By Comfort Onaiwu
Alhaji Haruna Kankara, the National President of the National Union of Local Government Employees, said on Sunday that about 20 states have not yet implemented the 70,000 new minimum wage for primary school teachers and local government workers. The states mentioned are; Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Abuja, Borno and 11 others.
In response to the question from The Punch, Alhaji Haruna revealed this concerning the LG workers and primary school teachers in Nigeria. 20 states went on with the execution of the new minimum wage after the signing of the Minimum Wage Act of 2024 into law. These states are Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Enugu, Niger, Ogun, Bayelsa, Abia, Kebbi, Kogi, Gombe, Ondo and others.
After months of negotiations with the labour union, the President raised the N30,000 minimum wage by 133 per cent making it 70,000, due to economic concerns in Nigeria. Lots of complaints have been brought by both Local government workers and teachers for the failed implementation of the minimum wage. Some Governors argued that the wage has not been disbursed due to heavy taxation from the government which reduces the worker’s salaries.
Data gathered from the National Union of Teachers revealed that some teachers have yet to be paid the N30,000 minimum wage of 2019. The data revealed that 14 states have yet to implement the minimum wage for teachers.
Mohammed Abubakar, the Secretary-General of the Association of Local Governments in Nigeria mentioned to the PUNCH that the direct payment of allocation of councils was frustrated by the state commissioners of finance, which is affecting the finances of the LGAs.