Despite the signing of the N70,000 minimum wage into law in 2024, about 20 Nigerian states have failed to implement the new pay for local government (LG) workers and primary school teachers.
The National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Alhaji Haruna Kankara, revealed that states such as Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, and Borno are yet to comply with the legislation.
“We truly have the challenge of so many states, like about 20 that have not started implementing the new minimum wage,” Kankara stated. He highlighted that while some states have begun paying state workers, many have left out local government workers and teachers.
The N70,000 wage, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu in July 2024, was a significant increase from the previous N30,000, representing a 133 percent raise. However, the implementation has been slow in various states.
In Kwara, while the wage was introduced for state workers in October 2024, the NULGE President noted that high taxes have significantly reduced workers’ take-home pay.
Furthermore, a teacher from Sokoto shared that the state government began paying the new minimum wage from January 2025, after a delay due to financial allocation issues.
Despite some progress in individual states, many local government employees are still waiting for the full implementation of the wage. This includes teachers in several states such as Yobe and Zamfara, where the previous N30,000 wage has not even been fully applied.
“This administration added N50,000 to our old salary,” said Usman Abdullah, an LG worker in Sokoto, while lamenting the delay in the proper implementation of the new wage.
The ongoing situation has sparked protests, particularly in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where teachers have repeatedly gone on strike to demand the full implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage.