Senate Chief Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, as withdrawn from his role as the chairman of the ad hoc committee on Minimum Wage Bill.
Adeyeye had last Tuesday lamented during plenary that the 7-member panel could not make progress because the members were busy with their elections.
He consequently the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who presided over the plenary on Tuesday, to appoint another senator as the chairman of the panel because he had health issues that deserved an urgent attention.
It was, however, gathered that the Senate is yet to replace Adeyeye, who is travelling abroad for medical reasons.
A principal officer of the Senate told newsmen that no action had been taken on the new chairman for the panel.
He said, “Since it is an ad hoc committee, there is no provision for vice-chairman, so we have to appoint a new chairman and that has not been done. You have to wait till March 12 when a fresh decision would be taken on the issue.”
Meanwhile, Adeyeye allayed fears that his exit from the panel would not delay the submission of the report.
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He said, “The issue was discussed in plenary last Tuesday. I said our members were busy with elections and I will have to travel out for medical attention and they said somebody else should be appointed since I won’t be around and that the committee should try to meet before we resume.
“I am sure that they would meet and submit a report. It is a very easy thing because there are only two amendments there.
“There could be serious discussions on the amount that the minimum wage should be but the issues are not that difficult to resolve. Once I travel things are no longer in my hand.”