By Goodluck Ikiebe, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has signed the new Minimum Wage Act into law.
Tinubu signed the new law at 2 pm, today at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The brief ceremony was witnessed by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, and the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, who represented the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
It came nearly two weeks after President Bola Tinubu and the organised labour unions, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, agreed on N70,000 as the new minimum wage.
Akpabio, who briefed State House Correspondents after the signing ceremony, said, “I’m ecstatic. I’m excited about the Nigerian worker and the national minimum wage amendment, which applies to the whole nation: The Federal Government, the states, the local governments, the private sector, and even individual employers.
“So, I think this is a great day for the workers in the country. We are not only doubling the minimum wage, but we have added something on top. Initially, it was N30,000; now, it is N70,000.”
He emphasised that N70,000 is the new minimum wage, which means “No Nigerian worker will offer services and be paid anything less than N70,000 from today. That is the implication of this Act. It applies all over the nation. And we are excited that this is happening at a time like this through President Bola Tinubu.
“Like I said, this is not the maximum. Any employer with a capacity can pay as much as you want.
“And you’ve seen what we are doing in the National Assembly. When it came, the entire National Assembly moved and passed the bill in one day out of excitement. We felt that this was not something we could delay.
The Senate President also said President Tinubu will sign the 2024 budget amendment bill into law on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
“We have gone very far with it. And I expect that it will be signed by Wednesday,” Akpabio responded when asked about the reviewed Act meant to finance the new minimum wage.
On July 15, the Federal Executive Council mandated the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning to prepare a bill to amend the 2024 Budget.
A week later, Tinubu wrote the Senate requesting it to amend the 2024 Appropriation Act and the 2023 Finance Act by increasing the budget by ₦6.2trn.
Tinubu’s letter was addressed to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and read at plenary. The President said the move was under Section 58, sub-section two of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
The Senate approved the ₦6.2trn amendment to the 2024 Appropriation Act, raising the year’s national budget from ₦28.7trn to ₦35.055trn.
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