Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, has refuted claims that the Senate plans to include a clause in the New Minimum Wage Bill to allow for the seizure of funds from states and local councils.
Adaramodu said this in response to a national daily report suggesting lawmakers were considering seizing statutory allocations from defaulting subnational entities.
He dismissed the report as unfounded and emphasised that the Senate cannot take a position on a bill that has not been submitted for deliberation.
According to him, “No one among us, not even the Senate President, knows the bill’s content. How can we take a position on a document we haven’t seen?”
“We are still awaiting the Executive Bill, and once we have it, it will go through all legislative stages. Only then, after receiving presidential consent, will it become law. Any sanctions specified in the law would be applicable, but they are not determined by the National Assembly,” Adaramodu said.
During an interview with journalists, Adaramodu clarified that he did not state that the allocations belonging to states and local governments would be seized.
He emphasised that Nigeria is a federation with autonomous subnational governments, and the misleading headline of the national daily newspaper should be disregarded.
