A bill for National Minimum Wage Act 2011 (repeal and reenactment) of National Minimum Wage 2019 passed first and second reading
Thursday in the Senate.
The National Minimum Wage of N27,000 is an executive bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Senate Thursday.
Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan set the stage for accelerated consideration when he urged his colleagues to suspend their rule that said a bill must be read for the third time on different days before it can be passed into law.
Having achieved that, the bill was then read the first and second time Thursday and referred to an ad-hoc committee for further legislative action.
The ad-hoc committee has Senator Olusola Adeyeye (Osun central) as chairman with senators Abu Ibrahim (Katsina south), Shehu Sani (Kaduna central)and Sam Egwu (Ebonyi north) as members.
Other members of the committee are Senators Suleiman Adokwe (Nasarawa west), Francis Alimikhena (Edo north), Ade-Ola Olomilekan (Lagos west) and Binta Garba (Adamawa north).
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President who presided over the session made it clear that the bill before the Senate was that of N27,000 minimum wage for all workers, as against insinuation in some quarters that federal worker would be paid N30,000. Ekweremadu also said that a provision in the bill that organisations with staff strength of less than 25 be exempted from this law should not be allowed to stand as that will put many employees at the mercy of their employers.
Meanwhile, Senate has adjourned sitting till February 19, 2019, obviously to allow members go to their senatorial districts for campaigns for the 2019 general elections commencing on February 16, 2019.