President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on. Monday appealed to state governors to start paying the wage awards pending the determination of the new minimum wage to reduce the hardship of the economy on the people.
Speaking in Minna at the flag-off of the agricultural mechanization revolution for food security and the commissioning of the remodeled domestic terminal of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport in Minna, the President noted that all states need to adopt the wage award.
“If all of you, the sub-nationals have been paying the wages award, pending the determination of the new salary wage. Let all the states start paying the wages award. Whatever they are taking now plus the wage award would relieve the pain.
“Please, I am not giving an order, I am appealing to you states, start paying the wages awards, let everyone start paying it. It is a relief to the people. The mechanism is the fact that it won’t be inflationary if we announce the new salary wage in a few weeks or months, they would have gotten used to the basic wages of N30,000 plus the wages award, and it will have a dampening effect on the market. Please get sub-nationals together and NEC should adopt this.”
The President also assured that the student loans and other economic measures would soon commence.
“The student loan programme will commence, there will be unemployment benefits for our graduates, and the social security programme for the elderly and vulnerable will commence, we are fine-tuning all these areas. We will relieve people of hunger.
Tinubu however outlined plans for a comprehensive programme to address the challenges of violent attacks, cattle rustling, and other related issues pledging to organize an inauguration of the Livestock Change programme in Nigeria within the next few weeks, aiming to transform the current challenges into economic opportunities.
“Give me two to three weeks. You will be part of the inauguration of the livestock change in Nigeria. I know what it means to the economy for roaming cows to eat up the crops and vegetation of our lands, it could be painful but when we reorient the herders and make provision for cattle rearing. The Governors should provide the lands and as the President, I am committed to giving you a comprehensive programme that will solve this problem.”
.“We have seen the level of commitment here from the state level, we have seen leadership and the success story of any leader is the ability to do what they ought to do at the time they ought to do it. You are doing the job, you are walking the talk and I must support you.
“Whatever support you need, you will get. We appreciate your efforts in the infrastructure development of the state, and I guarantee you the federal support. We flag off the hope, you deliver the hope and you reassure Nigerians.”
The president also stated that his administration is not concerned about making excuses or blaming the past government adding that he intends to take action, do his best to reengineer the finances of the country, and stay ahead on the right path.
Meanwhile, the governor of Niger State Mohammed Umar Bago said that agriculture is key to the government’s commitment to addressing the challenges in critical sectors of our economy and his administration has seize the opportunity for the attainment of growth and engender prosperity for the people of the state and Nigeria.
He noted that the state government had embarked on some ambitious initiatives to rehabilitate and expand some federal roads to address these challenges and establish efficient road infrastructure and cost-effective and secure movement of goods and services.
The governor stated that the state has approved 3,000 hectares of land for the special Agro-processing Free Zone out of which 1,000 hectares is dedicated to greenhouses, 1,000 for dairy and meat processing, and the other 1,000 hectares for Agro-processing storage, aggregation, and other value chain development components.
“To further buttress the lead role Niger State is playing in agriculture and contributing to the overall food security of Nigeria, we shall explore over three million of the 8.3 million hectares of arable land, large water bodies with a multitude of tributaries, 23 grazing reserves, and 94 forest reserves. Therefore, Niger State stands as a beacon of hope and promise in the realm of agriculture and our springboard to harvest our potentials in the Green Economy and associated gains.
“On overall, Niger State intends to be the largest sub-national food exporter in Nigeria. To achieve this objective, we are determined to attract investments, private sector equity, and loans totalling 500 billion Naira annually over the next seven years.”
Bago announced the partnership tNiger State Government entered with Lagos State Government designating Lagos State as the off-takers of the state agricultural produce saying, “This strategic initiative will attract over N1 trillion in investment into our agricultural sector, consequently fostering the creation of more than one million direct and indirect job opportunities. This collaboration symbolizes a significant step towards economic empowerment that laid the solid foundation.”
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