The Senate on Tuesday passed the amendment to the National Minimum Wage Act by approving N18,000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers both in the public and private sectors. This was even as the Senate hinted of a possible amendment to the constitution to get the issue of wages removed from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.

Following the amendment made to Section 1 of the Bill, it shall be the duty of every employer except as provided for under the Principal Act as amended to pay a wage not less than the national minimum wage of N18,000 per month to every worker under its establishment.

The increase in the national minimum wage was done in 2004 to increase it from N5,000 to N7,500 just as President Goodluck Jonathan announced an increase to N18,000 last year.
In his presentation of the Bill for third reading, Senate Majority Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, noted that the Bill was read the first time on Wednesday, February 9, adding that the revision of the Act brought about a realistic penalty regime for violations of the Act.

Senator Folarin also recommended the alteration of the constitution to ensure the delisting of the minimum wage clause from the legislative exclusive list and listing it on the concurrent list, stressing that such an amendment would allow both the federal and state governments the free hands to negotiate wage increase matters with their workers separately as part of measures aimed at strengthening the nation’s fiscal federalism.

According to Senator Folarin: “The passage of this Bill will definitely improve the quality of life of the Nigerian workers and indeed the Nigerian society in the following ways: (i) It is an important motivation for increased productivity of workers; (ii) It will improve the quality of life of workers and their dependants; (iii) It will reduce the incidence of brain drain from the public service to the private sector; (iv) It will bring about industrial peace and harmony in the work place.”
Senators, however, had diverse opinions as to suggestion that the minimum wage be varied between the federal and state governments.
In his contribution to the debate before the passage of the Bill, Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP Kogi) said the N18,000 minimum recommended was too low when compare to the amount of resources accruing to the federal and state governments.

Senator Adeyemi, therefore, submitted that all states are in a position to pay the minimum wage if they stopped the mismanagement of resources due to them even as he recommended life sentence for leaders convicted for corruption charges.
Speaking in similar vein, Senator Ahmed Lawan (ANPP Yobe), said the minimum wage of N18,000 was still small in view of prevailing market forces, adding that besides increasing the minimum wage, Nigerian workers should be retrained to ensure that the increase in wage wasguaranteed by improved performance.
However, Senator Anyim Ude (PDP Ebonyi) urged his colleagues to ensure that an enabling environment was created that would enable the states pay what they could afford.