JUST IN: Senate, house of reps pass minimum wage bill in historic record time

The Nigerian senate and house of representatives  has passed the new national  minimum wage.

Both chambers passed the historic bill on Tuesday within an hour of its proceedings.

The bill passed first (President Bola Tinubu’s request), second (debate on general principles), and third readings on Tuesday in both upper and lower legislative chambers.

The legislation seeks to raise the country’s minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000.

Recall that  President Tinubu had last week approved the sum of N70,000 as the new minimum wage for the country’s working force after a series of negotiations with the leadership of the workers which includes the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC)

The bill is expected to be reviewed every three years.

It would also be recalled that President  Tinubu, last week asked the national assembly to increase the 2024 appropriation Act by N6.2 trillion.

The president said N3.2 trillion is for infrastructure projects and N3 trillion for recurrent expenditure.

While defending the president’s request before the house of representatives committee on appropriations on Monday, Atiku Bagudu, minister of budget and economic planning, said the N3 trillion is intended to cover the new national minimum wage.