Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai says civil servants and political appointees in the state will take between 25 and 50% pay cut to support the state’s government fight against COVID-19.
The pay cut, according to the state governor, will serve as their ‘donations’ to the state’s COVID-19 relief initiative.
The State Governor said while career public servants earning a net pay of N67,000 and above after-tax will donate 25% of their pay monthly within the period of quarantine, all its senior appointees, including Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, Special Advisers and Heads of Agencies will each donate N500,000 in April and subsequently donate 50% of their salaries until the quarantine ends.
El-Rufai, however, explained that no public servant will have less than N50,000 monthly to manage within the emergency period.
He added that other categories of political appointees will also be making monthly donations to support the provision of relief to the low income, poor and vulnerable residents of the state.
The governor’s decision was communicated in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye.
The governor, he said, urged all those fortunate to still earn a regular income to live up to their neighbourly responsibility towards those who are unable to earn any money.
“We are obliged to demonstrate that as government workers, we care enough for others to donate part of our earnings for their wellbeing.
“As a state government, we are also seeking donations from high net worth individuals, the private sector and development partners to support our efforts to contain COVID-19 and its consequences,” he said.
He said the state government prefers donations to be in kind such as, “personal protective equipment, PCR machines, medical facilities and equipment, facemasks, food, pharmaceuticals, and fertilizer, seeds and seedlings and other support for farmers.”
