Jigawa State Governor, Umar Namadi, has suspended his Special Adviser on Salary and Pensions, Alhaji Bashir Ado, over a controversial statement regarding the approval of a new minimum wage of N70,000 for workers in the state.
This decision was made following what the government considered a premature and unofficial announcement made by Ado.
The suspension was confirmed in an official statement released by Mallam Bala Ibrahim, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG).
In the statement, Ibrahim explained that the government took the matter seriously, expressing concern over the false information being circulated in the media.
The statement, which claimed that Governor Namadi had already approved a new minimum wage of N70,000, was deemed both “embarrassing and premature.”
This announcement came as a shock because the official committee tasked with evaluating the minimum wage issue has not yet completed its work.
According to the SSG, the committee, which is led by the Head of the State Civil Service, is still in the process of studying the matter and has not submitted any final recommendations to the governor.
Given the premature nature of Ado’s statement, the governor ordered his immediate suspension. The government also set up a special committee to investigate the incident further.
This committee, chaired by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Bello Abdulkadir, is responsible for looking into the source and intent behind Ado’s statement.
The investigation team is comprised of other key government officials, including Dr. Abdullahi Muhammad, Commissioner for Health; Sagir Musa, Commissioner for Information, Youth, Sports, and Culture; and Muhammad Yahaya, Permanent Secretary of Establishment and Service Matters in the Office of the SSG.
