Implement New Minimum Wage, May 1, Labour Tells Govt …As Senate Approves N30,000 Wage For All Workers …FG Mulls Increase In VAT, TAX To Pay New Wage

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Federal Government to commence the implementation of the new National Minimum Wage for workers in the country before the May Day Celebration.
Acting President of NLC, Mr Najeem Yasin, said this in an interview with newsmen, yesterday, in Abuja.
He commended the Senate for approving the minimum wage bill of N30,000, yesterday, and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to quickly sign the bill into law.
Yasin said, “We commend the Senate for passing the minimum wage bill of N30,000 but the battle for the minimum wage was not yet over; workers will not rest until the bill is signed and implemented.
“But it is not yet over because we want them to make sure that the process gets to the logical conclusion and for the quick implementation of that N30,000. Nigerian workers are happy and commend them.
“We want the Federal Government to ensure its implementation before the May Day celebration, which is the Workers Day celebration. The government should greet workers with the commencement of the implementation,” the labour leader said.
Yasin, who is also the National President of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), called on the federal government to ensure effective sanctions for employers who refused to implement the N30,000 National Minimum Wage.
“We have been fighting for this N30,000 for a long time and the governors have been opposed to it. But now, it has been passed. Nigerian workers are now looking forward to the signing the bill into law,” Yasin said.
Also, the NLC Deputy President, Mr Amechi Asugwuni, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to follow the path of honour and immediately sign into law the new pay rise document once he received it.
Asugwuni, however, disagreed on call by the Senate for a review of the Revenue Sharing formulae which gave Federal Government 56 per cent, states 24 and local government 20 per cent.
He argued that the minimum wage bill was an independent bill which should not be subjected to adjustments in sharing formulae by the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission.
According to him, such calls could further slow down the already overdue implementation of the new minimum wage.
Also, President, United Labour Congress (ULC), Mr Joe Ajaero commended the Senate for the passage of the N30,000 minimum wage.
Ajaero called on the Federal Government to ensure that the process of the national minimum wage implementation should not be beyond March and April.
“Government should ensure that this year’s May Day should be a day to celebrate the implementation of the national minimum wage. I want to say that by May 1, all employers of labour should have implemented it,” he added.
In the same vein, following the struggle by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for increase of workers’ minimum wage, the Senate, yesterday, approved the payment of N30,000 as the new minimum wage for both federal and state government workers in the country.
The upper chamber, yesterday, passed the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the National Minimum Wage on the National Minimum Wage Act CAP N61 LFN (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 722).
The Bill, which was laid and presented by Senator Francis Alimikhena, set the new minimum wage at N30,000.
Speaking on the passage of the Bill, President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki said, “Let me join our colleagues to commend the efforts of the committee. More importantly, let me commend the patience of Nigerian workers and the leadership of the labour union, who have over the years been calling for this minimum wage and have carried their efforts responsibly.
“I want to commend the leaders of the organisations of the union. Let me also state that as government, we should ensure that at times like these, we should not wait for there to be strikes to do what is truly deserving for our workers.
“I hope that with this minimum wage our workers will double their efforts to increase their productivity, so that we can also improve the general productivity of the country. It is my hope that the implementation of this will start immediately,” the Senate president said.
However, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, yesterday, appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance, and hinted that the Federal Government was considering, among others, an upward review of the Value Added Tax to enable it to fund the new national minimum wage.
Udoma also told the panel headed by Senator John Owan-Enoh that the Technical Advisory Committee on the Minimum Wage will submit its report to President Muhammadu Buhari, this week.
He said, “The current minimum wage of N18,000 is really too low. It is difficult for workers to manage on that amount.
“The president supported a review, but it is important that as we are revising it, we should be able to fund it.
“It is in the light of this that we would be coming to you (Senate) because there may be the need to make some changes, especially the VAT, in order to fund the minimum wage once it is announced.”
He also said efforts were on, too, to ensure that capital projects and other sectors of the economy are adequately funded.
Meanwhile, the Senate, yesterday, concluded debate on the principles of the 2019 Appropriation Bill and passed the Second Reading of the Bill.
With this, the Appropriation Bill has now been sent the relevant Appropriation Sub-committees of the Senate for the budget defence and presentation by Ministers and other Heads of ministries, department and agencies of the Federal Government.
Speaking at the end of the debate, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, thanked his colleagues for participating in the debate, while also stating that there was a need for the nation to continue to plug the leakages from the independent revenue sources.
The Senate president said, “The most important issue now is for us to see how we can complete the process.
“I want to make a strong appeal to all members of the Subcommittees on Appropriation to ensure that you all immediately start receiving presentations. At the same time, all Ministers, Heads of Agencies and Departments should ensure that they promptly attend the budget presentations when they are called in — so that there will be no delays coming from them.
“Ministers and Heads of MDAs should know that this is not the time to travel. This is the time to be around.
“Because of the short timeframe, Distinguished Senators should let us know of any MDA that you have called for presentations who have not attended for one reason or the other, so that this can be done by the 2nd of April when we hope to consider the final Report by the Appropriation Committee.”
Similarly, the House of Representatives has suspended plenary to April 2 to enable members engage Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at committee level on the defense of 2019 budget proposal.
This was sequel to a unanimous adoption of a motion by the Majority Leader of the House, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC-Lagos) at the plenary, yesterday.
In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker of House, Rep. Yussuf Lassun (APC-Osun), urged all the standing committees to work and conclude budget defense before May.
He said that the 2019 Appropriation Bill should be ready for passage upon resumption of the House in May.

Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja