Northwest ADC Governorship Aspirants Pledge N110,000 Minimum Wage, Insecurity Eradication

Governorship candidates representing the African Democratic Congress (ADC) across the seven states of Nigeria's Northwest region have committed to implementing a minimum wage of N110,000 and establishing 21 specialist hospitals if they secure victory in the 2027 general elections. These significant pledges were made on Wednesday in Abuja at the Yar’adua Centre, during the formal signing of the Northwest ADC Governorship Candidates’ Compact 2027–2031, which details their unified regional agenda focused on security, development, and shared prosperity.

Under the provisions of this compact, the candidates also vowed to declare states of emergency on both insecurity and education. Their strategy to combat banditry includes deploying drones and advanced technology-driven surveillance systems. Furthermore, they intend to establish a dedicated Northwest Regional Security Coordination Centre to enhance security efforts.

Abubakar Malami, SAN, a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, who is also the ADC governorship candidate for Kebbi State, presented the communiqué following the signing ceremony. He confirmed that the candidates had collectively endorsed a regional covenant primarily centered on security, overall development, and equitable prosperity for all.

Malami quoted the declaration, stating, “We, the Governorship Candidates of the African Democratic Congress for Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States, having this day adopted and signed the Northwest ADC Governorship Candidates’ Compact 2027–2031, address this declaration directly to the people of the Northwest as our Regional Covenant for Security, Development and Shared Prosperity.”

He further elaborated on the dire situation facing the region: “Our region is crisis-ridden. Over 16,000 lives have been lost on account of insecurity between June 2023 and August 2026, and more than 1,583 kidn*pping incidents since January 2023 have taken over 10,000 of our people from their homes and farms. Tens of thousands of households have been displaced, and more than 533,000 hectares of farmland in Zamfara and Katsina alone now lie abandoned. Our region also accounts for 45 percent of Nigeria’s out-of-school children.”

Malami highlighted the cascading effects of insecurity, noting, “Insecurity has emptied our farms, and those empty farms have brought hunger, driven our children out of the classroom, and have denied them the education the region requires to dry up the recruitment pool for future banditry, kidnappings, and all associated crimes. Our commitment is to reorient governance to respond effectively and efficiently to break this vicious cycle of crisis, and restore peace, security, and normalcy to our region.”

Addressing the utilization of public funds, he pointed out: “Our States and Local Government Areas have received over ₦8.33 trillion in federal allocations between June 2023 and August 2026, and yet these revenues have not translated into accessible transport, affordable food and healthcare, functioning schools, and improved living conditions for our people. Individually and collectively, we will take deliberate measures to reverse this unacceptable reality and ensure that public resources deliver measurable improvements in the lives of our citizens. This is why we commit to reform with responsibility, relief with accountability, and growth our citizens can feel.”

The ADC governorship candidates sharply criticized the current APC-led administrations in the Northwest, accusing them of “massive and unprecedented looting.” They alleged that despite substantial federal allocations, the region had little to show in terms of infrastructure, development, or enhanced security.

They further lambasted the incumbent governors for allegedly living in luxury while the populace grappled with poverty, citing examples of opulent government houses, expensive vehicles, and frequent private jet travel. The candidates vowed to operate their administrations with a starkly different approach if they are elected in 2027.

Malami added, “The removal of fuel subsidy by the APC-led Federal Government has pushed the masses of our zone into abject poverty. Households that had hitherto lived on the fringe of hardship now live in abject penury, and the supposed gains claimed for the removal of subsidy have brought no positive impact to their daily lives.”

He affirmed the ADC's stance on subsidies: “We, the ADC Governorship Candidates of the seven Northwest States, hereby declare our total support for the promise made by the ADC Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to restore the subsidy as one of the immediate steps to halt the further slide of our people into abject poverty.”

Regarding their wage promise, Malami stated, “We commit that we will implement a minimum wage of ₦110,000 for workers across all seven states of the Northwest when elected. We will not surrender the constitutional authority of our individual states, nor dissolve the distinct priorities of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. Each of us will remain answerable for our own budgets, procurement, civil service, state education and health systems, land administration, internally generated revenue, state agriculture and infrastructure within our borders.”

He concluded by emphasizing the importance of regional collaboration: “But where our people’s problems cross our borders, we commit to govern together to resolve them. We will coordinate our security architecture. We will hold ourselves to common standards. We will pool investment where pooling multiplies impact. We will open cross-border trade, share data, build joint infrastructure and speak with…”