The Federal Government has explained why it is yet to transmit the New Minimum Wage Bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage, several months after the tripartite committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari concluded its assignment.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige gave the update on Monday after a crucial meeting with Organized Labour in Abuja. He disclosed that the Federal Government was making effort to speed up the process of transmitting the bill despite the challenge of time.
“We have made progress and tomorrow (Tuesday), we will know the definite date when the bill will be transmitted to the National Assembly. It has been difficult to arrive at a date because there are processes to follow on the bill.
“We have to go to the Federal Executive Council with a council memo on the bill. After that, we will go to the National Economic Council and the Council of State.
“We can control the Federal Executive Council date, the same with NEC, but for the National Council of State, the President has to look at his own timetable and we inform past heads of state and justice of the federation.
“This can take two weeks but we are trying to see if we can accommodate all these meetings by next week because we cannot do Council of State meeting again this week. Immediately after that meeting (Council of State), we will transmit.”
