According to Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, no civil servant in the state earns less than N72,000 as their monthly wage. He made this statement during his Workers’ Day speech on Thursday, May 1st, at Murtala Square in Kaduna, where thousands of state workers gathered to commemorate the annual Labour Day.
Governor Sani, who reminded the crowd of his background as a human rights activist, noted that his administration has fully complied with the national Minimum Wage Act. He explained that paying a minimum of N72,000 is his way of respecting the dignity and commitment of labour in the state.
“The least paid worker in Kaduna State is receiving N72,000 because we believe in the value of their contribution,” he said.
Sani also addressed the issue of incremental salary adjustment. He admitted that while the minimum wage standard has been met, salary increments based on seniority or other criteria have yet to be finalized. However, he assured workers that steps are being taken to resolve this soon.
‘’I made it clear to them that though we have met the minimum wage requirement but there is something called incremental adjustment which is discretionary,’’ he stated, referring to discussions with labour unions.
He added that labour representatives presented three options for possible implementation, and his government is currently evaluating them to make decisions that benefit workers at all levels. “We will ensure that even senior civil servants benefit because we have to make our workers happy,” Sani said.
On pensions, Governor Sani noted that his government recently paid N3.8 billion in gratuities, death benefits, and accrued pension rights. Since coming into office, he said a total of N10.4 billion has been spent on such payments.
‘’Since the inception of our administration, we have paid cumulatively the sum of N10.4 billion in gratuity, death benefits and accrued rights in the Contributory Pension Scheme,’’ he said.
In terms of employment and public service improvement, he revealed that 1,800 new medical staff have been recruited to support primary healthcare and 3,000 new teachers have been employed for public schools. He proudly noted that Kaduna recently won an award for being the best-performing state in Primary Health Care delivery, having upgraded 180 out of 255 health centres to Level 2 status.
The governor also spoke on the ongoing strike by lecturers of Kaduna State University. He acknowledged that the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) branch at the university stem from unresolved issues spanning nearly two decades. He explained that his administration had already spent over N300 million on accreditation of courses and noted the debt of N5–N6 billion had built up over 17 years.
‘’We have to sit down and see how we can address the issue gradually. It is not something that can be addressed in one day. A problem of 17 years can’t be settled in a day,’’ he said.
