House divided as bill to decentralise minimum wage reaches second reading

The House of Representatives is seeking to decentralise the payment of minimum wage to workers in the country. This would mean each tier of government would pay its employees according to its financial capacity.
At a plenary session of the House held on Tuesday, Rep. Garba Datti from Kaduna state sponsored a bill seeking to transfer the minimum wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List.
The long title of the bill is “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), to amongst others, Transfer the Subject Matter of Minimum Wage Prescription from the Exclusive Legislative List set out under Part I of the Second Schedule to the Concurrent Legislative List set out under Part II of the Second Schedule; and for Related Matters.”
The argument presented by Mr. Datti is that wage payment should be decentralised to allow each state to pay according to its financial capacity, noting that states like Rivers State and Zamfara state could not pay the same amount for minimum wage as their resource capacities differ.
Arguing against the move was the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman, who posited that misplaced priorities was the reason some state governments were unable to pay the minimum wage.
The house was divided over the bill as arguments ensued, however, the bill has been passed for its second reading.
In April 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the new minimum wage bill into law, thus increasing the minimum wage by 62.2 percent, from N18,500 to N30,000.
However, most states have yet to implement the new wage as they cannot afford it. Last week, The Nigeria Labour Congress directed workers in 18 states where the national minimum wage of N30,000 had yet to be paid to proceed on strike.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Politics
2027: Set aside ego, back Makinde for president, APM guber candidate tells Obi, Atiku
Mr Makinde, the governor of Oyo State, had declared his intention to run for the presidency under the APM.
![Delta Governor, RT. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori [Photo: Facebook/ Sheriff]](https://gazettengr.com/wp-content/uploads/Delta-Governor-RT.-Hon-Sheriff-Oborevwori-Facebook-Sheriff.png)
States
Delta governor donates five operational vehicles to correctional service
‎The governor urged the state controller of corrections to maintain the vehicles properly and deploy them for official use.

NationWide
IMF projects 3.0% global growth in 2026, 4.1% for Nigeria
The report noted that oil-importing and non-resource-intensive economies would be more adversely affected by higher energy and food prices.

NationWide
Air Peace expands routes with Embraer E175
The disclosure was made in a statement by the airline’s spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey, on Wednesday in Lagos.

States
Windstorm kills three, displaces 5,403 Jigawa residents
The secretary said the state government distributed relief items to the affected persons to ease their sufferings.

States
2027 Hajj: Yobe pegs N7.5 million as initial deposit
The chairman warned members of the public against entrusting money to unauthorised individuals claiming to facilitate hajj registration.





