Niger: Governor Bago Approves N20,000 Wage Award After Tinubu’s Plea

Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umar Bago, has sanctioned the payment of a N20,000 wage award for every civil servant in the state.

This decisive action is a direct response to President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide appeal, urging state governments to alleviate the financial strain on their populace amid escalating economic hardships.

President Tinubu, who has been vocal about the need for financial relief measures, emphasized the importance of the wage award during his recent visit to Minna on Monday, March 11.

The visit, marked by the commissioning of the newly established domestic terminal at the renamed Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport Minna, and the unveiling of a significant agricultural mechanization project led by Governor Bago, served as an ideal platform for the President to advocate for this critical initiative.

Highlighting the potential benefits, President Tinubu asserted that the implementation of the wage award by the states could provide essential relief to the people without exerting inflationary pressures on the economy.

President Tinubu further stressed the significance of a unified approach, calling on all states to follow suit in adopting the wage award.

He indicated that the National Executive Council is set to embrace this initiative, marking a pivotal step toward national economic recovery.

Tinubu said, “If all of you, the sub-nationals have been paying the wages award, pending the determination of the new salary wage. Let all the state start paying the wages award. Whatever they are taking now plus the wage award would relieve the public.

“Please, I am not giving an order, I am appealing to you states, start paying the wages awards, let everyone start paying it. It is a relief to the people. The mechanism is the fact that that it won’t be inflationary if we announce the new salary wage in a few weeks or months, they would have gotten use to the basic wages of N30,000 plus the wages award, it will have dampening effect on the market. Please get sub-nationals together and NEC should adopt this.”

The decision of the Niger state governor to pay the N20,000 wage award was made during the state Executive Council meeting held in Minna on Wednesday.

The governor assured that the payment would be made unfailing on Wednesday and workers would begin to receive alerts to this effect.

Bago also said that there will be feeding of people in various points of the wards during the Ramadan while the state government would commence the distribution of palliatives of 120 trucks of grains to assuage the plight of the people.