Against Buhari’s recommendation, Reps approve N30,000 minimum wage

The House of Representatives has approved a new national minimum wage of N30,000 for Nigerian workers.

The president, Muhammadu Buhari has written to the lawmakers recommending N27,000 as the new national minimum wage.

The approval came after the lawmakers adopted the report of the ad hoc committee set up on the New Minimum Wage Bill presented to the National Assembly by President Buhari on Thursday.

A tripartite committee set up by Buhari had recommended N30,000 as a new minimum wage.

The sum was fiercely kicked against by Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), who argued that it would not be possible for its members to pay the proposed amount as many states struggle to pay the current N18,000 minimum wage.

However, after the meeting of the Council of State last week, N27,000 was approved as the new minimum wage for workers in Nigeria and President Buhari afterwards forwarded the bill to the National Assembly for approval.

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Earlier on Monday, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had argued that even the N30,000 minimum wage organised labour was demanding for its members was a meager amount.

Today (Tuesday), the New Minimum Wage Bill was passed for the third reading and the lawmakers unanimously approved the N30,000 recommendation by the House committee in consonance with the resolution by the tripartite committee set up by the President.

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