Minimum Wage: Workers Decry Hardship As Seven States Delay Approval

No fewer than seven states and the Federal Capital Territory have failed to approve the minimum wage expected to commence in October this year.

This is as 25 states have commenced payment or made a pronouncement on the amount to pay as the minimum wage.

The states that have yet to approve a particular minimum wage amount are Zamfara, Sokoto, Osun, Cross River, Imo, Plateau, Taraba, and the FCT.

National Reports gathered that paying the N70,000 minimum wage may take a long time in Zamfara, as the state just began paying the old N30,000 minimum wage.

Recall that the N30,000 minimum wage took effect in April 2019, but Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State commenced the payment to the civil servants in June this year.

The state has yet to make any statement on the N70,000 minimum wage as of the time of filing this report.

Also, Sokoto State has yet to commence payment of the minimum wage despite Governor Ahmed Aliyu’s promise that his administration would be among the first states to do so.

Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, had declared that his administration would pay the minimum wage, but the state has yet to approve any amount or commence payment of the minimum wage.

Speaking on Thursday, the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress in the state, Bimbo Fasasi, said the state was about to finalise the implementation process.

Fasasi, a member of the Labour/Osun State Government negotiation committee on the new minimum wage, said, “We are getting there, we are at the stage of comparing tables and exchanging tables between us. I’m confident we will soon have a meeting point and we will be able to make formal announcements and implementation will most definitely follow immediately.”

Cross River State has also not approved the N70,000 minimum wage.

On May 1, 2024, Governor Bassey Otu of the state announced N40,000 as a new minimum wage for civil servants before the national minimum wage.

TUC Chairman in the state, Monday Ogbodum, said labour unions were still negotiating the new minimum wage with the state government.

The minimum wage is also yet to take effect in Imo State, though Governor Hope Uzodimma assured workers that his government was committed to its implementation.

National Reports gathered that the state government and labour were already discussing the minimum wage.

The Vice Chairman of TUC in the state, Charles Amaru, disclosed that there was no agreement on payment by the state government yet.