N70,000 minimum wage: Nationwide strike looms as civil servants threaten shut down of states, reason emerges

• At the moment, 27 states are yet to inaugurate the committee to implement the newly approved N70,000 minimum wage
• While Lagos state is paying workers N77,000, Edo state is paying civil servants N70,000 even before President Tinubu signed the minimum wage bill into law
• Following this development, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria has threatened a total shutdown of economic activities for defaulting states

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), has threatened to cripple the activities of states that refuse to implement the N70,000 new national minimum wage.

Civil servants have vowed to shutdown states that have refused to implement N70,000 minimum wage. Image of labour leaders for illustration purposes. Photo credit: Nigeria Labour Congress HQ
Source: Facebook

The president of the association, Shehu Muhammed, issued the threat on Monday, August 12, during the association’s 5th Quadrennial Delegates Conference in Lagos state, where he emerged as the new president.

According to him:

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“For states not ready to implement the new minimum wage, let me tell you categorically, it is impossible. We are coming for them.”

N70,000 minimum wage: How states can pay

As reported by Vanguard, he urged state governments to implement the new wage to improve the standard of living of their citizens since the incomes of state governments have continued to rise following enhanced allocation from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

Muhammed noted that states could achieve this by reducing wastages and blocking leakages of government funds, advising states to embrace the policy of indexing income to correspond with the rate of inflation.

ASCSN new President said:

“The most important priority now is to address the issue of the new minimum wage by constituting a committee to address the consequential adjustments towards implementation and the strategies to ensure workers have a living wage in Nigeria.“The full implementation of the new national minimum wage and its consequential adjustments at both the federal and the 36 states of the federation will be the top priority of Organised Labour.”

Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the new minimum wage into law on July 29, 2024, after meeting with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.

Interestingly, The Punch on Sunday, August 11, reported that Plateau, Kebbi, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Bayelsa, Delta and 21 other states have not set up committees to implement the approved N70,000 minimum wage.

However, seven other states have set up implementation committees but only Lagos and Edo states have started paying the N70,000 minimum wage.

N70,000 minimum wage: Kwara inaugurates committee

Earlier, Legit.ng reported earlier that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq took steps to implement the N70,000 minimum wage in Kwara state.

AbdulRasaq has inaugurated the consequential adjustment committee to do the mathematics in implementing the new wage.

The governor explained that the committee is tasked to critically look at all the indices and arrive at workable consequential adjustments for all cadres of workers.

Source: Legit.ng