Just like National Anthem, pass new minimum wage Act – Falana urges NASS

Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has urged the National Assembly to quickly pass legislation to establish a revised minimum wage that is in line with the country’s present economic circumstances, as they did recently for the national anthem.

According to him, the National Minimum Wage Act of 2019 has expired, necessitating a study and passage of a new law to that effect by all levels of government.

“Pursuant to the National Minimum Wage Act 2019, the national minimum wage was fixed at N30,000. By virtue of section 3(4) of the Act 2019 the national minimum wage expires after five years, and it shall be reviewed in line with the provisions of this Act.

“Since the commencement date of the Act was the 18th day of April 2019, the national minimum wage of N30,000 has since expired.

He added that the Federal Government had announced an additional N35,000 wage award (wage subsidy) for six months, following the removal of the fuel subsidy. starting from 1 September 2023.

However, the Federal Government turned around to offer a minimum wage of N48,000 which led to the commencement of an indefinite strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress due to the failure of government and other employers of labour to pay a realistic new minimum wage to Nigerian workers.

Falana continued, “However, it has been reported that the leaders of the National Assembly have intervened in the planned strike.

“The National Assembly should, therefore, speedily pass a new National Minimum Wage Act like the new National Anthem Act that was enacted within 48 hours, last week.”