The Nigerian Senate has approved N30,000 as the new national minimum wage, on Tuesday, 19th March.

This is coming after different strike actions and recently threathened along side various meetings, as well as contributions from Nigerians.

The approval came after submission of the report by ad hoc committee set up to review the minimum wage as headed by Senator Francis Alimikhena and taken at the plenary session on Tuesday.

A request was also made to the Nigerian government to submit a supplementary budget, which would include the structure of the new national minimum wage.

The House of Representatives had also earlier approved the new figure as the national minimum wage.

Speaking on the passage of the Bill, Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki commended the efforts of the Union and Labour leaders. He concluded with hope that it will increase productivity in the country.

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“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.”

(National Minimum Wage Act CAP N61 LFN (repeal and re-enactment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 722).