The federal government’s negotiating team and leaders of the national assembly have reportedly adopted N70,000 as the new national minimum wage.

A member of the tripartite committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity said President Bola Tinubu is expected to forward N62,000 but the lawmaker will increase it to N70,000
The source added that the approach was adopted since Governor Godwin Obaseki has started paying the N70,000 minimum wage in Edo state
There are indications that the national assembly may approve more than the N62,000 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is expected to send to them for approval.

The federal lawmakers just as they did in 2019 by increasing the minimum wage to N30,000 from N23,000, might jack it up to N70,000 as their own input.
According to ThisDay, a member of the tripartite committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed this.

“This scenario will play out when the national assembly gets the minimum wage bill any moment from now. The role to be played by the national assembly is one of, ‘we feel your pains and therefore considering the economic realities, we are increasing the minimum wage to N70,000’.
“Though some states will still insist that they cannot pay, the federal government will persuade the states to pay and where necessary give the states a bailout that will encourage them to commence payment, in the first instance.”

The federal government’s negotiating team and leaders of the national assembly were said to have adopted this position since Governor Godwin Obaseki has already started paying the N70,000 minimum wage in Edo state, Arise News reports.
It was also gathered that as part of this compromise, some governors were calling for a new revenue-sharing formula to enable them to pay both the new minimum wage and the consequential adjustments that could follow.

The NLC Head of Information, Comrade Benson Upah, said there is division in the ranks of the government team