A Kano State High Court has issued an interim injunction restraining the state governor alongside four others from further deduction from the salaries of members of the state chapter of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
Some members of the union had approached the court following deduction in their November and December salaries amounting to over N80m.
An exparte motion filled before the court on January 5th by their counsel Barrister F.I Umar was equally supported by 36 paragraph affidavit.
In his ruling, Justice Usman Na’abba also mandated the defendants and whoever acting on their behalf to comply with an earlier agreement dated December 19th that was entered between the two parties pending the determination of the motion on notice.
He then adjourned the matter to 28th January for further hearing.
Speaking on the matter, the Chairman of the state JUSUN, Muktar Rabiu Lawal , said they were shocked to notice deduction in their salaries for November and December which prompted them to seek legal actions.
“In November 41m was deducted, December 39m and we became afraid if it goes on like this it will be over 300m before the year runs out,” he said
Daily Trust reports that many civil servants in the state were left confused following unexplained slashes in their November and December salaries.
Some civil servants said they were left with less than the old minimum wage of N18, 000. Officials of the state government denied reverting to the old minimum wage, insisting that there were only deductions because of the prevailing recession in the country occasioned by COVID-19.
‘We can’t afford it’
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser on Media to Kano State governor, Salihu Tanko Yakasai, said on Wednesday that “the state government reverted to the initial minimum pay due to recession.
“What we are getting now as a government has reduced, and we can’t afford to pay the N30, 000 minimum wage.”
On his part, the state Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, said it was not really a case of reverting to the N18,000 minimum wage but that of reduction because of the current economic situation in the country.
It was gathered that these deductions affected the 55,505 mainstream civil servants in the state as at December 31, 2020.
This figure includes all state Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including tertiary institutions but excluding Maitama Sule University and Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil.
The decision, it was gathered, also affected all political appointees of Governor Ganduje.
