The commencement of the payment of the new minimum wage by the Tinubu-led Federal Government sparked mixed reactions from Nigerians.
The high cost of living, and the economic hardship ravaging the country left many people in a dilemma when news of the payment was made public.
The Federal Government began payment of the new minimum wage to its 1.2 million workers last Thursday.
According to the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, civil servants will receive the new minimum wage starting from September.
While many people were happy to hear this news, others frowned bitterly.
To these people, ₦70,000 is not enough, especially considering the current situation of the country.
Minimum Wage Committees
However, in states like Ogun, Ekiti, Sokoto, Kebbi, Osun, Enugu, Borno, Zamfara, Kogi, Kwara, Gombe, Kano, Taraba, Delta, Rivers, Jigawa, and Abia, the state governors have established committees.
This committees are mandated to implement the new ₦70,000 minimum wage for the state’s work force.
Meanwhile, Edo, Lagos, and Adamawa states have already begun payment.
Furthermore, Anambra state has pledged to implement the new wage by October.
In Imo State, the NLC Chairman, Uche Chigamezu, expressed optimism, stating that discussions with the government on the new wage would begin shortly.
In Benue, despite promises from Governor Hyacinth Alia, the state has yet to establish an implementation committee, and Sokoto and Kebbi states are working on the process to pay the new wage soon.
Gombe State is waiting for a consequential adjustment table from the Federal Government, and in Kaduna, NLC Chairman Suleiman Ayuba confirmed that negotiations for the new wage are yet to begin.
Nothing To Celebrate
However, an NLC official has cautioned against celebrating this development.
Also Read: ₦70,000 Minimum Wage For Civil Servants Begins
He pointed out that the value of the ₦70,000 wage has already been diminished by rising costs.
The official questioned why the new wage implementation was backdated to July instead of May, as stipulated in the 2019 Minimum Wage Act, which states the new wage should take effect immediately after the old one expires.
“The truth is this, we should not be romanticizing people who are lawbreakers. People who are lawbreakers should not be romanticised. If the Federal Government says they want to start paying, I don’t think it is something that should be celebrated. What is it that they want to start paying? ₦70,000 that has already been eroded by the actions and policies of the government?
“If you look at the price of PMS (petrol) from the time the minimum wage was signed into law and now, you could see that you could see the deliberate actions of the government to erode the wage.
“A bag of rice now is almost ₦88,000 or thereabouts. And then it means we are saying we have a minimum wage that cannot buy a bag of rice is a shameful minimum wage. So it’s a starvation wage,” he stated.
