Minimum wage undergoing review – Enang

The Presidency confirmed on Saturday that the New Minimum Wage Bill was transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari last week.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, stated this in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH in Abuja.

He said, “The New National Wage Bill as passed by the National Assembly has been transmitted to the Presidency this (last) week. The bill is currently undergoing standard procedures.”

The conference committee of both chambers of the National Assembly has passed the approved N30,000 as monthly minimum wage against the N27, 000 proposed by the executive.

While the Senate passed the legislation penultimate Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed it shortly before the federal parliament went on recess for the general elections in February.

The federal legislature appealed to the Federal Government not to allow the workers go on strike before its implementation.

The acting Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc Committee on National Minimum Wage Bill, Senator Francis Alimikhena, while delivering the report also said a fine of N75, 000 had been imposed on firms that refused to comply with the wage payment fine.

The panel also recommended the urgent review of the revenue sharing formula, which will enhance the states to pay the new minimum wage.

The committee urged the Minister of Finance and her counterparts in the Budget and National Planning to as a matter of urgency, compute and forward to the National Assembly, for inclusion in the 2019 budget, the actual amount required for the new minimum wage.

The Senate, in the Committee of the Whole, approved all the recommendations contained in the report.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, urged the Federal Government to pay the new minimum wage without delay instead of waiting for the workers to go on strike to demand the implementation.