Abuja, Nigeria – The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, has firmly denied claims of a plot by the Senate to include a clause for the seizure of state and local government funds in the proposed New Minimum Wage Bill. These speculations were reported by a national daily (not Vanguard), suggesting that federal lawmakers were considering such a clause.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, Adaramodu dismissed these reports as unfounded and illogical. He emphasized that it is impossible for the Senate to take a stance on a bill that has not yet been presented for consideration.
“President Bola Tinubu, in his national broadcast on Democracy Day, merely informed Nigerians that he would soon send the New Minimum Wage Bill to us,” Adaramodu explained. “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 seen?”
Read Also: Labour Rejects Tinubu’s Claims Of Agreement On Minimum Wage.
Adaramodu clarified that during an interview with journalists marking the one-year anniversary of the 10th National Assembly, he never suggested that allocations belonging to states and local governments would be seized. He reiterated Nigeria’s status as a federation with autonomous sub-national governments and criticized The Punch newspaper for their misleading headline.
“We are still awaiting the Executive Bill, and once we have it, it will go through all legislative stages. Once this is done and it receives Presidential assent, it becomes law. It is the law that can specify sanctions, not the National Assembly,” he stated.
Adaramodu accused The Punch of misrepresenting his words, pointing out that other national dailies had accurately reported his interview. “My interview was well reported today in the national dailies. It was not exclusive to The Punch. Other newspapers reflected adequately what I said. Why did Punch choose to misrepresent me?” he questioned.
The Senate spokesperson’s remarks aim to clear any confusion and assure the public that the legislative process will be followed diligently once the bill is officially presented.
