The amount budgeted for personnel costs, including salaries and allowances to state civil servants, has increased from N2.036 trillion spent in 2024 to N3.87 trillion in the approved 2025 budget......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
States’ personnel costs: Rise due to minimum wage, appointments
According to its budget implementation report, although the 36 sub-national allocated a total sum of N2.8 trillion as salaries costs, it only paid out a total of N2.036tn within the 12 months as of 2024, a reduction of N764 billion.
According to a data obtained from the 2025 approved budget of the 36 state governments, the increase in personnel costs is attributed to the implementation of the N70,000 new minimum wage and a rise in political appointments, which reflected an increase of nearly 90.23 percent.
Salaries increase across each state
An in-depth analysis of the budget document revealed significant variations in personnel costs across states:
The Punch reported that 20 states saw an increase in personnel expenses exceeding 50 percent, while 16 states experienced a more modest rise, with salary increases remaining below the 50 percent threshold.
A further breakdown showed that Abia, Cross Rivers, Ekiti, Niger, Rivers, and Taraba states got the highest increase in its payroll, exceeding 100 percent of its 2024 personnel cost budget.
While Gombe, Osun and Ondo got the lowest salary increase percentage, scoring below 15 percent.
27 states now rely on federal allocations to pay salaries
Meanwhile, the substantial increase in salaries and allowances across various states has introduced a new set of challenges.
In a detailed examination of the salary increases across each state; the largest increase came from Lagos, which saw its personnel costs more than double, from N225.114 billion to N401.12 billion.
With the sharp rise in personnel costs, only 9 out of the 36 state governments of the federation can independently pay their workers’ salaries without depending on federal allocations.
The states with robust internal revenue are Lagos, Abia, Benue, Enugu, Ogun, Niger Kaduna, Kwara, and Osun.
According to the analysis of the budget data, 27 states cannot fund salary payments from their internally generated Revenue without relying heavily on federal allocations from the Tinubu’s led-central government or borrowing from banks and related institutions.
The development also means that the respective wage bills of the affected states surpassed their various IGRs, raising concerns about workers’ productivity and state governments’ efficiency in internal revenue generation.
FG discloses date states implement new minimum wage
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the federal government assured Nigerian workers of the implementation of the newly approved national minimum wage.
FG assured organised labour that states would implement the wage starting from January 2025, thereby appealing to workers to exercise patience.
Minister of Labour Muhammad Dingyadi made the plea and gave the assurance on Thursday during a meeting with members of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCN).