With the rising cost of living in the country and the adverse impact on Nigerians, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has said that state governments have no excuse not to pay civil servants above the ₦70,000 minimum wage.

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

“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,” the NECA DG stated.

He said that 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.

“And whatever will improve productivity will increase motivation, especially within the context of the reforms that we are ongoing. 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

He explained was in the best interests of those state governments to see the civil service as the engine that drives the system.

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

“And 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 as the ILO said that workers are not commodities,” he added.

READ ALSO: Gov Uzodimma Increases Minimum Wage To ₦104,000 For Imo Workers

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.

Twenty-four hours later, the Ebonyi State Government announced a new minimum wage of ₦90,000 with immediate effect for all civil and public servants, an increase of ₦20,000 from the previous wage of ₦70,000.

In October 2024, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, announced that the state would pay ₦85,000 as minimum wage to its workers, ₦15,000 higher than the ₦70,000 approved by the Federal Government in July 2024.

Similarly, the Akwa Ibom, Enugu, and Bayelsa state governments announced that they would pay a new minimum wage of ₦80,000 for state government employees.

In November 2024, the Osun State Government approved ₦75,000 as the minimum wage for its workers.