The deputy minority leader and coordinator, North West ADC Governorship Candidates Forum, Honourable Abdussamad Dasuki, has said the candidates’ unified approach to tackling insecurity represents a new strategy capable of ending the region’s long-running security crisis.

In an unprecedented move to reshape subnational governance in Nigeria, the seven African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidates for the Northwest zone, on September 9, have signed a regional development compact aimed at addressing the region’s security and socio-economic challenges through a unified approach.

“You don’t wait until you get there before you start preparing. They want to get into office well-prepared from the very first day they swing into action because we are in a time that has never been seen in the history of the region and the country. The Northwest is facing a lot of security challenges that never could have been imagined.

“This is noble for them to even think that they should come together, have the plan, and, more especially, to tackle insecurity. It is very commendable. I’m happy to let you know that they have brought something new.”

Dasuki expressed confidence that the new ideas being proposed by the candidates would provide a breakthrough in the fight against insecurity, saying the region could overcome the crisis within months of their assumption of office.

“We have been discussing insecurity for almost getting to 19–20 years, and we have not been able to find the headway. But with what they have brought in the last couple of months—some of the ideas—I believe, in a couple of months after assuming office, we’re going to get over insecurity in the northern part of the country and, by extension, Nigeria.”

Speaking on the proposed security measures, Dasuki said the candidates had agreed to deploy technology, including drones and command-and-control centres across the 21 senatorial districts, to ensure rapid responses to security incidents.

“What the governorship candidates are talking about, is utilizing technology. Part of the things they have put here is that technology is going to be utilized to make sure that we bring this to an end.

“They’ve agreed to one thing: technology must be utilized, drones must be used, and they’ve agreed that in the 21 senatorial districts within the Northwest region, every zone should have a command and control center where immediately you report security incidents. Within the next 3 minutes, you have an answer to what is happening.”

Defending the proposed ₦110,000 minimum wage, Dasuki said the figure was necessary to cushion the impact of devaluation and restore workers’ purchasing power across the Northwest. He argued that the current ₦70,000 minimum wage had lost significant value following the devaluation of the naira, adding that states had sufficient financial resources to support a higher wage.

“With regards to 110,000 minimum wage, that is long overdue. There should have been a new minimum wage as far back as July 2023. The moment we had devaluation, there was no need to keep people poorer. The 70,000 is less than the 30,000 that they were getting before devaluation. The only way we can help this system revitalize it is to make sure that minimum wage is in conformity with reality.”

Explaining that the proposed minimum wage will be funded by increased allocations to states following the naira devaluation, Dasuki said the available funds are sufficient to implement it.

“That is one mistake we keep making. The moment we had devaluation, we had money. As in the naira, you had more. The moment that—exactly.

“With the subsidy, I heard the Minister of Finance a couple of days or weeks back when he said they only had 15 trillion, and out of the 15 trillion, the federal government had about 5 trillion that they shared. But after devaluation, look at the amount of money that was coming into the states. We have done the math, and we realized that with the amount of money going to the states, you can do a minimum wage of 110,000 naira, even right now.” (Arise News)