Reps Pass For 2nd Reading Bill Seeking To Review National Minimum Wage Every 5 Years

Reps Pass For 2nd Reading Bill Seeking To Review National Minimum Wage Every 5 Years

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed for second reading a bill which seeks to review the National Minimum Wage every five years.

Leading the debate on the general principles, the sponsor of the bill, Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos), said the bill sought to provide for periodic review of the national minimum wage every five years.

Gbajabiamila, who doubles as the house leader, also blamed the continuous clamour for increased minimum wage by workers across the country on inflation.

“The minimum wage shall be subject to periodic review every five years and the first review shall be effective from January 1, 2017 irrespective of the day the bill comes into force,” he said.

Mr. Gbajabiamila described salary as a major component of workers’ welfare, adding that there was the need for a law to compel the federal government to effect a review.

The organised labour has in the past made a compelling case for an enhancement of the pay package of workers, citing spiral­ing inflation occasioned by the current economic recession and arguing that retention of the cur­rent minimum wage of N18,000 per month was insensitive and morally unjustifiable.

The NLC also proposed N56,000 monthly wage for the least paid worker, convinced that a new salary structure based on that minimum wage would shore up disposable incomes and lift workers out of the crushing pov­erty in which most of them have lived over the years.