Senate Set To Scrap N18,500 Minimum Wage

As the Senate commence debate and voting on the report of its adhoc committee on the review of the 1999 constitution, the upper legislative chamber is set to scrap the N18,500 national minimum wage, Daily Trust can reveal.

The N18,500 national minimum wage bill was passed by the National Assembly in 2011 and was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan in March of same year.

However, the Senate Constitution Review Committees (SCRC) has adopted a recommendation seeking to remove wages from the Exclusive Legislative List in the second schedule to the 1999 constitution.

The Senate committee report presented early in the month by deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu is seeking to devolve more powers to the 36 States of the Federation by moving some items including wages from the 68 items contain in the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list to allow States’ Houses of Assembly legislate on it.

The committee further called for devolution of more powers to the 36 states by removing arbitration, aviation, environment, health care, land and agriculture, prisons, public complaints, railways, road safety, stamp duties, wages and youth matters from the exclusive legislative list putting it under the concurrent legislative list to allow states to establish and maintain prisons, railways, airports among others.

Source : Daily Trust