20 governors under fire for delaying N70k minimum wage

photo by odogwu

Alhaji Haruna Kankara, the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees National President, said on Sunday that at least 20 states are yet to implement the N70,000 new minimum wage for primary school teachers and local government workers.

They include Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Borno, and 11 others.

The NULGE leader made this disclosure to The PUNCH's question on the implementation of the new minimum wage in relation to the nation's LG workers and primary school teachers.

Since the signing of the Minimum Wage Act, 2024, into law, about 20 states have begun to implement the new wage law.

The affected states included Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Jigawa, Gombe, Ogun, Kebbi, Ondo, Kogi, and others.

President Bola Tinubu signed into law the bill for the N70,000 minimum wage on July 29, 2024, after months of negotiations with workers' unions.

The minimum wage of N30,000 was raised by 133 percent to N70,000 during the time of economic hardship in the nation.

Giving an update on the enforcement of the law, Kankara said, "We really have the problem of so many states, such as around 20 that have not begun enforcing the new minimum wage."

"We have states like Sokoto, Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Borno, Cross Rivers, FCT Abuja, and others. Some have started paying the state workers minus the local government workers and primary school teachers, but we have continued negotiating and appealing to them to do the needful for these workers."

"Among them, some promised but failed to keep their promise, but we are optimistic that very soon all these would have been settled."

On the impact of the implementation of the LG autonomy, the NULGE leader explained that the Central Bank has not yet advised the councils on the opening of bank accounts.

What the union has consistently demanded is for the Central Bank of Nigeria to issue a circular for the local government to open an account with them but to date, that hasn't been done," he disclosed.

The Kwara State President of NULGE, Seun Oyinlade, disclosed that the state government started paying the N70,000 to the state workers in October 2024.

But he lamented that the government over-taxation of the workers has cut down the take-home salary of the workers.

"The efficacy of the implementation of N70,000 approved minimum salary of the workers by state workers in local government employees since October 2024 has not significantly affected due to the heavy tax burden imposed by the state government to our members.".

"Whereas when the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress was urging the state government to reduce the taxes, the government did not even do that, by providing only a three-months tax holiday and that had already lapsed in December of 2024 but the government has already started collecting the tax again since January," he added.

The NLC state chairman, Muritalla Olayinka, confirmed that the state government has commenced payment of the new wage to all categories of workers in the state.

He further stated, "The Kwara State government started enforcing the new minimum wage to all categories of workers since last October and all workers have started enjoying the new pay.".

"Although the workers complained of high taxation which the NLC requested one year tax holiday but the government only approved three months tax holiday for the workers which ended in December.

"The congress had since written to the governor for the tax holiday to be extended. We are waiting for response from the government, and we are hoping that it is going to be positive."

A Sokoto teacher has affirmed that the Sokoto state government has implemented the new minimum wage for teachers and local government workers in the state.

Abdullahi Umar confirmed that the new salaries have been given to all the workers in the state since January.

"We received the new minimum wage from January. Although the implementation was delayed due to FAAC allocation. We received the payment for January and February sometime last month," he said.

An employee of LG, Usman Abdullah, corroborated Umar, saying that N50,000 was added to their old salary.

"They added N50,000 naira to our pay, but the last N30,000 minimum wage was not enforced in the local government area. They included N50,000 on our previous salary as our benefit for minimum wage,'' he stated.

In addition, statistics which were accessed through the National Union of Teachers showed that some educators have not yet received the 2019 minimum wage of N30,000.

The news revealed that Zamfara, Yobe, Taraba, Sokoto, Niger, Kogi, Kaduna, Imo, Gombe, Cross River, Borno, Benue, Adamawa and Abia State have not implemented the N30,000 minimum wage for teachers.

A few LG teachers urged the Federal Government to act.

A teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing victimization, said, "For us in Yobe, we have not even enjoyed the last minimum wage, how can one who did not even enjoy N30,000 talk about enjoying the N70,000. We call on the president to please intervene."

A teacher at the Bwari Area Council of the FCT lamented the neglect of the LG workers and teachers by the FCT Administration.

Talking on condition of anonymity, he said, "In FCT, not only teachers but all other grades of LG workers. We had a strike last month, and we came back after a few days due to negotiation. It is so unfair the way LG workers are treated in this country.

On March 24, 2025, public primary school teachers in the FCT embarked on the fourth strike within four months.

The teachers boycotted twice last December and this February once.

They were protesting the inability of the chairmen of the six area councils to implement the N70,000 national minimum wage.

The latest strike disrupted the second term examinations in most of the schools in the six area councils.

Declaring the strike in a communiqué issued after an urgent State Wing Standing Committee meeting, the teachers emphasized one of the main tasks reached during earlier negotiations that remained a core task among the resolutions — implementing the fresh minimum pay for primary teachers from February 2025, which formed the premises supporting a call-off of the earlier strike.

The union expressed discontentment over the payment method, stating, "The councils' payment of February salary without consideration for the union and the New Minimum Wage is disturbing, disheartening, and bereft of concern for the struggles of primary school Teachers in the FCT."

The SWSC asked interrogatively the constant financial burden to the teachers why, "Why the constant impoverishment of the poor? Why expose the teachers and their families to constant hardship and misery? Enough Is Enough!"

The communique came with a series of demands, which included the application of the national minimum wage starting February salaries, releasing the amount between the old and the new salary.

It called for "Payment of March salaries according to the new minimum wage; Payment of six months' arrears in minimum wage as agreed beforehand and immediate action on the implementation of different allowances such as a 40 percent anomalous allowance and other salary adjustments.".

The NUT National President, Titus Amba and Secretary General, Mike Ene, were not available to speak on Sunday as calls made on their phone lines indicated they were turned off.

The Secretary-General of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Mohammed Abubakar, told The PUNCH that state finance commissioners were blocking direct payment of allocation to the councils, and this had affected the LGAs' finances.