Nine states in Nigeria are still holding back on the payment of the new N70,000 minimum wage to teachers, nearly a year after President Bola Tinubu signed the wage bill into law on July 29, 2024.
The bill was passed by the National Assembly on July 23, 2024, to improve the earnings of workers across the country.
Fresh data released by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Sunday revealed that several states have either refused to implement the wage or are only partially complying.
This comes despite earlier reports in October 2024 showing that twelve states were still paying teachers as low as N18,000—the outdated rate set before the N30,000 wage approved during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
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Among the affected states is Abia, where teachers are yet to benefit from the new wage. In Adamawa, though teachers now earn N30,000, the new N70,000 wage is still pending.
Ebonyi and Enugu states are also on the list, with Enugu reportedly offering an extra N50,000 as a one-time bonus instead of implementing the new salary structure.
In Gombe, only primary school teachers are being excluded from the wage increase.
Kaduna State attributed its delay to an ongoing verification of teaching staff.
In Nasarawa, Yobe, and Zamfara, teachers are still awaiting the new wage, according to the NUT.
Teachers in the Federal Capital Territory recently ended a strike that lasted over 100 days after area council leaders agreed to allocate a portion of their internal revenue to meet salary demands.
The NUT has urged all non-compliant states to begin full implementation of the N70,000 wage immediately and ensure that the new salary reaches all categories of teachers, warning that unequal payment could disrupt the education system further.
