadership of the Organised Labour reached a consensus last Thursday, agreeing on a new minimum wage of ₦70,000 for Nigerian workers.

This agreement marks a significant development in the ongoing efforts to review and adjust the minimum wage, ensuring fair compensation for workers across the country.

The consensus was reached after negotiations between the President and the leadership of the Organised Labour, representing various trade unions and worker associations.

Information Minister Mohammed Idris had said “the new national minimum that Mr President is expected to submit to the National Assembly is ₦70,000”.

The truce between the government and labour sides followed a series of talks between labour leaders and the President in the last few weeks after months of failed talks between labour organs and a tripartite committee on minimum wage constituted by the President in January.

The committee, which comprised state and federal governments and the Organised Private Sector, had proposed ₦62,000 while labour insisted on ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage for workers who currently earn ₦30,000 as minimum wage.

Labour had said ₦30,000 was unsustainable for any worker going by the economic vagaries of inflation and high cost of living which followed the removal of petrol subsidy by the President.

Despite its initial insistence on ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage, Labour accepted the President’s offer of ₦70,000 last Thursday.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said Labour accepted ₦70,000 and rejected a proposal by President Bola Tinubu to pay ₦250,000 minimum wage on a condition to increase petrol prices.

He also said Labour agreed to the ₦70,000 offer because minimum wage won’t be reviewed once in five years anymore but once every three years.

The transmission of the wage bill came about six weeks after the President said in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, that an executive bill on the new national minimum wage for workers would be sent to the National Assembly for passage.

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