Minimum Wage: National Assembly May Propose Seizure Of Allocations To States, LGs

The National Assembly could even consider seizing allocations of states and local governments that fail to comply with the new minimum wage, Punch reports.

The lawmakers are looking for ways to ensure that states, local governments, and the Organised Private Sector stop defaulting in the payment of the approved minimum wage.

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This is as the National Assembly announced plans to include a clause that will provide clear sanctions for defaulters of the new minimum wage bill that will be passed after receiving the Wage Award Bill from President Bola Tinubu.

This was made known by the Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, who explained that lawmakers would expedite the passage of the Wage Award Bill once President Tinubu sent it.

He also hinted that the President would send the bill after the National Assembly resumed from the Sallah recess on July 2.

In his Democracy Day broadcast on Wednesday, the President had promised to forward a bill on the new minimum wage to the National Assembly soon.

The Federal Government and labour unions have been at odds over the new minimum wage, with union leaders demanding N250,000. Meanwhile, the Federal Government and the OPS countered with an offer of N62,000, while state governors maintained that they could not sustain a minimum wage higher than N60,000.

Labour unions have repeatedly dismissed the government’s offer, labelling it a “starvation wage”.

The Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Chris Onyeka, stated that Organised Labour would not accept the latest offer of N62,000 or the N100,000 proposal suggested by some individuals and economists.