Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi State has constituted a committee to investigate complaints by primary school teachers over the way the new national minimum wage has been applied to their salaries. As reported by Channels Television, the governor announced the move after listening to teachers who said the increase had not been fully reflected in what they are paid, despite the policy being in force.
The decision was taken during an engagement in Birnin Kebbi that brought together teachers, officials of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, education secretaries, local government chairmen and other stakeholders. The forum gave the aggrieved teachers a chance to lay out their concerns directly before the state government, with the salary question dominating the discussion from the outset.
At the centre of the grievance is the partial implementation of the seventy five thousand naira minimum wage and the related grade level adjustments for primary school teachers. Many teachers complained that their pay had merely been tweaked upwards rather than recalculated to reflect the full wage and the associated steps, leaving them convinced that they were being short changed under the new arrangement.
Local government chairmen and education secretaries who spoke at the meeting traced the shortfall to the previous administration, which they said had failed to fully implement the new minimum wage and the corresponding grade level changes. To illustrate the scale of the adjustment, officials noted that the Argungu local government area, which paid out more than thirty one million naira before the new wage, now spends over eighty one million naira on the same payroll.
After hearing from all sides, Governor Idris assured the teachers that his administration would examine the matter thoroughly and address whatever challenges it uncovered. He said a committee would be constituted and given thirty days to complete its assignment, and he pledged to implement the panel's recommendations once its report is submitted to him.
The governor framed the issue in personal terms, reminding the audience that he had himself been a teacher and that it was their support and votes that had brought him to office. He vowed that he would not allow anyone to cheat the teachers, casting the review as a matter of fairness owed to a workforce he counts himself part of rather than a routine administrative exercise.
Alongside the salary review, Idris said plans for motorcycle loan schemes and other welfare packages for teachers were already underway. In a parallel move to strengthen grassroots governance, the governor also distributed new Yamaha motorcycles to two hundred and twenty five councillors, explaining that the machines would help them reach every corner of their wards and improve their engagement with the people they represent.