Labour Reacts As Buhari Signs New Minimum Wage Bill Into Law

The Organized Labour has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the National Minimum Wage Amendment Act into law.

Naija News had reported earlier that the President signed the new national minimum wage bill into law on Thursday, April 18.

This online news platform recalls that the Nigerian Senate approved and passed the sum of N30,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers on March 19.

The House of Representatives had also earlier adopted the N30,000 figure and passed the bill.

On Thursday, the President signed the much-anticipated bill into law putting an end to the initial N18,000 minimum wage.

Speaking on the development, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, said the signing of the new minimum wage by the President had made it compulsory for employers of labour to pay N30,000 as the monthly minimum wage.

“You can see me smiling on behalf of Nigerian workers. President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the Minimum Wage Repel and Enactment Act, 2019,” he said.

“This makes it compulsory for all employers of labour in Nigeria to pay to their workers the sum of N30, 000.

“This excludes persons who are employing less than 25 workers, persons who work in a ship which sails out of jurisdiction and other persons who are in other kinds of regulated employment which are accepted by the Act.

“It also gives workers the right if you are compelled by any circumstance to accept salary that is less than N30, 000 to sue your employer to recover the balance.”

Reacting to the development, Bobboi Kaigama, the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), said the signing of the bill was long overdue.

“We want to appreciate Mr President for assenting to the Bill on the National Minimum Wage. We also want to use this opportunity to congratulate Nigerian workers,” he stated.

“We also want to use this opportunity to tell the Nigerian workers that the battle for the actualisation of N30,000 minimum wage is not yet over.

“We still have to wait for the template to be released by the National Salaries and Wages Commission.

“We want our members to be very calm and await the release of the table and also the consequential increases.”

The TUC President, however, said “that the states and local governments will have issues on the implementation. That is why I said the battle has started.

“We will begin to hear from states’ government how they will announce the implementation and which of the states that will have one obstacle or the other, and we plan how to confront those governments.

“The Nigerian workers also expect that by May they should start enjoying the new wage and I am sure the implementation has started from today and we also start counting the areas from today.”