Governorship candidates of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the seven North-West states have unveiled a joint 2027 agenda built around tackling insecurity, reviving livelihoods and improving access to basic services, with a pledge to raise the minimum wage to N110,000 if elected.
The candidates made the commitment on Wednesday in Abuja while signing the Northwest ADC Governorship Candidates’ Compact 2027–2031, a regional pact that seeks to coordinate their approach to security, education, healthcare and economic development across Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
Security is at the centre of the compact, with the candidates promising to declare emergencies on insecurity and education, deploy drones and other surveillance technologies against banditry, and establish a Northwest Regional Security Coordination Centre to improve cooperation in combating criminal activities.
The candidates also linked the region’s security crisis to worsening hunger, abandoned farmlands and declining school enrolment, citing more than 16,000 deaths from insecurity between June 2023 and August 2026 and over 1,583 kidnapping incidents since January 2023. They said more than 533,000 hectares of farmland in Zamfara and Katsina had been abandoned.
Beyond security, the candidates pledged a N110,000 minimum wage for workers and the establishment of 21 specialist hospitals across the region, alongside measures aimed at addressing the education crisis, which they said has left the North-West with about 45 per cent of Nigeria’s out-of-school children.
Kebbi State candidate and former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, who read the communiqué, said the pact represented a regional covenant for “security, development and shared prosperity.” The candidates said their objective was to break the cycle in which insecurity drives farmers from their land, worsens poverty and hunger, pushes children out of school and creates conditions that could fuel further criminal recruitment.
