The National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Alhaji Haruna Kankara, has raised alarm over the failure of about 20 Nigerian states to implement the new N70,000 minimum wage for local government workers and primary school teachers. This development comes nearly a year after President Bola Tinubu signed the Minimum Wage Act, 2024, into law on July 29, 2024.
Kankara revealed that states such as Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Borno, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are among those yet to comply with the new wage structure. He stated that although some states had begun paying state-level workers, they deliberately excluded LG workers and primary school teachers from the updated salary scheme.
“We have states like Sokoto, Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Borno, Cross River, FCT Abuja, among others. Some have started paying the state workers leaving out the local government workers and primary school teachers. We have continued to engage and plead with them to do the needful,” he said.
The union leader also emphasized that despite earlier promises from some state governments, many have failed to follow through, prolonging the hardship for workers in the grassroots education and administration sectors.
Mixed Reactions Across States
While states such as Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Jigawa, Ogun, Kebbi, Ondo, and Kogi have implemented the new wage, others are lagging behind. Even in compliant states, there are fresh grievances.
In Kwara State, for instance, the new wage has been implemented since October 2024, but the benefit has been severely eroded by heavy taxation, according to NULGE state president Seun Oyinlade. “The three-month tax holiday granted by the state government ended in December, and deductions resumed in January 2025,” he lamented.
Kwara NLC chairman Muritala Olayinka confirmed the implementation but expressed hopes that the government would extend the tax holiday for workers, adding that a formal request has already been submitted to the governor.
Interestingly, conflicting reports have emerged from Sokoto State. A teacher and a local government worker in the state claimed they began receiving the revised salaries in January 2025, with a N50,000 increase added to their previous earnings. However, they also acknowledged that the N30,000 minimum wage of 2019 had never been implemented before now at the LG level.
Data obtained from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) reveals that some states still owe teachers the N30,000 minimum wage of 2019, including Zamfara, Yobe, Taraba, Sokoto, Niger, Kogi, Kaduna, Imo, Gombe, Cross River, Borno, Benue, Adamawa, and Abia.
Teachers in the FCT remain among the most vocal in their protests. Following four separate strikes in four months, the situation in Abuja highlights the deep-rooted neglect of LG workers and primary school educators.
A teacher in Bwari Area Council, FCT, who preferred anonymity, expressed frustration: “Not only teachers, but all other categories of LG workers are suffering. Last month we went on strike and only resumed after negotiations. This treatment is unfair.”
Kankara also noted that the implementation of LG autonomy remains stalled as the Central Bank of Nigeria has yet to authorize councils to open dedicated accounts — a crucial step for ensuring financial independence and accountability at the grassroots level.
As Nigeria continues to battle with economic challenges and inflation, the failure of many state governments to implement the N70,000 minimum wage for key grassroots workers, despite federal directives, threatens to deepen the hardship among LG staff and educators. The lingering wage disputes and discrepancies between states call for urgent federal intervention to standardize salaries and protect workers’ rights across the federation.
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