MINIMUM WAGE: Reps fault Council of State for approving N27,000

Members of the House of Representatives have faulted the Council of State for approving N27,000 as new minimum wage for workers in the country instead of the N30,000 agreement between government, organized labour and the private sector.

The lawmakers, at plenary on Thursday, insisted on adopting the amount proposed by the tripartite committee, whose report was presented to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaker of the House, Mr Yakubu Dogara, read a letter by Buhari to the legislature, seeking an amendment to the Minimum Wage Act 1981, to reflect a new minimum wage of N27,000.

According to the President, the amount was proposed by the tripartite committee and ratified by the Council of State.

After reading the letter, the Speaker said the N30,000, which was proposed by the tripartite committee, and which Federal Government said it would pay its workers in the lower cadre, was not reflected in the letter.

The Speaker therefore asked that the bill be gazetted and considered for second hearing same day.

According to him, the bill would be referred to an ad hoc committee, which was expected to conduct a public hearing on Monday, while the lawmakers would reconvene to pass it on Tuesday.

Read also: Minimum Wage Bill scales First, Second Reading in Senate

During the second reading of the bill, most of the lawmakers who participated in the debate dismissed a N27,000 minimum wage as too meagre, considering the current economic realities.

They also criticised the Council of State for its alleged unconstitutional approval of a wage for Nigerian workers.

Contributing to the debate, the Deputy Chief Whip, Mr Pally Iriase, called for the approval of N30,000 wage for workers.

He said: “The Nigerian worker earns too much less. Go to the market, because of the noise of N30,000, go and price the items today. But now, it is N27,000.

“This bill must be dealt with in accordance with what the tripartite committee came up with. Not even Mr President himself could deny what the tripartite committee presented.”

Continuing, Iriase said: “The revenue allocation formula is overdue for a review”, charging his colleagues to “stand up for once” in defence of workers.

“Mr Speaker, N30,000 will be what this House will pass. This House should pass N30,000 instead of this rigmarole,” Iriase stated.

Another lawmaker, Mr Oluwole Oke, said: “I want to observe that no Nigerian worker earns a minimum wage. I’ve tried to compare the minimum wage here with other climes and arrived at an average of N900, assuming the worker works for eight hours. The N27,000 is grossly inadequate.”

In his own contribution, Mr Chika Adamu, noted that an increase in the minimum wage was a welcome development, but insisted that “the N27,000 arrived at is grossly inadequate.”

He contended that the economic indices and the imminent rise in the prices of commodities as well as the move by the Federal Government to impose new taxes as part of its revenue drive, would not make a N27,000 wage realistic.

“This money is grossly inadequate. By the economic indices that we have on the ground, this money will have no value by the end of the year,” Adamu stated.

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