Mohammed Shosanya
The Kano State Government,has approved N71, 000 as minimum wage for the state civil servants in the state.
Governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf,disclosed this while the receiving the Public Service Negotiation Committee Report headed by the state Head of Civil Service at his office on Tuesday.
He said the new minimum wage will be effective from November 2024,according to a statement signed by the governor’s spokesman,Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa .
He said:”I will like to emphasize that Kano state has one of the largest workforces in Nigeria, reflective of our population and specific local needs, together with our financial constraints, including the low Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) we inherited,we have decided to implement the new national minimum wage of N71,000.00″
He also said that implementation of minimum wage will increase the state monthly salary obligations by over N6billion adding that additional N7billion is needed for the 44 local government councils.
He emphasised that the approval followed a courageous by present administration exemplifies commitment to social justice, economic growth, and enhanced living standards for the state workers and citizens.
He disclosed that present government inherited an average monthly Internally Generatec Revenue of N2billion , lamenting that by comparison, states such as Lagos generate an average of N54.3billion, Rivers N14.5 billion , Ogun N10.1billion and Delta N7.1 billion.
“This disparity highlights the urgent need for us to reform our domestic revenue generation strategies to meet our obligations to the people of Kano,” the governor emphasised.
He implored the beneficiaries to enhance service delivery, continuously seek innovative solutions to improve public services and streamline processes, foster collaboration, appealing to them to work seamlessly together to ensure transparency and accountability.
“Our administration is deeply committed to prioritizing the welfare of our civil servants, who tirelessly provide efficient, effective, and quality services to our people despite limited financial resources,” he noted.
He lamented that following the 2023 elections, the previous administration undertook a large-scale hiring initiative whereby 13,000 individuals employed to the civil service without due diligence.
He added: “The present administration in recognizing the importance of essential human resources in serving our citizens, we formed a committee to review these hires and ultimately retained over 12,000 of them in the state civil service.”
He urged civil servants to intensify their dedication to efficiency, productivity and effectiveness, stressing that “let’s harness our collective strength to drive transformative change to achieve this greatness in the service.
Earlier,the Head of Civil Service,Alhaji Abdullahi Musa,who presented the report said that the committee did its best to ensure appropriate implementation of the new wage without difficulties.
