The House of Representatives is set to review the National Minimum Wage Act, 2004 and the Allocation of Revenue Act 2004 with the second reading passage of their respective Amendment Bills at plenary yesterday.
The Bill for an Act to Amend the National Minimum Wage Act CAP. N.16 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 was sponsored by Hon. Peter Akpatason. If passed into
law, the bill seeks to exclude the establishments that have foreign participation from the list of establishments exempted from the payment of national minimum wage.
While a Bill for an Act to amend the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, etc) Act 2004 and matters connected therewith sponsored by Hon. Edward Pwajok, seeks to ensure that all Local Governments in the States are democratically constituted before disbursements are made to such states.
Leading the debate on the Bill to amend the National Minimum Wage Act, Akpatason said in addition to broadening the scope of participation to incorporate more categories of Nigerian workers eligible to benefit from minimum wage payment, the proposed amendments also represent a “clear demonstration of the determination of this 8th Assembly to address the issue of obsolete laws, in support of the ‘change’ agenda of this government.”
One of the major amendments to the principal Act is to substitute number of workers from 50 with 20 in Sub-section 1(a) of the Act, so any company that employs up to 20 workers will be eligible to pay the mandatory minimum wage.
The Bill was subsequently passed for second reading and referred to the relevant House committee for further legislative inputs preparatory to its third reading and eventual passage into law.
Meanwhile, Hon. Pwajok while leading the debate on the Amendment Bill for the Allocation Revenue Act, said there has been a loud public outcry on the abuse of the money allocated to the Local Governments in the country by state governments.
He added that the Bill if passed to law, aims at deepening democracy and ensuring respect for the Constitution by all tiers of government.
Dogara to Lawmakers: Go Pick your copies of Budget Document now
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has insisted that the 2016 Budget document is not missing or stolen as being insinuated.
Dogara said at the beginning of yesterday’s plenary that the purported missing of the 2016 Budget was a figment of the imagination of those behind the false report.
He therefore directed the clerk of the House, Mr. Sani Omolori, to display the Budget document to members, adding that information that could not be verified should not be circulated, but rather clarification should be sought on matters that are not clear.
Dogara also directed members to immediately get their personal copies of the Budget from the secretariat of a relevant committee of the House.
He said, “All members should send their staff with valid identification to the Appropriation Committee office to pick up copies of the 2016 Budget.”
Senate To Distribute Copies of 2016 Budget today
In a related development, the Senate has said that copies of the 2016 budget allegedly said to be missing will be made available to Senators today.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who stated this yesterday, said the Senate would begin deliberations on the 2016 budget next week Tuesday.
He added that a panel of inquiry set up to ascertain the true position of the budget was yet to submit its report.
Saraki stated this, following a point of order raised by Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) that the Senate must make clarification on the status of the 2026 budget.
Responding, Saraki said, “Because of the importance of this, I will make an exception. You know we are all part of the decision at the close session yesterday and part of that decision we are still waiting for those we have referred to carry out the assignment to come back to us.
“I think they will come back to us by tomorrow (today) and we will go into a closed session and finish up the report and we will be able to debate it properly.
“The consideration of the 2016 budget will commence on Tuesday next week. Senators are encouraged to prepare themselves for the exercise. The copies of the budget will distributed to Senators on Thursday, 15 January, 2016”.
Budget not missing- Senate Spokesman
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media And Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, has insisted that the 2016 budget was not missing from the Senate.
According to Abdullahi, no statement made by any senator during the plenary yesterday could be interpreted to mean an admission that the 2016 budget is missing.
Insisting that the budget was not missing, he added that the Senate will today (Thursday) distribute copies of the budget to all the Senators so as to arm them to properly contribute to the debate which will take place between Tuesday. January 19 to Thursday, January 21, 2015.
He said: “We have reeled out our time table for working on the budget. So, how can the same budget be missing? The Senate President never said or admitted that the budget is missing and there was nothing that he said while presiding over the plenary that could be logically interpreted to mean an admission that the budget is missing.
“The media should please avoid unnecessary sensationalism. We assure Nigerians that our timetable of completing work on the budget by February ending remains sacrosanct and we will work assiduously to achieve it”.
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