The Kano State Government has reverted to N18,000 minimum wage, an official of the government has said.

The Special Adviser on Media to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, Salihu Tanko-Yakasai, confirmed the development in a telephone interview in Kano.

“Yes, the state government has stopped the payment of N30,000 minimum wage to its workers with immediate effect,” he said.

Tanko-Yakasai said the reason behind the action was due to the recession occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to him, the state was unable to continue paying N30,000 because what the state was currently getting as a government had reduced.

“The state government has reverted to the initial minimum wage due to the recession.

“What we are getting now as a government has reduced, and we can’t afford to pay the N30,000 minimum wage,” he said.

The official, who declined to state when the payment of N30,000 minimum wage would be restored, said the action was taken due to the reduction in what the state was getting from the federation account.

Recall that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in April 2019 signed the new minimum wage act into law, which stipulates N30,000 as the minimum wage.

In December 2019, the Kano State government agreed with its workers to commence the payment of the new minimum wage, while arrears of April-November, 2019, were to be settled in installments.

The state government had for four months slashed the salary of workers in the state, a situation which prompted the organised labour to warn the government to desist from tampering with the workers’ salary or face industrial action.

The Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress have yet to react to the development.