•Zamfara, Kaduna yet to fully comply 70,000 implementation
•Lagos, Ogun workers seek above N100,000 pay

Preparations are in top gear for another round of minimum wage negotiations as organised labour has concluded plans to start the process.

The next review is due in 2027, following the approved three-year cycle by President Bola Tinubu in July 2024, when the N70,000 minimum wage was signed into law.

But the organised labour said it would, by next year, begin to send proposals ahead of negotiations by the tripartite committee comprising the government, private sector and organised labour.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the National Minimum Wage Implementation Committee, Titus Audu, has confirmed that Nigeria has achieved 98 per cent compliance in terms of implementation level across states.

He said all the states have implemented the minimum wage, except Zamfara and Kaduna, which have yet to fully implement the law to the fullest.

Audu said while Zamfara state is yet to commence the implementation, Kaduna local government workers and primary school teachers are yet to benefit from the N70,000 minimum wage.

In Kaduna, he said, the unions are still in talks with the government, which said that by the end of September, local government and primary school teachers, as well as some health workers, would start benefiting.

“As another new minimum wage increase for 2027, the N70,000 wage has been eroded by the economic downturn. Proposals are down and when the time comes, we are ready to engage the government in negotiations. We will be engaging the government to see how it could balance the economy and what the take-home pay of Nigerian workers will be. If the take-home cannot take you home, then there is a need for us to look at it critically,” he said.

Imo state, it was revealed, is the highest minimum wage-paying state with a wage salary floor of N104,000. Ebonyi follows at N90,000.

The minimum wage adjustment in Imo and Ebonyi has forced other state workers to begin to ask for an increase.

For instance, Ogun state civil servants who collect N77,000 are already planning to engage the governor, Dapo Abiodun, seeking approval for an increase of N104,000, while Lagos workers are demanding N150,000 as a fresh minimum wage.

The NLC and TUC Chairmen for the state, Hameed Benco, Akeem Lasisi, respectively, said Ogun, which is next to Lagos in terms of internally-generated revenue (IGR), can up its game to enable them to perform their jobs better.

The labour unions, in separate interviews, contended that in the face of galloping inflation, rising costs of food, transportation, housing and other essential services, the N70,000 minimum wage could no longer sustain them.

While Lagos state pays its workers N85,000, the governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had promised to further raise it to N100,000 earlier in the year.

Rivers state equally pays N85,000, while Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu and Akwa Ibom states opt N80,000.

Similarly, Ogun and Delta states are implementing N77,000 minimum wage; Benue and Osun states raised the wage floor to N75,000, while Ondo state pegged its own at N73,000.

However, President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Shehu Mohammed, said that the steps by the sub-national governments should serve as a signal to the Federal Government.

He urged the federal government to complement wage increases with broader policies to reduce the cost of living, including affordable housing, healthcare, and subsidised transport.

NLC President, who commended the move by Southeast states, said: “If the states have the capacity to pay N100,000 and above and considering that Imo state is not the highest in terms of revenue, it then means others are encouraged to do more.

“That is the whole essence of minimum wage. Minimum wage is the least; states can do better. I think this is an initiative that other governors are supposed to follow.”