I’m committed to new minimum wage – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday expressed his commitment to having new National Minimum Wage Act for the country.

He spoke while receiving the report of the Tripartite Committee on the Review of National Minimum Wage that recommended N30,000 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.He received the report from the committee’s chairman, Amal Pepple.

He said that having seen the argument of the government team on insisting on N24,000 and that of the organized labour that agreed N30,000, he would put in place the necessary machinery that would close out the open areas.

He said “Our plan is to transmit the Executive Bill to the National Assembly for passage within the shortest possible time. I am fully committed to having a new National Minimum Wage Act in the very near future.

“Let me use this opportunity to recognize the leadership of the organized labour and private sector as well as representatives of state and federal government for all your hard work. The fact that we are here today is a notable achievement.”

President Buhari expressed delight that the committee had successfully completed its assignments in a peaceful and non-controversial manner.

He said, “On 27th November 2017, I inaugurated the National Minimum Wage Committee with a mandate to recommend a new minimum wage for the workers of our country.

“This exercise became necessary for many reasons. The last review took place in 2011. We all know since then, the prices of key consumables have increased and the most vulnerable of our workers are struggling to make ends meet.

“Since 2011, many changes have taken place. Nigeria rebased its GDP to become the largest economy in Africa. We reported very strong GDP growth rates and exceptional performance of our capital markets. However, these reported successes did not flow into the pockets and homes of majority of Nigerians.

“In the last three years, we focused on correcting this deficiency. We are working to create a diversified and inclusive economy.

“We are pushing to clear pension arrears owed to our retired workers with the limited resources available to us.

We supported State Governments to pay workers salary. And of course, we set up a committee  in order to review new minimum wage.