Senate: No plan to seize states’ allocation over refusal to pay new minimum wage

The chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu has dismissed reports of a plot by the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly to include a clause for seizure of states and local council funds in the New Minimum Wage Bill being proposed by the executive.

A section of the media had reported that federal lawmakers were proposing to the inclusion of the clause when the bill is brought before the Senate.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, Adaramodu dismissed the report as
baseless.

According to him, it defies logic to assume that the Senate would take a position on a Bill that is yet to presented to it for consideration.

Adaramodu said, “Mr. President in his national broadcast on Democracy Day only informed Nigerians that he would soon send the New Minimum Wage Bill to us.

“No one among us, not even the Senate President, knows the content of the Bill.
How can we take a position on a document that we haven’t even sighted?

“During my interface with some journalists, who approached me for an interview as part of activities to mark the one year anniversary of the 10th National Assembly, I did not at any point, state that the allocations belonging to States and Local Governments will be seized.

“Nigeria is a federation, with sub-national governments that are autonomous. The misleading headline by The Punch Newspaper that allocations belonging to States and local councils will be seized is false and should be disregarded.

“We are still awaiting the Executive Bill and once we have it, it will go through all Legislative stages and once this is done and it receives Presidential assent, it becomes law. And it is law that can specify sanction, not the National Assembly.”

The Senate spokesperson maintained that the report attributed to him by the newspaper was a misrepresentation of his interactive session with the newsmen.