Teachers in some states of the federation who are still placed on the N18,000 and N30,000 minimum wages or below have cried out for help.
Although 14 states were allegedly paying their teachers the old wages when the N70,000 national took off last year, LEADERSHIP Sunday discovered that the claim was untrue.
Recently, a national daily (not LEADERSHIP) while citing statistics from the national secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), listed the defaulting states as Zamfara, Yobe, Taraba, Sokoto, Niger, Kogi, Kaduna, Imo, Gombe, Cross River, Borno, Benue, Adamawa and Abia.
The states were said to have failed to implement the 2019 N30,000 minimum wage for their teachers and the new N70,000 pay.
However, our correspondents gathered that only Kaduna, Yobe and Abia states were yet to adopt the N70,000 minimum wage.
In the case of Yobe, the non-payment of both the new minimum wage and the old N30,000 to primary and secondary school teachers was due to a disagreement between the NUT and the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).
At the Abia State Ministry of Basic Education, the NUT wing and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) chapter, LEADERSHIP Sunday confirmed that the government was yet to pay the new wages.
The delay followed the present government’s intention to move members of the wing as professionals from the civil service structure to the Teachers Salary Structure (TSS).
According to the state’s NLC chairman, Okoro Ogbonnaya, both the union and the wing are in agreement with the government that the TSS is in the best interest of members of the wing.
He said the government was avoiding a situation where after the implementation of the minimum wages, the wing would start clamouring for the TSS.
At the wing’s secretariat, where it was gathered that the chairman, Friday Madu, was away on a regional engagement, the members had long been agitating for the TSS.
A source who pleaded anonymity hinted that feelers from the government indicated that “the implementation of the TSS is almost at the corner.”
Also, the Kaduna State government has given reasons for the non-commencement of the payment of the new minimum wage for primary school teachers in the state.
Speaking with our correspondent, the special adviser to the governor on labour matters, Adamu Samaila, said the delay was due to the ongoing verification of the teachers.
Samaila said, “For now, we are yet to commence the payment of the new minimum wage to primary school teachers because of the ongoing teachers’ verification. We are verifying primary school teachers; the ongoing teachers’ verification will give us the actual number of teachers that we have.
“After cleaning the payroll, we can meet the NLC, the NUT and other affiliated unions for the payment of the new minimum wage.”
One of the primary school teachers who simply identified himself as Sani urged the government to consider the worsening plight of teachers due to the removal of fuel subsidy.
“We on grade level 7, that is NCE holders, were receiving N30,000 before and later they added N15,000 totaling N45,000 while a graduate on grade level 8 is receiving N49,000 in Kaduna State as a primary school teacher. We have not been paid the new minimum wage. Please, the government should as a matter of urgency begin the payment,” he said.
In Yobe State, a primary school teacher said the 17 local government areas were owing them two years’ salaries.
According to one of the affected teachers who does not want his name to print, “We are confident that Governor Buni’s commitment to education development and youth empowerment is genuine, and we hope that our situation will receive his urgent consideration.”
In a letter to the governor, the teachers said, “We, the undersigned 25 teachers, are writing to humbly bring to your attention our plight. Despite being employed as classroom teachers under the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) since May 31, 2022, we have yet to receive our salaries.
“As teachers, we are dedicated to providing quality education to the children of this great state, but our morale and effectiveness are being severely impacted by the non-payment of our salaries.
“We have been patiently waiting for over two years, and our financial situation is becoming increasingly dire. Many of us are struggling to make ends meet and some are even forced to take on additional jobs to support our families,” they said.
The teachers urged the governor to use his good office to investigate the issue and ensure that “we receive our outstanding salaries. We believe that this is a matter of utmost importance, and we hope that you will treat it with the urgency it deserves.
“I want to use this opportunity to inform you, Your Excellency, that we would like to express our gratitude for your time and consideration. We look forward to a positive response and to continuing to serve the children of this great state.”
When contacted, the state chairman of NUT, Hon Ado Idriss, simply said, “We consulted the local government chairmen on the possibility of implementing the N30,000 then, but they said they don’t have enough funds to implement it.
“But if we continue pushing for the implementation, they will go for the verification of staff. But our sister union (NULGE), to be specific, refused to accept it because they feared that after the verification, their staff would be more affected.
“They suggested that instead of the verification, let them continue with N18,000 minimum wage in which we don’t have any choice but to join them.”
The NUT in Borno State disclosed that the government in the past six years had been implementing the previous N30,000 minimum wage for teachers and recently began to pay the N70,000 minimum wage.
A high-ranking officer of the NUT in the state who spoke on the condition of anonymity, explained that the other categories of teachers who were yet to enjoy the N70,000 minimum wage were those the state government placed on a three-month training after which they would begin to receive the new minimum wage.
In Niger State, the chairman of the state wing of the NUT, Mohammed Akayago, said the new minimum wage of N80,000 had been implemented.
He told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the new minimum wage of N80,000 as announced by the state government was implemented for teachers at all levels.
The NUT in Imo State said they have held a series of meetings with the state government aimed at implementing the new minimum wage of N70,000.
According to the state NUT chairman, Chigozirim Emeakayi, the dialogue yielded positive response as the government started the implementation in February 2025.
The NLC chairman, Uche Nwaigwe, also corroborated the submission of the NUT.
The commissioner for Education, Prof Victor Nwachukwu, said as a responsible and responsive government, they take the welfare and interest of workers including teachers seriously. He revealed that they would go the extra mile to meet the yearnings of all workers.
The NLC in Sokoto State refuted the report that the state has not implemented the new N70,000 minimum wage, describing it as “misleading and untrue.”
The state NLC chairman, Aliyu Abdullahi Jangale, dismissed the claim attributed to the national president of NULGE, Ali Haruna Kankara, who reportedly listed Sokoto among the states yet to implement the new wage.
“To set the record straight, Sokoto State was the first in the entire federation to fully implement the N70,000 minimum wage. This began as far back as January this year,” Jangale said.
The payment of the new minimum wage was corroborated by teachers from Nana Asmau Girls Secondary School, Sultan Atiku Secondary School and Yaya Gusau Primary School who spoke with our correspondent.
Reacting to the issue, the NLC chairman in Cross River State, Comrade Gregory Olayi, denied the claims that the state was yet to implement the N70,000 minimum wage.
“You talk about teachers, which of the Nigeria Union of Teachers? I speak for the NUT as the state chairman and also chairman of the NLC.
“We entered into an agreement with the state government in December and they started the payment for both local government and all workers,” he said.
He stated that the only category of workers yet to be paid their minimum wage were workers with special salary structures and pensioners on harmonisation.
“I think these are the issues we are handling now, apart from that, we don’t have any issue with minimum wage,” Olayi maintained.
On his part, the publicity secretary of NUT, Adamawa State wing, Comrade Captain Jidauna hailed Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri for his prompt implementation of new national minimum wage to teachers in the state.
Jidauna encouraged the teachers to pay back to the governor by reporting to duty and carrying out their obligations effectively.
In Benue State, the chairman of NUT, Comrade Levi Akuma, said the state had implemented the current N75,000 minimum wage for teachers.
He said the old minimum wage of N30,000 was not implemented by the immediate past administration for teachers.
The leadership of the Zamfara State chapters of the NLC and NUT have refuted the report that teachers did not receive the old N30,000 not to talk of the N70,000 minimum wage.
In a response to LEADERSHIP Sunday enquiries, the chairman of NUT, Comrade Yahaya Mafara, said for over three to four years, the state had implemented the N30,000 minimum wage for teachers.
According to him, the present administration of Governor Dauda Lawal inherited the N30,000 minimum wage for teachers, adding that some of them had started receiving N70,000 from last month.
In Kogi State, the N30,000 minimum wage of 2019 was not implemented for teachers before the new minimum wage of N70,000 minimum wage approved by President Bola Tinubu.
However, a source within the NUT said the implementation of the N72,500 minimum wage approved for the state workers, including teachers, had taken care of the old N30,000 minimum wage.
The chairman of NUT in Taraba State, Mr Nathan Solomon, said teachers under both the state government payroll and the local governments started receiving the N70,000 new minimum in December last year.
“Workers in Taraba including teachers at state and local government levels started receiving their N30,000 minimum wage during the administration of the recent past Governor Darius Ishaku.
“Governor Kefas also implemented the N70,000 minimum wage immediately after the pronouncement by President Bola Tinubu. We have started receiving our latest minimum wage since December 2024,” he said.
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