President Muhammadu Buhari says a bill on the implementation of the new minimum wage would soon be sent to the National Assembly for passage, Punch reports. Buhari made this known while presenting the 2019 Budget before the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday.
He assured that he was committed to addressing the minimum wage issue, saying he had directed the setting up of a technical committee to look at the mode of implementation.
“To avoid a crisis, it is important to devise ways to ensure that its implementation does not lead to an increase in the level of borrowing.
“I am accordingly setting up a high powered technical committee to advise on ways to fund an increase in the minimum wage and attendant wage adjustments without having to resort to additional borrowing.
“The work of the committee will be the basis of the finance bill which will be submitted to the national assembly alongside the minimum wage bill.”
He explained that the Committee would fashion out modalities for the implementation of the new minimum wage. According to him, the move is to minimize inflationary impact as well as ensure that the introduction of the new minimum wage does not lead to job losses.
