Calls for review of revenue sharing formula
The Senate on Tuesday approved N30, 000 as the new national minimum wage and imposed a fine of N75, 000 on firms that fail to pay the agreed wage.
The acting chairman of the senate ad-hoc committee on National Minimum Wage Bill, Senator Francis Alimikhena who announced this while delivering the report of the committee appealed to the federal government to start the implementation of the minimum wage immediately to prevent the organised labour from embarking on strike to demand payment.
The committee also recommended the urgent review of the revenue-sharing formula, which will enhance the states to pay the new minimum wage.
Under the current sharing formula, the federal government takes the lion’s share of 52.68 per cent from the federation account.
The 36 states take 26.72 per cent while the balance of 20.60 per cent is given to the 774 local governments in the country.
The committee urged the minister of finance and her counterpart in the budget and national planning to as a matter of urgency, compute and forward to the National Assembly, for inclusion in the 2019 budget, the actual amount required for the new minimum wage.
Reacting, the senate leader, Mr. Ahmad Lawan, wondered why the fine for non-compliance jumped from N5, 000 as recommended by the executive to N75, 000.
However, he applauded the federal government for fulfilling its promise to the Nigerian workers and urged the organised labour to reciprocate the gesture by being more productive.
While Senator James Manager described as “unfortunate” the inability of some state governments to pay the N18, 000 minimum wage, senate minority leader, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi, noted that the review of the revenue-sharing formula would enable more state governments to pay the new wage.
For his part, Senator Barnabas Gemade noted that the bill was passed promptly to show that the national assembly was committed to the welfare of the workers while Senator Andrew Uchendu would want the tripartite committee to hold regular meetings with a view to constantly reviewing the minimum wage.
The Senate in the committee of the whole approved all the recommendations contained in the report.
Senate president, Bukola Saraki, urged the federal government to pay the new minimum wage without delay instead of waiting for the workers to go on strike to demand the implementation.
