The National Minimum Wage Bill 2019 which was sent to the Senate by the Executive arm of government yesterday has passed first reading and it has been okay for second reading.
The accelerated reading and passage of the national minimum wage bill by the Senate as the members of the House decided to suspend their rules for the expeditious passage of the bill.
In the course of the debate during the first reading, a total of eleven (11) senators spoke and they all supported the bill hence its speedy passage during the first reading.
Most of the senators who spoke during the debate agreed that considering the current economic situation in the country, the proposed N27,000 national minimum wage is small. However, some of the senators expressed fears that some state governments might find it very difficult to meet up with their obligation to pay the new minimum wage of N27,000.
After the second reading an adhoc committee panel of seven (7) members headed by Senate Chief Whip, Sola Adeyeye was formed by the senate to thoroughly review the details of the bill and report to the house in two weeks.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who presided over the plenary dispel the rumours going round town that the minimum wage for federal worker would be N30,000 while that of state workers would be N27,000 by saying that the bill sent to the senate contained a single figure of N27,000 across board for federal and state government workers.
