From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
Alhaji Abdullahi Idris Zuru, Special Adviser to the Kebbi State Governor on Communication and Strategy, has stated that workers in Kebbi have every reason to celebrate Workers’ Day 2025 due to Governor Nasir Idris’s efforts to provide a conducive working environment for maximum productivity.
In a statement issued in Birnin Kebbi, Zuru highlighted the governor’s prioritisation of workers’ welfare since assuming office on May 29, 2023.
“The leadership of labour in Kebbi State has every reason to joyfully celebrate this year’s event in view of Comrade Governor Nasir Idris’s demonstrated concern for their welfare and provision of conducive working atmosphere for maximum productivity,” Zuru said.
He noted that Idris, a former National President of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and Deputy National President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), has consistently advocated for workers’ rights, arguing against perceptions that they represent an insignificant portion of the population.
“He always maintained that workers deserve favourable consideration considering their sacrifices in ensuring socio-economic development of the country and the fact that many, particularly in the north, have between one and four wives and many children and dependants,” Zuru added.
Zuru explained that upon taking office, Idris addressed the lack of adequate office accommodation for civil servants. “The Comrade Governor awarded the contract for the completion of the ultra-modern Secretariat complex, abandoned for about twenty years but now completed, fully equipped, and furnished with the capacity of accommodating over twenty-seven Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, in addition to a two-thousand-capacity conference hall,” he said. Additionally, the secretariats of Kebbi’s twenty-one local governments, previously neglected, have been renovated and furnished.
The governor also tackled inherited backlogs of gratuities, death benefits, monthly pensions, and annual leave grants worth billions of naira.
“With apparent moral justification and human feelings, the Comrade Governor not only cleared the backlog but also sustained the payment of all the workers’ rights and privileges as of when due, including the payment of the seventy-five-thousand-naira reviewed minimum wage,” Zuru stated. Kebbi became the first state to approve a N75,000 minimum wage, surpassing the federal benchmark of N70,000.
Idris revived furniture allowances for permanent secretaries and introduced medical financial support for workers with critical health challenges. In the education sector, he extended teachers’ retirement age from 60 to 65 years and service years from 35 to 40, arguing that retired teachers still have much to contribute.
“When he turned to his primary constituency, the teaching profession, Comrade Nasir NUT, as he was popularly called, exempted teachers from the civil service rule,” Zuru said.
In healthcare, Idris increased salaries for doctors and medical staff to curb their exodus from the state. Zuru concluded that these initiatives reflect the governor’s commitment to workers’ welfare, enhancing morale and productivity across Kebbi’s public service.