Get Guardian on GoogleThe governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), in Kwara State, Prof. Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia has promised N120 thousand minimum wage salary for civil servants, if elected into the Ahmadu Bello Government House, next year.
The official state budget is monthly ₦4.55 billion for direct salaries and wages and ₦6.01 billion for total personnel costs including allowances and pensions in the 2026 approved budget
Ajia said it would only take additional N4 billion to the present N4.55 billion monthly wage bill, promising to index new minimum wage to cost of living.
Addressing media Correspondents of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), on Wednesday in Ilorin, the United States of America (USA) based lecturer said the state can conveniently afford the salary increase “if not for the selfish disposition of the government and the actors.”
According to him, the state would under his watch increase the workers’ pay from the present N70 thousand to the proposed N120 thousand monthly.
“If elected as governor in January, i will move our civil servants from N70 thousand monthly salary to N120 thousand.
“We can pay the money, our problem is just that those in government have not thought of, and have not reduced their crave for personal enrichment,” he said.
Generally, the NDC candidate explained that he would not only run an inclusive government, but a functional system that would put the state favourably beside Lagos, Rivers and Kaduna States.
Promising to increase the revenue base of Kwara State, Ajia discussed the need to open the economy by investing in the security and infrastructures across the state to encourage the urban-rural drift.
Pointedly, he promised to give the state a lite-rail system to address transportation crisis in the state capital.
He regretted that the northern and southern senatorial districts of Kwara State were criminally neglected in terms of infrastructural allocations, promising to correct the associated ills if voted in January.
Consequently, he, among others, promised development commission to be named Kwara North Regional Authority (KNRA) that would address the infrastructural imbalance in the area.
