Governorship candidates of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) of the seven states in the Northwest geopolitical zone have promised to increase workers’ minimum wage from N70,000 to N110,000 if elected in the 2027 general elections.
The candidates also pledged to establish a total of 21 specialist hospitals in the zone, with three of such facilities in each of the seven states.
The candidates collectively made the promises in Abuja on Wednesday with the signing of a pact to demonstrate their commitment to the welfare of their people and improved security arrangements for the zone.
The pact, made on the platform of the Northwest ADC Governorship Candidates’ Compact 2027–2031, outlined a joint regional agenda on security, development and shared prosperity.
Part of the pact, according to them, was to declare emergencies on insecurity and education, deploy drones and technology-driven surveillance to tackle banditry, and establish an effective Northwest Regional Security Coordination Centre.
Reading a communique on behalf of the seven candidates, the ADC governorship candidate in Kebbi State, Abubakar Malami, SAN, emphasised the commitment of the candidates to what he described as a “regional covenant” with the people.
Malami said, “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.
“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 kidnapping 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.
“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.
“Our states and local government areas have received over N8.33 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 opposition candidates accused the All Progressives Congress APC-led administrations in the Northwest of massive and unprecedented looting, alleging that the region had little to show in terms of development, infrastructure and security.
They also accused the incumbent governors in the zone of living in luxury while citizens struggle with poverty, citing extravagant government houses, exotic cars and private jet travel. They vowed to run transparent administrations in their states if elected in 2027.
Continuing, Malami said, “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.
“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.”
“We commit that we will implement a minimum wage of N110,000 for workers across all the 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.
“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 one voice in advocacy for our region.”
ADC candidates pledged to prioritise cooperation on security, people-centred governance and responsible reforms, with development and citizens’ welfare.
They also promised to establish technology-driven surveillance and rapid-response networks across the region’s 21 senatorial districts, including drone deployment and mechanism to strengthen early warning and response to security threats.
The communique further said, “We will ensure more land is safely farmed, and our food security is strengthened through protected agricultural corridors, formalised livestock production, agro-processing, a regional grain reserve and irrigation rehabilitation.
“On education and human capital, we shall declare an emergency on education, secure full UBEC access, integrate Almajiri and Tsangaya children into formal schools, support girls’ school attendance, and build a credible system for teacher recruitment, continuous training, and mopping up out-of-school children.
“We will ensure full access to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), revitalise primary health care centres, expand midwives, telemedicine and community health insurance deployment. We shall establish one specialist hospital in each senatorial district.
“We shall prioritise regional infrastructure (roads, rail network), independent power generation, solar power for public facilities, water systems, digital backbone and the border and logistics infrastructure our trade depends on.”
With Malami as leader of the group, other candidates who attended and signed the pact were Manir Mohammad Dan’iya (Sokoto), Sabo Mohammed Nakudu (Jigawa), and Bilyaminu Yusuf Shinkafi (Zamfara).
Others are Senator Ahmad Babba Kaita (Katsina) represented by his running mate, Aminu Yar’adua Ahmed; while the Kaduna candidate, Isa Mohammed Ashiru was represented by his deputy, Kantiok Irmiya Ishaku.
The Kano ADC candidate, Ibrahim Ali Amin was also represented by his deputy, Sabo Mohammed Nakudu.