FORMER Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has called on his successor, Abba Kabir Yusuf popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida, 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 Abba’s earlier rejection of the palliative plan, which was subsequently retracted following a backlash from the public.
The governor has faulted the mode of distribution of the N500 billion palliatives for small-scale industries adopted by the Federal Government.
According to him, the distribution mode will see Lagos receiving 47 per cent of the allocation, followed by the South-South Zone with 17 per cent, and other regions receiving significantly lower percentages.
Speaking through his deputy, Aminu Abdussalam, the governor said the distribution was heavily skewed in favour of Lagos state and the South-South zone to the disadvantage of other states and zones.
But Ganduje admonished the NNNP government to borrow a leaf from Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, by focusing on how to ease the pains of the masses instead of picking holes in Tinubu’s N500bn palliative.
He gave the advice in a statement issued on Sunday by his ex-Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba.
“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.
Continuing, Ganduje blamed the recent ‘inconsistencies and unguarded statements from senior Kano officials’ on the NNPP government’s lack of understanding of what governance entails.
The veteran politician noted that a similar scenario played out when Secretary to the Kano State Government, Dr. Baffa Bichi, announced to the world that the reason for the demolition of the iconic Kano roundabout was because it carried a huge Christian cross that he said was against Islamic ideology.
“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.
“Instead of making a careful study of what is on the ground, the government engaged in vengeance and also adopted an anti-people policy that has worsened the economic condition of the state. After stopping the salaries of suspended civil servants employed by the immediate past administration as well as the demotion of hundreds of teachers, the NNPP government despite its promise has failed to set up the committee that will look into their case,” the statement added.
Ganduje, therefore, called on the NNPP government to stop making statements capable of jeopardising the peace and development of the state.