7th April 2025
About 20 states have defaulted in the implementation of the N70,000 new minimum wage for local government workers and primary school teachers,the National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, Alhaji Haruna Kankara, had disclosed over the weekend.
Kankara, listed some of the defaulted states to include, Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Borno and 11 others.
The NULGE leader revealed this in response to questions on the successes in the implementation of the new minimum wage amongst LG workers and primary school teachers across the country.
After President Bola Tinubu signed the N70,000 minimum wage bill into law on July 29, 2024, after months of negotiations with labour unions
The approved monthly minimum wage was raised by 133 percent from N30,000 to N70,000, amid the country’s economic hardship.
over 20 states have keyed in into the implementation with some paying above the approved N70,000.
The states included Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Jigawa, Gombe, Ogun, Kebbi, Ondo, Kogi and others.
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According to Kankara in his update on the implementatio “We truly have the challenge of so many states, like about 20 that have not started implementing the new minimum wage.
“We have states like Sokoto, Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Borno, Cross Rivers, FCT Abuja, among others. Some have started paying the state workers leaving out the local government workers and primary school teachers but we have continued to engage and plead with them to do the needful for these workers.
“Some of them promised but failed to fulfil their promise but we are hoping that just very soon all of these would have been resolved.”
However, for the Kwara State President of NULGE, Seun Oyinlade, the Keara state government started paying the N70,000 to the state workers in October 2024 but lamented that the heavy taxation imposed by the government on the workers has reduced the workers’ take home pay.
“The implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage approved for the workers in the state have been implemented for local government staff since October 2024 but the heavy taxes imposed by the state government have greatly affected the take home pay of our members.
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“When the state branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress appealed to the state government to reduce the taxes, the government only gave the workers three months of tax relief, which has ended in December 2024 but the government has started deducting the tax since January,”
The NLC state chairman, Muritala Olayinka, confirmed that the state government had started payment of the new salary to all categories of workers in the state.
He noted, “The Kwara State government started the implementation of the new minimum wage to all categories of workers since October last year and all workers have started enjoying the new salary.
A teacher in Sokoto, Abdullahi Umar, confirmed that the state government has implemented the new minimum wage for teachers and local government workers in the state.
Umar said all the workers in the state have been enjoying the new salaries since January.
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An LG worker, Usman Abdullah, corroborated Umar, stating that N50,000 was added to their old salary.
“They added N50,000 naira to our salary, but the last minimum wage of N30,000 naira was not implemented at the local government level.
Data have revealed that Zamfara, Yobe, Taraba, Sokoto, Niger, Kogi, Kaduna, Imo, Gombe, Cross River, Borno, Benue, Adamawa and Abia State were yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage for teachers.
A teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of victimization, said, “For us in Yobe, we haven’t even benefited from the previous minimum wage, how can someone who didn’t even enjoy N30,000 talk of enjoying the N70,000. We appeal to the president to please intervene.”
Another teacher in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT lamented the neglect of the LG workers and teachers by the FCT Administration.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said, “In FCT, not only teachers are involved but all other categories of LG workers. Last month, we went on strike, and we resumed after a few days due to negotiation. It is so unfair the way LG workers are being treated in this country.’’
READ MORE; FCT Workers To Begin Indefinite Strike On Sunday Over Minimum Wage.
On March 24, 2025, teachers in public primary schools in the FCT embarked on the fourth strike in four months.
The teachers boycotted the classes twice in December last year and once in February this year.
They were protesting the non-implementation of the N70,000 national minimum wage by the chairmen of the six area councils.
The latest strike disrupted the second term examinations in most of the schools across the six area councils.
According to the Secretary-General of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Mohammed Abubakar, most state commissioners of finance were frustrating the direct payment of allocation to the LGAs , which has affected the finances of the third tier of government.
