House of Reps reject N27,000 as the new minimum wage

– The House of Representatives have rejected the sum of N27,000 proposed by the council of states as the new minimum wage

– According to the Lawmakers, the Government and Labour had earlier agreed on N30,000

Yakubu, Dogara, Speaker of the House of Reps, today read a letter sent to the legislative body by Pres. Buhari seeking amendment to the Minimum Wage Act 1981 that will see the minimum wage rise from N18,000 to N27,000.

The Nigerian House of Representatives during the plenary however, rejected the new minimum wage of N27,000 proposed by the National Council of State.

According to the lower legislative house, the Government and the Labour Unions had previously agreed on N30,000 as the expected minimum wage.

The House of Reps noted that they were ready to instead adopt N30,000 which was proposed by the tripartite committee.

According to a statement by the Deputy Chief Whip, Mr. Pally Iriase, he said that the Nigerian workers earned too less and instead called for the approval of N30,000 wage for workers.

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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.”

The Chief whip also urged his fellow lawmakers to come to the rescue of the Nigerians worker.

Earlier on, the Nigerian Labour Congres NLC and Trade Union Congress TUC have rejected N27,000 as the new minimum wage.

The NLC has, however, threatened to shut down the country’s economy if their demand are not met.