Senator Yemi Adaramodu, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, has firmly refuted claims that the 10th Senate is considering a clause for the seizure of state and local government funds in the proposed new Minimum Wage Bill.
In his statement, Adaramodu emphasized that the new Minimum Wage Bill being proposed by the Executive does not include any provisions for the seizure of funds in the event of non-compliance by state governments.
Reacting to reports suggesting that lawmakers plan to propose the seizure of statutory allocations for states and local governments defaulting on the new wage payments, Adaramodu described such claims as unfounded.
He argued that it would be premature to assume the Senate’s position on a bill that has not yet been submitted for deliberation. Adaramodu stated that President Tinubu had informed Nigerians that he would soon send the New Minimum Wage Bill to the Senate, but the content of the bill is still unknown to the lawmakers.
“No one among us, not even the Senate President, knows the content of the Bill,” Adaramodu said. “How can we take a position on a document that we haven’t even seen?”
Adaramodu clarified that during his interaction with selected journalists to mark the one-year anniversary of the 10th National Assembly, he did not at any point state that allocations belonging to States and Local Governments will be seized.
He emphasized that lawmakers are still awaiting the Minimum Wage Bill from the Executive for legislative action and asserted that the report attributed to him was a misrepresentation of his comments during the media session.
