Minimum wage: States have no excuse not to pay beyond N70,000 —NECA

By Juliet Umeh

Following the rising cost of living in the country and its impact on the people, as well as the increase in Federal allocations to all tiers of government, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has said state governments had no excuse not to pay civil servants above the ?70,000 minimum wage.

Director General of NECA, Adewale Smatt-Oyerinde, who stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, yesterday, said the increased inflow of revenue from the Federation Account had reduced the argument of some states about inability to pay.

Recall that in July 2024, President Bola Tinubu signed the minimum wage bill into law, ending months of deliberations between government authorities, labour unions, and the private sector.

He signed it at the State House in Abuja days after the National Assembly passed the Minimum Wage Act, 2019, to increase the National Minimum Wage from ?30,000 to ?70,000.

However, some state governors increased the minimum wage for civil servants in their respective states.

On August 27, the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, approved an increase in the minimum wage from ?70,000 to ?104,000 to improve the welfare of workers in the state, while twenty-four hours later, Ebonyi State government announced a new minimum wage of ?90,000 with immediate effect for all civil and public servants.

Speaking in the interview, the NECA boss stated: “So, no state really has an excuse in the context of the current reality to stay at that ?70,000, especially with people struggling with the price of petrol. While many states are still doing a lot with the CNG buses, we think more still needs to be done.

“A lot still needs to be done with the context of food security and shelter. Once you deal with that, the conversation would not really be about minimum wage because the quantum of that ?70,000 will be able to buy enough for an average household. So, it’s not about the quantum, it’s about what exactly the ?70,000 can buy.”

He said any measure aimed at reducing the pain of workers, as key drivers of the economy, would boost their productivity

“While we are not directly involved in the core, the real dynamics of the state – the socio-economic challenges that they have, it is important to also state that the workers, either in the public and private sector, are very key drivers of the economy of any state and a very key driver of even the private sector.

“Whatever will improve productivity will increase motivation, especially within the context of ongoing reforms.

”You know, if you are hungry, or if you’re not really composed, you’re hungry, you have issues with shelter, you have issues with transport, hardly would you be productive at work.”

Smatt-Oyerinde said it was in the best interests of those state governments to see the civil service as the engine that drives the system.

He added: “So if you see it from that perspective, you realise then it becomes important for you to address the issues that concern that engine.

“That’s the perception of the private sector because the workers in the private sector are quite critical to productivity, critical to growth of the private sector, and that is the perception we have, that workers are important, then let’s treat them so, as the ILO said workers are not commodities.”

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