Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, has announced that his administration will begin paying the new national minimum wage this November.
The governor said this today during the State Executive Council meeting at Government House Bauchi.
He said the new minimum was captured in 2025 budget and the implementation will begin from November 2024:
He expressed concern over a recent National Bureau of Statistics report listing Bauchi among states with high poverty levels and described the report as a wake-up call.
He urged the council members to intensify efforts to deliver impactful projects to the people.
“I have seen some statistics from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, about Bauchi, Gombe and other Northern states, on the poverty index. This is a place where life is very difficult. Well, I may not agree with the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics but I appreciate them, because at least they came up with data, and it will serve us as a wake up call.
“We thought we are doing very well because we have brought security, and our food security is also good because our people go to the farm, we have asked our civil servants to go to the farm and farm so that we can put food on the table.
“All of us are farmers and we are giving out alot of humanitarian support that of the Federal Government and our own, we feel we are paying our salaries as and when due and we are paying pensions.
“What is outstanding I think is only the gratuity that we inherited, which we are working very hard as a council to seek for resources to clear by the grace of God as per our plan by 2025”.
He said “I have directed the commissioner of planning to meet them and to ask them what indices they use, what ever they have used we have to take it in good faith, because we are federalists, we believe in institutions and I dont think they can just go ahead on this arbitrarily and subjectively do this kind of thing.
“But certainly we need to work very hard on our welfare issues and issues that will impact on the common man, and that’s why some of these statistics they are not doing it to make you feel gloomy but certainly to help you to know the areas that you have not been doing very well”
Governor Bala reiterated his commitment to addressing the backlog of gratuities owed to retired civil servants, appealing for their patience as the government works toward a resolution.
