Business
Minimum wage: Shocking secret about states still paying N18000
...as payment of N70000 faces fresh challenges
In spite of the euphoria about the new minimum wage structure, investigations have revealed that in some states prior to President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s new minimum wage agreed upon with workers, some states were still paying ₦18,000 minimum wage in defiance of the 2019 minimum wage of ₦30,000 negotiated by the Muhammadu Buhari administration with workers.
In the heat of the negotiations for the ₦494,000 minimum wage demanded by the organized labour, the minister of state for Labour, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, stated then that some states were yet to pay the ₦30,000 minimum wage of 2019, adding that in such a situation it would be impossible for such States to pay the new demand.
Onyejeocha said the Federal Government was not the sole decider of a new minimum wage as it must be determined by state governments and the Organized Private Sector.
Business Hallmark’s investigations revealed that about 15 states are still paying their teachers in primary and secondary schools ₦18,000. This is three years after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the National Minimum Wage Act into law.
The states are Bayelsa, Delta, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Gombe, Niger, Borno, Sokoto, Anambra, Imo, Benue, Taraba and Zamfara. These findings tally with information from the Nigeria Union of Teachers
Data from the teachers’ union showed that only 15 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have fully implemented the wage for primary and secondary school teachers, while 21 have not.
With this number of states unable to pay the N30000 approved minimum wage for whatever reasons, particularly the lack of funds, there uncertainty in such states whether the new minimum wage of N70000 will ever be paid. For instance, workers in Imo state are sceptical about the government paying the new minimum wage.
“I doubt if this present government in Imo state will pay; how can he pay when he is still paying people N18000. He announced that the government will pay and that will be end of the matter. He told the press that he is paying N30000, but he is not. Workers still earn N18000, go and check,” a worker told this medium.
States that have fully implemented the wage increase are Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers State and FCT.
There is a partial implementation in Kogi, Cross River; Kaduna and Yobe before they reverted to the N18,000 minimum of 2021.
A document obtained from the NUT read: “The following states are experiencing non-implementation of N30,000 minimum wage. They are Anambra and Imo with no reasons from their government; Benue, Taraba and Zamfara are due to paucity of funds.
“In Kaduna and Yobe states, the implementation of new minimum wage was reversed to N18,000 in April and November 2021 respectively.
“There is non-implementation of minimum wage in primary schools in Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu and Nasarawa State and governments in these States have given no reason for their action.
“While Adamawa, Gombe and Niger States are experiencing the non-implementation due to either lack of funds or insufficient funds from their Local Governments.
Meanwhile, about 20 states have revealed their implementation of the new wage law, which will see them pay N70,000 approved by the federal government or above , Business Hallmark’s findings show.
The states are: Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Adamawa, Enugu, Anambra, Jigawa, Gombe, Ogun, Kebbi, Ondo, Kogi among others.
Speaking on the matter, a labour scholar and head of the Entrepreneurship of the Osun State University, Dr. Olufemi Omoyele, told Business Hallmark that the Tinubu government minimum wage has been rendered null and void by inflation.
This view was echoed by Fehintola Dada, a labour activist and former chairman of Kabba/Bunu local government, Kogi state, who informed this medium that the inflation has eroded whatever gain the minimum wage represented.