Nine months after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the Minimum Wage Act into law, promising a new ₦70,000 benchmark for workers, nearly 20 state governors have come under heavy criticism for refusing to implement the law, especially for local government employees and primary school teachers.
The National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Haruna Kankara, disclosed that affected states include Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Borno, and even the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), among others. While some of these states have reportedly commenced payment for state-level civil servants, LG workers and teachers remain in limbo—caught in a cycle of broken promises and delayed action.
Kankara decried the persistent denial of financial autonomy for local governments, noting that the Central Bank of Nigeria has refused to grant LGs the right to open operational accounts for direct funding. “This deliberate bottleneck has crippled efforts to pay the ₦70,000 minimum wage as promised by President Tinubu,” he said.
In Kwara State, although the new wage has been implemented since October 2024, workers are crying foul over excessive taxation that has eaten deep into the new earnings—leaving them no better off than before.
In states like Zamfara, Yobe, and Taraba, the situation is even more dire. Teachers allege they are yet to receive the previous ₦30,000 wage in full. In the FCT, the frustration recently boiled over into a street protest by primary school teachers demanding their overdue entitlements.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has demanded the full implementation of the new wage, six months of outstanding arrears, and added allowances to cushion the current economic hardship. The union accused state governments of neglecting the very backbone of the nation’s education system.
Insiders say much of the resistance stems from state finance commissioners who are allegedly blocking implementation plans, despite the directive from the federal government and ongoing pressure from organized labor. The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has confirmed that bureaucratic and political resistance is the main cause of the delay.
As tensions rise and protests loom, labor leaders warn that continued inaction could spark a nationwide education crisis, putting millions of schoolchildren at risk.