Niger Gov Denies Directing State Workers to Wear a Particular Dress Code

Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has refuted media claims that he gave the order for state employees to wear formal attire.

Remember how Governor Bago allegedly advised civil servants to get ready to go farming and to stop wearing “Baba Riga and Kaftan” in a widely shared video in Hausa?

The governor’s spokesperson, Bologi Ibrahim, countered that the governor was taken out of context and that the original meaning of his statement was not captured in a statement released on Tuesday.

According to him, the governor did not declare or impose a dress code on civil servants; rather, he intended for every professional to dress in accordance with the requirements of their position.

Ibrahim emphasized that the public should ignore the snippet because the complete video makes it apparent what the governor meant, alleging that the viral video was cleverly and cunningly altered to disparage him.

Therefore, in order to prevent factual misrepresentations, he counseled social media influencers to be cautious and certain about the material they provide on social media and its context.

He said: “Mr Governor believes that, as a state, we have no reason to be poor because of the enormous agricultural potentials of the state and that his government was already investing heavily in the agricultural revolution, hence the need for all to collectively embrace farming including the civil servants.

 “The governor was only encouraging civil servants to be farmers and to be good farmers. The governor merely encouraged the public workers to always dress smartly to the farm which did not in any way imply that civil servants now have a dress code to the office from Monday to Thursday as erroneously captured in the video making the rounds.