In what appears to be a surprise turn around and radical departure from the norm, many governors of the 36 states of the federation, who had earlier expressed their inability to pay the initial N60,000 minimum wage offered by the federal government, have now approved way above the N70,000 national minimum wage.
Governors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), had at the early stage of the negotiations on the new national wage by the tripartite committee, comprising the government, the organised labour and the private sector, said that the N60,000 minimum wage proposed by the federal government was not sustainable and cannot fly. The governors said if they accept it, a few states would end up borrowing to pay workers monthly.
The governors had explained that, if they sustained the proposed N60,000 minimum wage by the federal government, many states would spend all their Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations on just paying salaries with nothing left for development purposes.
However, the organised labour had rejected the N60,000 minimum wage proposal, insisting on its demand of N250,000/month. After months-long negotiations, the federal government, organised labour and the private sector finally agreed on a new national minimum wage of N70,000. Thus, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on July 29, 2024, assented into law the National Minimum Wage Bill 2024, setting Nigeria’s wage benchmark at N70,000.
Surprisingly, virtually all the 36 state governors, who were not only opposed to the N60,000 minimum wage proposal, but also refused to implement the N30,000 minimum wage agreed on since 2019, were falling over themselves to pay above the N70,000 threshold. Some governors have even approved as much as N85,000 minimum wage for the civil servants in their states. This is so even when states like Abia, Benue, Adamawa, Cross River, Gombe, Taraba, Bauchi, Imo, Niger, Zamfara, among others, had failed to implement the old N30,000 minimum wage.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state approved a minimum wage of N85,000 for the state’s workforce. Strikingly, the governor said he would be glad to come on air in January 2025 to announce that his government would be paying N100,000 minimum wage.
Overall, Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers state approved N85,000; Farmer-governor Mohammed Umaru Bago of Niger state approved N80,000; Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state approved N77,000 effective October 2024; Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe state approved N71,500; Governor Kabir Abba Yusuf of Kano state is to pay N71,000 effective November; and the outgoing Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state approved N70,000 with effect from May 1, 2024; among other varying wage structures in the states.
While the disparity in the implementation of the N70,000 National Minimum Wage Act 2024 by the state governors looks novel and commendable on the surface, given the high cost of living in the country, its real motive is probably not in good faith. Governor Obaseki, for instance, had been accused of politicising the wage issue by offering N70,000 minimum wage shortly before the September governorship election in his state.
Although, Obaseki’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his preferred candidate, Asue Ighodalo, lost the election to Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of the main opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the political undertone in the wage hike cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.
But a more disturbing dimension to the wage disparity is its propensity to further destabilise the nation’s economy. It would most certainly create two classes of workers who are on the same cadre within the same economy. For instance, whereas a federal civil servant in Lagos receives a salary of N70,000, his counterpart in the Lagos state government is paid N85,000.
As desirable as a living wage for Nigerian workers across board is, socio-economic variables such as market fundamentals, pricing templates, inflation, production capacity and the demography of the unemployed are key determinants in arriving at an appropriate wage structure. As a matter of fact, a wage template must be based on the criteria of affordability, sustainability, durability and fairness to all other segments of the society who have legitimate claim to the commonwealth.
Blueprint, therefore, urges the governors to put aside political considerations in fixing the minimum wage for their respective states. They should instead be guided by social and economic exigencies. It beggars belief that state governors, who could not pay N30,000 minimum wage or implement the wage award of N35,000 that was meant to lessen economic hardship pending the implementation of the new national minimum wage, are now approving above the N70,000 wage benchmark.
We also appeal to the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to act swiftly to harmonise the national wage structure in order to avoid discrepancies and the attendant socio-economic distress and disequilibrium.
The National Economic Council (NEC) and other relevant agencies should devise measures to stem the highly probable dislocation the staggered wages will cause to the already comatose national economy. It is expedient for the National Assembly to review the National Minimum Wage Act 2024 with a view to curing the manifest incongruity, ambiguity, and other anomalies, giving rise to the cancerous wage disparity in the country.