Kano stops N30,000 minimum wage, reverts to N18,000

The Kano State Government has stopped the payment of N30,000 minimum wage to its workers and reverted to the previous wage scale, N18,000.

President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2019 signed the new minimum wage act into law, stipulating the N30,000 as new minimum wage, replacing the old N18,000.

In December 2019, Kano government agreed with its workers to commence the payment of the new minimum wage, while arrears of April-November, 2019, were to be settled in instalments.

Salihu Tanko-Yakasai, spokesperson for Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, confirmed the return to the old salary scale by the state government.

He told TheCable that owing to the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the state was unable to continue paying N30,000.

“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,” he said.

Sources in the state civil service said the government did not inform them of the development.

“We saw the deduction in our November and then December pay, and nobody told us anything,” a source said, adding: “The pensioners also had deduction in their pay and no reason has been given for this.”

In November, Nigeria slid into its worst economic recession in over three decades.

Gombe in March, 2020 reverted to N18,000 from N30,000.