There is uneasy calm in Kano State as civil servants, including COVID-19 frontline health workers, have started grumbling over an “unexpected slash” in their May salaries by the state government.
Recall that on May 17, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje had announced a 50% slash in his salaries, that of his deputy and all other political appointees in the state, citing a fall in the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, occasioned by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
The governor, however, did not mention any slash in the salaries of the state civil servants.
But on Wednesday, DAILY NIGERIAN gathered that the state government had started paying the May salaries to civil servants but with a deduction of 20 to 30 per cent, a situation that generated outcry and panic among the workers.
Some workers who spoke with our correspondent in the state expressed displeasure over the development, describing it as an injustice, in view of the economic hardship the lockdown order had imposed on the citizens in the state.
A female director in one of the state ministries, who preferred not to be mentioned, said she noticed the deduction of over N30,000 from her salary, representing 21.4% of her salary.
“When I received the alert, I was stunned by the reduction of over N30,000 from my salary. It is surprising to see the mass deduction, despite the fact that we’ve been witnessing some deductions since January.
“The government needs to be sympathetic to its workers because the salaries are just being managed due to over-demand. I plead to the state government to reverse this decision as it would add salt to the wound of the people,” she said.
Another worker, who is also an official of the Kano chapter of Nigerian Civil Servants Union, also expressed sadness over what he described as an unjustified deduction in workers’ salaries.
According to him, about N17, 000 was deducted from his salary, representing 30%, lamenting that with the coming of Sallah festivities and other expenses for his family, his budget had already been broken.
He noted that with the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, the state government did not support its workers with palliative in order to cushion the effects of lockdown, but went ahead to cut their take-home pays.
“What baffles me is that the government did not even notify us. This is a sheer injustice because a good decision should be done formally not arbitrarily.
“The governor wanted to copy his counterparts in Kaduna and other states, this may not augur well in the state. Like me, I had already budgeted what I would buy for my family this Sallah season. But, unfortunately, the budget has been broken,” he said.
When contacted, the chairman of the Kano chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, kabiru Ado-Minjibir, said at first, the union was not aware of the deduction in the workers ‘ salaries.
He, however, stated that the union would convene a stakeholder meeting in a bid to resolve the situation, adding that any outcome of the meeting would be known to media.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that it is unclear if all the state’s civil servants had suffered deduction as other workers, including those working in local government and education ministries are yet to receive their salaries.