President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the new minimum wage bill of N70,000 at the State House in Abuja on Monday days after the National Assembly National had passed the Minimum Wage Act, 2019 to increase the National Minimum Wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by a National Assembly delegation led by the President of the Senate Godswill Akpabio and Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, among others, and some members of the House of Representatives who were around to witness the ground-breaking event.
Following the signing, the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters Basheer Lado said the move is a promise kept. Recall that the Labour unions had initially proposed ₦494,000 as a new minimum wage with the government offering ₦60,000. After negotiations, the workers demanded ₦250,000 while the government shifted grounds to N62,000. However, on July 18, the Federal Government and the unions reached a consensus figure of ₦70,000.
Basheer Lado proudly said “The signing of the minimum wage bill into law by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is both a promise kept and a demonstration of his people-centric governance model,” he said in a statement. “Tinubu promised to pay a living wage to Nigerian workers during his electioneering campaigns and he has kept that promise.”
The Minister of Information Mohammed Idris told State House correspondents after a meeting between government officials, and labour leaders, “We are happy to announce today (Thursday) that both the organised labour and the Federal Government have agreed on an increase on the N62,000 minimum wage. The new national minimum that Mr President is expected to submit to the National Assembly is ₦70,000,”
