OPINION: 150k Minumum Wage: Stray Bullet to Perm Sec Aminu Gwadabawa

By Uncle Anass Dukura — 10 || 05 || 2026

It is actually both funny and disappointing to read comments from you, a Permanent Secretary in the Sokoto State Civil Service, who is ordinarily expected to understand what civil service reform looks like and how it works. The kind of glitches that sometimes accompany painstaking but necessary reforms such as those introduced by Abdussamad Dasuki during his tenure as Commissioner of Finance should not have exposed you publicly as a novice in the system.

For a start, it is utterly shameful, though not surprising, that you deliberately brushed aside the real issue at hand. Instead of discussing the message, you tactically chose to attack the messenger while avoiding the substance of the matter he raised.

As a Permanent Secretary, you could not refute the fact stated by Abdussamad Dasuki that the increased federal allocation Sokoto State receives monthly can sustain a 150k minimum wage while still funding infrastructure development.

The major reason you carefully avoided the discussion is because Abdussamad Dasuki, a Harvard-trained finance and economics expert, stated the truth and nothing but the truth. It is an indisputable fact that anyone with even a basic understanding of the monthly inflows to Sokoto State cannot deny. Yet, here you are.

For the record, and before I point out your missteps in choosing to attack the messenger instead of critically examining the message, let me remind us of two things. First, the money this government received in just its first year surpassed what the previous government received in eight years. Everything is in the public domain. So far, in less than three years, this government has received almost a trillion naira in FAAC allocations.

Second, let me highlight some of Abdussamad Dasuki’s achievements as Commissioner of Finance. This is someone who carried out difficult reforms that had never before been witnessed, and in fact were thought impossible in Sokoto State. Despite efforts by some civil servants like you, who felt threatened and exposed by his reform agenda, Abdussamad stood his ground and ensured that Sokoto’s name was written in gold.

Unlike you, Mr. Permanent Secretary, I will not write without evidence, nor will I make submissions like a tea-vendor critic who knows little about real governance. Let me therefore begin with the outcome, which is often said to justify the means.

Under Abdussamad Dasuki’s leadership as Commissioner of Finance, Sokoto achieved financial stability and emerged as one of the best-performing states, in fact best state in transparency and accountability, as rated by the World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

This was during the rigorous assessment conducted under the States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Program-for-Results (SFTAS PforR).

That was not your “Temu assessment,” Mr. Permanent Secretary; it was a World Bank assessment. I was a member of the SFTAS committee, and I, along with everyone in the Ministry of Finance at the time including messengers, witnessed how Abdussamad Dasuki worked tirelessly, day and night, to achieve this feat.

In the process, many civil servants like you who were unwilling to drive the reforms were sidelined because Abdussamad meant business and refused to take “no” for an answer, a typical “in ba ka yi, bani wuri” approach. That is why some of you took it personally and continue to distort narratives against him.

This is a hardworking commissioner who spent countless nights working past 2am with other members of the committee in his officesThe results of his efforts are evident: take the Sokoto Internal Revenue Service (SOIRS), formerly the Sokoto Board of Internal Revenue. Abdussamad rebranded and reformed it into what it is today. He changed its name, logo, structure, and operational system, while also providing a befitting work environment that was regarded as the best in Sokoto.

These efforts increased revenue generation by over 200%, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The records do not lie.The Debt Management Office also underwent reforms under Abdussamad Dasuki. Through his efforts, the office got a new building and a completely overhauled structure, which helped consolidate Sokoto’s debt burden and positioned the state more favourably with global financial institutions.

Then there is the Sokoto Geographic Information System (SOGIS), another initiative greatly driven by his ideas and efforts under the SFTAS program, even if it was not directly under his office. As though the temporary but suitable accommodation provided for SOIRS and SOGIS at the refurbished Investment House was not enough, Abdussamad also worked toward establishing permanent sites for both institutions.

He initiated the construction of the Revenue House for SOIRS along Ibrahim Dasuki Road, a project your government abandoned; and another permanent structure for SOGIS along Kano Road, which your government claimed to complete but keep making false promises about issuing Certificates of Occupancy.

Abdussamad also reformed the Salary Department. He brought in a credible bursar from Sokoto State University and appointed him director for more effective management. He overhauled the department’s infrastructure and redesigned its systems and processes in line with global best practices. Yet, it is the few unavoidable glitches likely caused by saboteurs within the civil service, people like you, Aminu, that you chose to amplify.

During Abdussamad Dasuki’s tenure, his prudent management of Sokoto’s limited resources despite the COVID-19 crisis led to tremendous infrastructural development. Sokoto witnessed strategic projects that had not been seen in recent times.

The Sokoto State University Teaching Hospital speaks for itself. So does the Shehu Shagari University of Education, originally conceived as the Girls Modern Science Academy.For the first time, Sokoto got two flyover bridges under Dasuki’s watch, alongside a third bridge project, the nine-span bridge on the Tashar Illela road expansion.

Consider also the impact the newly built Sokoto Stadium will have once completed. And Mr Perm Sec, is the Sokoto New City Master Plan a joke to you? These were all projects and developments executed during Abdussamad Dasuki’s tenure as Commissioner of Finance.

As a Permanent Secretary, Malam Aminu, I expected you to know better, but you have chosen to behave like a roadside analysts by ignoring all these giant achievements of Abdussamad Dasuki only to focus on things ordinary people who lack basic knowledge governance pay attention to.

Still during his time, Sokoto established three Premier Hospitals, one in each senatorial district, to reduce pressure on the Specialist Hospital in Sokoto metropolis. The Southern Zone hospital was almost completed before your ineffective government abandoned it.

I could go on because the list is endless, but there is no need. You already know these facts. I am only writing to set the record straight.

Unfortunately for you, Aminu Gwadabawa and your ilks, these undeniable facts are still not enough for you to acknowledge that Abdussamad Dasuki is not your kinda “Temu commissioner” and is, in fact, in the best position to tell Sokoto people what a trillion can do for them.

Isn’t it disturbing that these are the kinds of senior civil servants surrounding Gov Ahmed Aliyu’s administration? Though I don’t blame him and it’s not surprising at all, Hausas say “kamar kumbo kamar ýaýan ta”. With Permanent Secretaries like Aminu Bello Gwadabawa, who cannot differentiate facts from fiction, it is no surprise that Sokoto fell from first place under Abdussamad Dasuki to 36th, the last position, in the last World Bank SFTAS transparency assessment under Gov Ahmed Aliyu.

As for the issue you raised concerning Abdussamad Dasuki’s performance in the House of Representatives, it is obvious that he is one of the few legislators who truly understand their job. He represents even you, and in many ways you are also a beneficiary of his representation.

To begin with, I know you are aware of the role he played until the altered tax bills were suspended. But what do you people like you even know? You only pay attention to your local politics and never want to try new ideas. You and your governor are contented with your “villagish” way of doing things.

And if you, Mal Aminu, a Level 16 Permanent Secretary in the state civil service, do not understand the role of a legislator, and instead behave like a tea-vendor critic by demanding massive health and education infrastructure from a lawmaker, then we are indeed in serious trouble as a country. Even a simple ChatGPT search would tell you that the primary responsibility of a legislator is lawmaking.

But even beyond that, I can confidently argue that Rep. Abdussamad Dasuki has more visible infrastructure projects to his name than your demigod, Senator Aliyu Wamakko. In fact, no APC legislator in Sokoto, past or present, can boast of better representation than him. I dare you to debate that.

This is a man who facilitated the establishment of a giant Navy Secondary School in Sokoto, the only one in the Northwest. He built classrooms, provided boreholes to ease water shortages, empowered women and farmers, and disbursed scholarships. Yet, because some of you only value “stomach infrastructure,” you continue to speak balderdash.

Finally, Perm Sec Aminu Bello Gwadabawa, let me ask you a sincere question: the monthly allocation for Tambuwal and Kebbe, the local governments Abdussamad Dasuki represents, is over a billion naira. Your government is now in its 36th month in office, meaning Gov Ahmed Aliyu has received no less than 36 billion naira on behalf of those two local governments alone.

Now, the million dollar question is can you point to a single project worth just 36 million naira in any of these local governments That amount represents only 0.1% of the money your government has received and allegedly siphoned.

Yet here you are expecting a legislator with no budgetary allocation and whose monthly allowance is only slightly above not up to 0.1% of the money above, to carry out responsibilities that constitutionally belong to the executive arm of government.

Aren’t you indirectly shaming your governor for failing woefully to carry out his primary responsibility of providing basic amenities like health infrastructure, basic education, portable drinking water, etcetera?

Uncle Anass Dukura, one of the beneficiaries of Abdussamad Dasuki’s foreign scholarship, writes from London