El-Rufai, deputy cut pay by 50 per cent

The newly elected governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, and his deputy, Arch. Barnabas Yusuf Bala, took their oaths of office yesterday announcing that they would sacrifice 50 per cent of their salaries for the development of the state.

In his inaugural speech after he was sworn-in by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Tanimu Zailani, El-Rufai pledged that his administration would avoid ostentatious lifestyle and embrace transparency, modesty and accountability.
Reiterating that Kaduna is the second most indebted state in the country, the governor promised to work day and night to make the state great again.
El-Rufai, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said: “In recognition of the difficult challenges we face, our Deputy Governor and I have concluded that the sacrifice that change requires must begin with us. We have decided to take a pay cut and donate 50 per cent of our salaries and allowances, until our fiscal situation improves.
“We understand that leadership by example is the most persuasive way to demand sacrifice from all of us as citizens”
El-Rufai, who was sworn in as 22nd Governor of Kaduna State, stressed: “We will obey the same rules that we demand of all of you. After all, the law is the difference between civilization and anarchy. We submit ourselves to the principle that all are equal before the law.”.
He added: “As we celebrate on this day that God has made, let us remember, with sober senses, exactly what challenges confront us. For far too long, our country has been a place where hope goes to die, where the future has been stolen from our children, where our leaders have commandeered our resources largely for their own personal enjoyment, and where grinding poverty has become a fact of daily life for nearly all our people.