For those who thought it was one of his usual rude jokes, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, did not appear to mince words when he said that paying anything less than N70, 000 monthly to house helps, drivers and sundry domestic staff by the so-called “big men” is punishable under the new minimum wage law passed by the NASS.
Akpabio, emerging from the backlash of a recent tantrum against Senator Natasha Akpotu-Uduaghan, had no apologies for his fellow big-men, warning that those who fail to pay a minimum wage of N70,000 to those they have employed to be at their beck and call, to prepare for the consequences, as it is now the minimum amount any worker can earn and it applies to all workers, not just those in government jobs.
“The bill states that if you’re a tailor and you employ additional hand, you cannot pay the person below N70, 000. Even if you’re a mother and you have a newborn child and you want to bring in a housemaid to look after your child, you cannot pay him/her below N70, 000. It is not maximum wage. It applies to all and sundry. “If you have a driver or a gateman, you cannot pay them below N70, 000”, Akpabio clarified.
“So I’m very delighted that this has been passed and I look forward to employers of labour going ahead to improve on what has been set as a benchmark for all workers.
It was earlier reported that the National Assembly approved the new minimum wage bill of N70,000 for Nigerian workers during Tuesday’s plenary session. The bill which was proposed by President Bola Tinubu came after months of negotiations between the federal government and the organized labour.
On their part, Labour initially proposed the sum of N495, 000 as the new minimum wage, only to reduce it to N250,000 after initially meeting with the minimum wage committee.
However, following a couple of meetings with President Bola Tinubu, labour, they agreed on N70, 000, prompting the President to send a new minimum wage bill to the NASS.
