PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated the Technical Committee that will advise the government on smooth implementation of the new minimum wage.

The Committee which was inaugurated on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja is headed by renown economist, Bismarck Rewane.

This came less than 24 hours when the Federal Government agreed with the organised labour to send a bill to the National Assembly on the passage of N30,000 minimum wage for workers.

The agreement also followed a  nationwide mass protest by the labour unions to press home their demands on the implementation of the minimum wage.

The government had set January 23, 2019, as the day of transmission of the bill to the National Assembly.

While inaugurating the committee, President Buhari noted that there was no doubt that the nation needed a new minimum wage to enhance the welfare of the Nigerian workers.

He charged the committee, which comprises experienced economists drawn from the public and private sectors to do a thorough job in its assignment.

The president in November 2018, said he was committed to ensuring that the nation’s workers get a new minimum wage as soon as possible.

It would be recalled that the nation last reviewed its minimum wage in 2011. The Committee has a month to turn in its report.

The terms of reference include; develop and advise the government on smooth implementation of the new minimum wage, Identify new revenue sources and propose work plan and modalities for implementation of the new minimum wage.

Rewane is a non-executive director at FCMB Bank (UK) Limited since 2009 and serves as the managing director and chief executive of Financial Derivatives Company Limited.

A 1972 graduate of Economics at the University of Ibadan, he began his banking career with Barclays Bank, UK, in 1973 and moved to Barclays Bank of Nigeria in 1975.