U-Turn: Kano halts N30,000 Minimum Wage, returns to previous N18,000

*The Spokesman to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has attributed the reveasal to former N18,000 Minimum Wage as fallout from the economic recession caused by Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

In a dramatic U-turn of some sort, the Kano State Government of Nigeria has reverted to the former minimum wage of N18,000 for its workers across the state.

Salihu Tanko-Yakasai, Spokesman to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, in a media interview Wednesday, January 6, 2021, was quoted to have disclosed that the state government had equally stopped the payment of N30,000 minimum wage to the civil servants.

It was learnt the governor’s Spokesman attributed the rationale for the measure the economic recession caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The state is unable to continue paying N30,000 because what the state is getting now as a government has reduced, said Tanko-Yakasai.

He noted: “The state government has reverted to the initial minimum pay due to the recession.

“What we are getting now as a government has reduced, and we can’t afford to pay the N30,000 minimum wage.”

However, close sources in the Civil Service said the state government has yet to inform the workers of the latest development.

A source noted that “we saw the deduction in our November and then December pay, and nobody told us anything.

“The pensioners also had deduction in their pay and no reason has been given for this.”

It is recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2019 signed the new minimum wage act into law, which stipulates N30,000 as the minimum wage in Nigeria.

Subsequently, the Kano State Government, in December 2019, agreed with its workers to commence the payment of the new minimum wage, while arrears of April-November, 2019, were to be settled in installments.