News
New Minimum wage may push states into bankruptcy — NGF report
As the nation awaits the new minimum wage promised to be sent to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu, the burden of implementing the minimum wage may make many states bankrupt.
The Federal Executive Council, at its meeting last Tuesday, stepped down a memorandum on the report of the tripartite committee on the new minimum wage, to allow for more consultations among the federal and state governments on one part, the private sector and the labour unions on the other part.
Last Thursday, Tinubu met with the governors at the National Economic Council meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima. The meeting, which was expected to deliberate on the national minimum wage, was, however, silent on whether or not it considered the issue.
Also last Thursday, the Southern Governors’ Forum released the communiqué of its meeting held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, with the governors asking that each state should negotiate minimum wage with its workforce.
The labour unions have, however, reacted to the stance of the Ni¬geria Governors’ Forum over their overbearing influence on the minimum wage negotia¬tions.
In a document, titled, “Analysis of State FAAC inflows and state expenditure profile,” of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat, the NGF report warned that implementing the new minimum wage could push states into bankruptcy due to increased recurrent expenditure.
According to the report, the burden of recurrent expenditure already left Abia, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Katsina, Kogi, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara in deficit in 2022.
The report predicted that if the recurrent expenditure increased by 50 per cent, 13 states would fall into deficit, with only 10 remaining financially stable.
The tripartite committee’s recommendation of a N62,000 minimum wage would necessitate over a 100 per cent increase from the current N30,000, potentially leaving only a few states like Anambra, Bayelsa, Borno, Ebonyi, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Lagos, and Rivers with positive net revenues, based on the 2022 fiscal data.
A net revenue is the deduction of recurrent expenditure from the total revenue of the state. When it is positive, it means a surplus, but when negative, there is a deficit.
Also, the total revenue of states is calculated from the monthly revenue from the Federal Account Allocation Committee, internally generated revenue, aids and grants and constituency development funds.
According to the documents, sighted by The PUNCH, Abia, with an employment size of about 58,631 workers, pays N5,837,899,980.40 as wage monthly. Anambra has a 20,541 employment size and pays N1,824,851,308.96 monthly as wages, apart from N894,480,399.62 as pension obligation and N579,694,680.33 for debt servicing.
Bayelsa boasts of 48,213 workforce, paying N5,802,435,178.58 monthly, with N1,194,528,784.40 as pension obligation and N3,535,787,992.48 as debt servicing, totalling N10,532,751,955.46 as total recurrent expenditure monthly.
Benue has about 13,366 workers in its workforce and pays N2,040,184,471.85 as monthly wage, N76,838,634.62 for pension, and N64,685,126,826.08 for debt servicing, totalling N66,802,149,932.56 monthly.
Delta has about 50,871 workers, offering N8,973,081,853.50 as wages, N1,499,886,303.39 as pension, and N72,417,433,139.00 as debt servicing, accumulating to N82,890,401,295.89 in a month.
Jigawa has about 44,831 workers in its employ and pays N2,795,662,113.02 as wages, and N345,987,843.12 as a pension, totalling N3,141,649,956.14 monthly on recurrent expenditure.
Katsina, Kwara and Niger have 19,062, 36,048 and 22,225 workers, with accumulated N139,294,944,565.27, N4,457,268,675.54 and N2,653,614,213.35 monthly recurrent expenditure respectively.
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According to the document, Abia has a total recurrent expenditure of N111,983,979,958.62, against a total revenue of N147,637,730,867.73.
For Adamawa, the recurrent expenditure stands at N70,369,399,885.57, against a total revenue of N109,722,949,684.65, while Akwa Ibom boasts of a high revenue of N444,288,683,000, with recurrent expenditure of N235,144,539,000.
Of the states, Lagos has the highest total revenue, amassing N1,243,778,878,170 in 2022, with a recurrent expenditure of N621,043,036,000, followed by Delta, with N702,020,717,460.08 and a recurrent expenditure of N377,905,100,451.83.
Rivers amassed N525,588,159,714.88 in 2022, with recurrent expenditure of N186,974,715,774.87; Kaduna had a total revenue of N222,349,875,000 and expenditure of N95,987,999,472.10; Ogun, N297,249,009,626.83, recurrent expenditure of N178,519,010,628.42 and Oyo, with total revenue of N247,156,776,739.70 and recurrent expenditure of N152,077,804,384.65.
Kebbi State had the lowest total revenue in 2022, raking in N92,132,444,588.16 and spent N57,601,464,374.96 on recurrent expenditure, followed by Taraba, with a total revenue of N101,177,283,069.87 and recurrent expenditure of N75,055,201,412.62.
Aside from FAAC allocation, some states recorded poor IGR in the 2022 data compiled by the NGF Secretariat.
Zamfara State generated N6,513,960,477.20; followed by Kebbi, with N8,630,767,122.96; Taraba, N9,744,331,840.01 and Yobe State, with N9,940,554,642.00.
The IGR of Katsina (N12,821,119,042.64), Adamawa (N13,175,774,969.53), Niger (N14,427,373,136.00), Benue (N15,021,223,729.38), Plateau (N15,927,001,739.90) and Imo (N16,711,346,111.18) also showed a poor revenue standing.
The PUNCH reported on October 19, 2023, that 15 states have yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage for their workers since it was signed into law in 2019.
According to BudgiT, though the 15 states were yet to implement the minimum wage of N30,000, the 36 states of the federation grew their cumulative personnel cost by 13.44 per cent to N1.75tn in 2022 from N1.54tn in 2021.
The civil society organization, in a release, ‘The States of States Report 2023,’ highlighted that the 36 states of the federation grew their revenue by 28.95 per cent from N5.12tn in 2021 to N6.6tn in 2022.
“Put together, the IGR of the 36 states appreciated by 12.98 per cent from N1.61tn in 2021 to N1.82tn in 2022, denoting a strengthened domestic revenue mobilisation capability.
“Nonetheless, the IGR to GDP ratio remained very low at 1.01 per cent. The increase in IGR did not reflect across the board as 17 states experienced a decline in their IGR from the previous year, while 19 states recorded positive growth,” BudgIT said.
The Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Chris Onyeka, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on minimum wage and its implementation, claimed that many state governors were flouting the Minimum Wage Act and listed the states of Abia, Enugu, Bayelsa, Delta, Nasarawa, Gombe, Adamawa, Niger, Sokoto, Imo, Anambra, Taraba, Benue, and Zamfara as defaulting.
Reacting, the Enugu State chairman of TUC, Ben Asogwa, said the state commenced payment of N30,000 minimum wage and its consequential adjustment in February 2020 for state government workers, while local government workers and primary school teachers were paid 25 per cent consequential adjustment.
He, however, said Governor Peter Mbah, on assumption of office, approved the full implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage for both the LG workers and primary school teachers in the state.
The PUNCH reports that the Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, announced during a meeting with the leadership of the labour unions that the state would begin payment of N30,000 minimum wage effective June 2024.
News
The Great Recalibration: How President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Is Restructuring Nigeria for a Stronger Tomorrow
By RT HON
CHINEDUM ENYINNAYA ORJI
“You cannot build a house for tomorrow on the weak foundation of yesterday. We must lay new blocks, even when the rain is falling.”— Adapted from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Three years into his presidency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has embarked on what may be the most deliberate economic and governance recalibration Nigeria has seen in a generation.
He came into office on May 29, 2023 with a clear declaration: “Fuel subsidy is gone.” In that single sentence, he signaled that the era of deferring hard choices had ended.
Restructuring, at its core, is about rearranging the house so it can stand longer and serve more people. For Nigeria, that meant confronting distortions that had weakened public finances, scared investors, and made planning impossible.
The first pillar of this restructuring is fiscal discipline. By removing the costly petrol subsidy and cutting electricity subsidies, the administration stopped the bleeding of trillions of naira that once vanished into opaque payments.
The results are already visible in the numbers. The fiscal deficit narrowed from 5.4 percent of GDP in 2023 to approximately 3 percent in 2024, while federation revenue rose from ₦16.8 trillion to ₦31.9 trillion.
That new revenue is not sitting idle. It is being channeled into roads, rails, power, and social programs that touch ordinary citizens directly. More than 2,700 kilometers of roads are under construction or rehabilitation nationwide.
The second pillar is monetary credibility. The unification of exchange rates and clearing of a $4 billion FX backlog restored confidence in the naira and in Nigeria’s commitment to market-based policies.
That credibility has produced tangible dividends. The stock market surged nearly fivefold to a record 250,000 points, market capitalization grew, and international rating agency Fitch upgraded Nigeria from B- to B in April 2025.
Foreign investors, who had stayed on the sidelines, are returning. New oil and gas investments are being announced, domestic refining capacity is rising, and fuel imports are falling, easing pressure on our foreign exchange.
The third pillar is sectoral transformation. Recognizing that oil alone cannot carry Nigeria’s future, President Tinubu approved a Presidential Petroleum Reform and Value Optimisation Taskforce to design the next phase of structural reforms in that sector.
The Taskforce is not another talking shop. It is a time-bound technical body charged with delivering execution-ready blueprints to unlock capital, improve transparency, and position Nigeria as a leading global energy investment destination.
Beyond oil, the February 2026 launch of the Nigeria Industrial Policy marks a decisive shift toward manufacturing, value addition, and job creation. The goal is a $1 trillion economy in five years, driven by inclusive and decentralized growth.
This is restructuring with a human face. Through NELFUND, millions of Nigerian students now have access to loans to stay in school. The CNG program is reducing transport costs and easing the burden of subsidy removal on households.
Governance itself is being rewired. The Renewed Hope Ward Development Plan is mapping economic potential across all 8,809 wards, ensuring that planning starts from the grassroots and moves upward to the state and federal levels.
Such decentralization matters. When wards have data, they have a voice. When local governments have more resources, service delivery improves. That is how accountability becomes real, not theoretical.
On security, the administration has intensified operations against banditry, insurgency, and criminal gangs. The link is clear: no investor builds factories where there is no peace, and no farmer feeds the nation where there is no safety.
A good example is the renewed engagement with Ogoni communities. By addressing historical grievances, the government is creating the conditions to restart oil exploration in a way that benefits both the people and the treasury.
Critics are right to point out the hardship. The cost-of-living squeeze has been severe, and inflation remains a challenge. But restructuring is not magic. It is medicine, and medicine often tastes bitter before it heals.
What distinguishes this moment is political will. Previous administrations discussed these reforms for decades. President Tinubu chose to act in the first week, knowing the political cost, because the economic cost of delay was higher.
The international community has noticed. The World Bank’s April 2026 Nigeria Development Update and the IMF’s 2025 Article IV Consultation both acknowledge significant progress in restoring macroeconomic stability.
More importantly, Nigerians are beginning to see the logic. A stable currency means businesses can plan. More revenue to states means more projects in communities. More transparency means fewer excuses.
The central test ahead is jobs. With 3.5 million Nigerians entering the labor force each year, the restructuring must now translate into employment-intensive growth. The industrial policy and infrastructure push are designed for exactly that.
This is not about one man or one party. It is about laying a foundation that no future government can afford to ignore. Institutions, rules, and incentives are being reset.
History will judge this period not by the pain of the transition, but by whether we used the pain to build something durable. The early signs suggest we are.
President Tinubu’s restructuring is far from complete, but it has already changed the trajectory. Nigeria is no longer drifting. It is recalibrating, with purpose, toward a future where our resources work for our people, and where governance finally matches our potential.
RT HON
Chinedum Enyinnaya orji
APC House of Representatives Candidate for Ikwuano Umuahia Fed. Constituency writes from Amaokwe Ugba Ibeku, Abia State.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has announced the demise of its Enugu State Sector Commander, Corps Commander Franklin O Agbakoba.
This is contained in a statement issued by FRSC Deputy Corps Commander in-charge of Enugu State Operations, DCC Kyrian C Okolo, on Friday in Enugu.
“FRSC Enugu State Sector Command received the sad news of the demise of CC Franklin Agbakoba on Thursday, July 30,2026.
“The late Sector Commander died at Niger Foundation Hospital, Enugu where he was receiving treatment.
“His corpse have been deposited at the Eastern Medical Center, Enugu,” he said.
Until his death,CC Franklin Agbakoba made inter-agency collaboration and partnership his legacy and promoted safer roads within Enugu State.
The family’s head, Imo Aguiyi-Ironsi, made the demand during an interview with Arise News on Thursday.
“I think the family needs apology. The family needs to be compensated. We need sincere apology. We need sincere reconciliation,” he said.
He described his uncle as a visionary leader who was wrongly punished for a coup he had no role in.
“He was a man of vision. He was a detribalized Nigerian. He was a good leader,” he said.
Imo Aguiyi-Ironsi noted that his uncle’s tenure as Head of State was brief and ended violently.
“He occupied the seat of head of state for only six months, and he was taken away from us.
“Not because of a sin he committed, because he wasn’t part of the January 1966 coup.”
According to him, Aguiyi-Ironsi’s death resulted from his position rather than any wrongdoing on his part.
“Only because of his position as the most senior military officer, he was told to take charge. And then that cost him his life,” he said.
He expressed hope that his appeal would reach those with the power to act on it.
“Well, I hope there are people who are in positions to make this happen that are listening to you tonight,” he said.
Aguiyi-Ironsi served as Nigeria’s Head of State from January 16 to July 29, 1966, taking charge in the aftermath of the January 15, 1966 coup that had claimed the lives of the country’s political leadership.
He survived that coup and helped crush the mutiny, but his later decision to centralise power under Decree 34, along with his failure to prosecute the plotters, fuelled resentment among northern officers.
He was killed on July 29, 1966, alongside his host, Lieutenant Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, in a mutiny by northern soldiers that became known as the July counter-coup
The directive was contained in a memorandum dated July 13, 2026, and signed by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Kabir Akanbi.
Addressed to litigation staff, legal practitioners, court registrars and lawyers, the circular said the order took immediate effect and formed part of efforts to uphold professional standards within the apex court.
The memorandum read, “I am directed by the Honourable the Chief Justice of Nigeria to notify all Litigation Staff, Legal Practitioners, Court Registrars, and Lawyers that the use of the title ‘Barrister’ as a prefix to names is inappropriate and inconsistent with the standards of professionalism expected within the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”
It further directed all affected officers to immediately stop using the title in official correspondence and other official materials.
The memo stated, “Consequently, all officers concerned are hereby directed to discontinue the use of the title ‘Barrister’ before their names in all official correspondence, records, documents, identity materials, and any other official engagements with immediate effect.”
The memorandum added, “Heads of Departments and Unit Heads are requested to ensure strict compliance with this directive by all officers under their supervision. Please be guided accordingly.”
The directive comes weeks after the Council of Legal Education cautioned prospective lawyers against wearing wigs and gowns or presenting themselves as qualified legal practitioners before they are formally called to the Nigerian Bar.
The council said such conduct undermined the dignity of the legal profession and warned that violators could face disciplinary measures.
It also reminded candidates that the use of legal regalia is governed by the Rules of Professional Conduct and is reserved for duly qualified legal practitioners
The Enugu State Government says it has intensified fight against quackery across all health professions, particularly in the laboratory practice within the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Prof. George Ugwu, revealed this on Friday while receiving the National President of Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Dr. Casimir Ifeanyi, on a courtesy visit to his office in Enugu.
Ugwu decried the growing trend of unprofessional practices and establishments where laboratory services are combined with pharmacies, patient treatment areas, provision stores, and other unauthorised activities.
According to him, such practices are unacceptable and dangerous to public health.
He reaffirmed the government’s resolve to eliminate quackery especially in laboratory practices and operations through sustained monitoring, regulation and enforcement.
The commissioner also commended the association for its dedication to promoting excellence in medical laboratory science and public health advocacy.
He assured the team of the ministry’s willingness to collaborate with professional bodies whose activities align with the government’s vision of delivering accessible, quality, and people-centred healthcare services across the state.
Ugwu stressed the remarkable strides recorded under the administration of Gov. Peter Mbah in transforming the health sector, including investments in healthcare infrastructure, workforce development, primary healthcare revitalisation and improved service delivery.
He urged the association to remain steadfast in upholding professionalism and ethical standards, emphasising that stronger partnerships between government and healthcare professionals remained essential in building a healthier Enugu State.
Earlier, Ifeanyi, who made the visit with some members of his national executive and Enugu State Chapter of AMLSN, briefed the commissioner on the association’s forthcoming AMLSN Annual Public Health Lecture.
He solicited the state government’s goodwill, support and participation in the event, which would be held in Enugu.
“The annual lecture is aimed at advancing quality healthcare delivery, promoting public health awareness, and fostering stronger collaboration among healthcare professionals and government institutions,” he said.
He noted that the association remained committed to improving professional standards and supporting initiatives that would enhance healthcare outcomes for residents of Enugu State and Nigeria at large.
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