Seventeen state governors have established committees to implement the new N70,000 minimum wage for workers across the country. The states include Ogun, Ekiti, Sokoto, Kebbi, Osun, Enugu, Borno, Zamfara, Kogi, Kwara, Gombe, Kano, Taraba, Delta, Rivers, Jigawa, and Abia.
This move follows the Federal Government’s commencement of the new wage payment to its 1.2 million workers last Thursday. According to the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, civil servants will receive the new minimum wage from September.
Meanwhile, Edo, Lagos, and Adamawa states have already begun paying the new salary, while Anambra has pledged to start implementation in October. The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Adamawa, Emmanuel Fashe, confirmed that Governor Ahmadu Fintiri commenced payment in August, ahead of the Federal Government and other states.
“In less than three weeks after President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage bill into law, Adamawa state government started paying in August,” Fashe said. He noted that state workers received their salaries in August, while local government workers began receiving theirs in September. He attributed the delay to the use of the 2019 consequential adjustment template.
In Anambra, Governor Chukwuma Soludo announced that the state will begin payment in October. “From next month, we hope to start paying the new minimum wage of N70,000,” he said during a meeting at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre in Awka. Soludo also promised free education for senior students in all public schools from next week.
“We will continue to deliver on our mandate despite resource constraints,” he assured.
- Tags: Minimum Wage, Nigeria, Politics
