Members of the House of
Representatives on Thursday faulted the Council of State for approving N27,000
as the new minimum wage when the agreement reached by the government, organised
labour and the private sector was N30,000.
The lawmakers, therefore,
expressed their readiness to adopt the N30,000 proposed by the tripartite
committee, whose report was presented to President Muhammadu Buhari.
At the plenary on Thursday, the
Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, had read a letter by President Buhari to the
legislature, seeking an amendment to the Minimum Wage Act 1981, to reflect a
new minimum wage of N27,000.
The President said the amount was
proposed by the tripartite committee and ratified by the Council of State.
The Deputy Chief Whip, Mr. Pally
Iriase, called for the approval of N30,000 wage for workers.
He said in part, “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.”
While saying that “the revenue
allocation formula is overdue for a review, the lawmaker charged 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.
Similarly, 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.”
Also, Mr. Chika Adamu, who noted
that an increase in the minimum wage was a welcome development, said, “The
N27,000 arrived at is grossly inadequate.”
According to him, 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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