Seventeen state governors have established committees to oversee the implementation of the newly approved N70,000 minimum wage for workers across Nigeria.
The states involved 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 began paying the new minimum wage to its 1.2 million employees last Thursday. According to the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, the payments, which started in September, reflect the new wage rates.
Following the Federal Government’s lead, several states have also begun paying the updated salary. Edo, Lagos, and Adamawa have already implemented the new wage, while Anambra has committed to start in October.
In Adamawa, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Chairman Emmanuel Fashe confirmed that Governor Ahmadu Fintiri began paying the new minimum wage in August, ahead of other states and the federal timeline. Fashe explained that while state workers received the new wage in August, local government workers got theirs in September, due to delays in updating payrolls to reflect the new figures. He attributed the delay to the need for adjustments in the 2019 consequential adjustment template used to calculate the new wage.
Fashe added that during the 2024 May Day celebration, Governor Fintiri had assured that the state would match any increases agreed upon by the federal government and the NLC.
Meanwhile, in Anambra, Governor Chukwuma Soludo announced that the state would start paying the new minimum wage in October. Speaking at a meeting with principals and headteachers at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre in Awka, Soludo also revealed that a new free education policy would be introduced for senior students in public schools, and students who had already paid their N5,000 fees would be refunded.
Soludo assured the public that despite financial constraints, his administration is committed to human development and will work tirelessly to fulfill its mandate, including clearing arrears of pensions and gratuities inherited by the current government.
