17 State Governors Establish Committees For Minimum Wage Implementation
Seventeen state governors have established committees to implement the new N70,000 minimum wage for workers across Nigeria. The states that have taken this step include Ogun, Ekiti, Sokoto, Kebbi, Osun, Enugu, Borno, Zamfara, Kogi, Kwara, Gombe, Kano, Taraba, Delta, Rivers, Jigawa, and Abia. This move comes as the Federal Government started paying its 1.2 million workers the new minimum wage, with the payment being backdated to September.
The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, confirmed in a memo that civil servants would receive the updated wage starting in September. Some states, such as Edo, Lagos, and Adamawa, have already begun paying the new salary, with Anambra set to implement the minimum wage in October. Adamawa notably started the payment in August, ahead of the Federal Government, according to the state’s Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Chairman, Emmanuel Fashe.
Fashe revealed that while state workers received their new salaries in August, local government workers got theirs in September. He attributed the delay to the need to recalculate wages using the 2019 consequential adjustment template. Adamawa Governor Ahmadu Fintiri had previously pledged to pay whatever amount the Federal Government agreed upon with the NLC.
In Anambra, Governor Chukwuma Soludo announced that the state would start paying the N70,000 minimum wage in October. Soludo also unveiled a free education policy for senior students in public schools, promising further initiatives to support human development.
While some states have made progress, a senior NLC official expressed concerns about the devaluation of the new minimum wage due to inflation and government policies. The official pointed out that the rising cost of living, including the price of petrol and essential goods like rice, has eroded the value of the wage,calling it a “starvation wage.” He also criticized the decision to backdate the wage to July, noting that the 2019 Minimum Wage Act stipulates that the new wage should take effect when the old one expires.
Despite these challenges, several state governments have committed to paying the new minimum wage. The Imo, Nasarawa, and Ogun state governments, among others, have expressed readiness to implement the wage, with negotiations and committee deliberations ongoing. States such as Ondo, Sokoto, and Zamfara have set up committees to finalize the payment structure, while others like Bayelsa and Benue have yet to fully address the implementation.
In states like Kaduna and Gombe, the new wage has not yet been implemented, with government officials stating that they are awaiting further guidance from the Federal Government. As negotiations continue across the country, workers are hopeful that the new wage will be implemented promptly to help alleviate the economic hardships they face.
