20 States, Including Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Imo, and FCT, Yet to Implement N70,000 Minimum Wage for Local Government Workers and Primary School Teachers, Says NULGE President
The National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Alhaji Haruna Kankara, revealed on Sunday that about 20 states in Nigeria have not yet implemented the newly approved N70,000 minimum wage for local government workers and primary school teachers, despite the law being signed into effect earlier this year.
Kankara disclosed that states including Yobe, Gombe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Imo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Borno, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, among others, have failed to commence the payment. These states join a list of regions still lagging behind in fulfilling the promise made by President Bola Tinubu after signing the Minimum Wage Act, 2024 into law on July 29, 2024.
Following months of negotiations with labor unions, the new wage law saw the minimum monthly salary for workers rise from N30,000 to N70,000, marking a 133 percent increase. However, the implementation across the country has been uneven, with some states like Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Abia, and several others moving ahead, while numerous others are still behind schedule.
“While some states have started implementing the wage for their state workers, they have left out local government employees and primary school teachers. We are in constant engagement with these states, urging them to fulfill their promises,” Kankara stated. Despite some states making promises to comply, Kankara expressed hope that all outstanding issues would soon be resolved.
In addition to concerns over the wage implementation, Kankara also addressed the issue of local government autonomy. He explained that the Central Bank of Nigeria has not yet communicated with local governments regarding the opening of independent bank accounts, a key demand for LG autonomy.
In Kwara State, the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage began in October 2024, but NULGE President for Kwara, Seun Oyinlade, criticized the state government’s imposition of heavy taxes on workers, which has significantly reduced their take-home pay. Oyinlade revealed that the government had offered workers a three-month tax relief, but this ended in December 2024, and deductions resumed in January 2025.
“We have been hit hard by the taxation,” Oyinlade lamented. “While the minimum wage was implemented in October 2024, the taxes have wiped away the benefits.” The state’s NLC Chairman, Muritala Olayinka, confirmed that all workers in Kwara have started receiving the new minimum wage, but noted the ongoing issue with high taxes. The NLC has since appealed for an extension of the tax holiday, though they are still awaiting a response from the state government.
Meanwhile, in Sokoto State, teachers and LG workers have been receiving the N70,000 minimum wage since January 2025. A teacher in the state confirmed that payments were delayed due to allocation issues from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), but have since been made. An LG worker in Sokoto, Usman Abdullah, revealed that the state added N50,000 to their previous salary, though he also pointed out that the last minimum wage of N30,000 was never implemented at the local government level before this increase.
Despite these advancements, some states have failed to implement even the N30,000 minimum wage, which was agreed upon in 2019. Data from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) indicates that teachers in states like Zamfara, Yobe, Taraba, Sokoto, Niger, Kogi, Kaduna, Imo, Gombe, Cross River, Borno, Benue, Adamawa, and Abia are yet to receive the N30,000 minimum wage, let alone the new N70,000 wage.
Teachers from some of these regions are calling for the Federal Government’s intervention, as they remain unpaid and frustrated by the ongoing neglect. A teacher from Yobe, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation, expressed their frustration, saying, “We didn’t even benefit from the previous N30,000 wage, so how can we talk about receiving the N70,000? We urgently need the President’s intervention.”
In the Federal Capital Territory, local government workers and teachers have been protesting their continued exclusion from the N70,000 wage implementation. Teachers in the FCT have gone on strike several times in recent months, including a strike on March 24, 2025, following broken promises regarding the new wage.
During previous negotiations, an agreement was made to implement the new wage by February 2025, but the payment process has continued to disappoint. The teachers issued a communique following their strike, condemning the councils for implementing February salaries without addressing their wage concerns. The union highlighted the continued financial burden placed on teachers and demanded immediate action, including the payment of salary differentials, the disbursement of wage arrears, and the enforcement of allowances.
The union’s communique also questioned why the government continues to impose hardship on already struggling workers, asking, “Why the continuous impoverishing of the impoverished? Why subject teachers to more suffering?” The teachers are demanding immediate payment of salaries in line with the new minimum wage, along with the settlement of six months’ worth of arrears.
The Secretary-General of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Mohammed Abubakar, also spoke on the challenges faced by local governments, pointing out that state commissioners of finance are frustrating the direct payment of allocations to the councils, which has had a negative impact on the financial situation of local governments.
Efforts to reach the leadership of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) for comment were unsuccessful, as calls to their phones went unanswered.
As the situation continues to unfold, workers across the country are calling for urgent action to ensure the full implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage and the improvement of conditions for local government employees and primary school teachers.
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, Alhaji Haruna Kankara, revealed on Sunday that about 20 states in Nigeria have not yet implemented the newly approved N70,000 minimum wage for local government workers and primary school teachers, despite the law being signed into effect earlier this year.){kind=link}