Former Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has called on his successor, Abba Yusuf, to concentrate on initiating a concrete plan that will alleviate the suffering of his people instead of picking holes in the post-subsidy removal palliative plan introduced by President Bola Tinubu.
Ganduje’s reaction was a response to a supposed Yusuf’s rejection of the palliative plan, which was subsequently retracted following a backlash from the public.
He said, “Instead of studying what the palliative plan is all about, Kano State openly criticised the plan only for them to withdraw the statement. While some states have gone ahead to set up committees that would provide an interim solution to the situation and others like Imo State have increased the minimum wage to N40,000 as an immediate interim measure, the NNPP government in Kano has not made any concerted efforts.
“In 2017, while negotiations were on between the Federal Government and the Labour Union on the N30,000 minimum wage, the administration of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje went ahead and negotiated N36,000 minimum wage and thereby became one of the first state governments to approve minimum wage above that of the federal government,” the statement said.
“Unfortunately after an outrage, the SSG appeared on national television to embarrassingly deny making the statement, which also further eroded his personal credibility and that of the state government.”
Kano Govt denies criticising Tinubu.
Meanwhile, Kano State Government had earlier dismissed the reports insinuating that it had criticised President Bola Tinubu’s N500 billion palliative sharing formula as false.
The state deputy governor, Aminu Abdulsalam-Gwarzo, gave the clarification in a statement by his Press Secretary, Ibrahim Shauibu, on Saturday in Kano.
He said the reports falsely claimed that the deputy governor criticised the Tinubu led-administration for the allocation of N500 billion to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) through the Bank of Industry (BoI).
The statement reads in part: “Gwarzo had referred to a news segment he watched on Thursday morning featuring Sen. Ali Ndume, who expressed concern about the allocation formula.
“The deputy governor made this reference while receiving a delegation from the Kano Cooperative Society at the Government House, Kano, as they commemorated the 2023 International Day of Cooperatives.
“Nowhere in the deputy governor’s statement did he mention the name of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The allocation formula has been designed even before President Tinubu assumed office.
“Therefore, the reports misinterpreted Gwarzo’s comments, failing to grasp the essence of his statement.”
The statement further quoted Gwarzo as reaffirming government commitment under the leadership of Gov. Abba Kabir-Yusuf to remain steadfast towards supporting President Tinubu’s vision for a peaceful and united Nigeria.
