The President signed the bill during a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa on Monday, July 29, 2024, in Abuja.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, and other members of the National Assembly leadership joined the FEC for the ceremony.

This marks the first time since the start of the current democratic dispensation that the Council, presided over by the President, has included the leadership of the legislature in a FEC meeting at the Council Chamber.

It was reported that their invitation to the meeting was impromptu.

Their involvement in the council meeting comes amid tension over the planned protest by some Nigerians against the rising cost of living in the country.

Both the legislature and executive have been ramping up efforts to ameliorate the hardship in the country and trying to convince those organizing the protest of the need to call it off.

Earlier, the National Assembly approved the bill to increase the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000, effectively making it a law.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the approval following the third reading of the bill during a plenary session in Abuja last week.

The bill, which was proposed by President Bola Tinubu after meeting with the heads of organized labour last week, also included a reduction of the review timeline of the minimum wage from 5 years to 3 years.

With this development, Nigerian workers will no longer be paid N30,000 as minimum wage but N70,000.