MINIMUM WAGE: ORGANISED LABOUR SUSPENDS PROPOSED STRIKE

The organised labour union has sispended the nationwide industrial action initially scheduled to commence on Tuesday to press home workers’ demand for a new national minimum wage.

The National Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, announced the suspension at the end of the last meeting of the tripartite committee set up to come up with the new minimum wage on Monday evening.

Wabba said the decision to suspend the action was reached after agreements were reached and documents signed.

“Having reached this position and agreements signed, the proposed strike action is hereby suspended,” the labour leader said.

Wabba, however, refused to disclose the figure of the new minimum wage arrived at by the committee.

He said the figure would only be made public after the committee’s report would have been presented to President Muhammadu Buhari by 4.15pm on Tuesday.

He, however, said only one figure would be presented to the President.

He thanked all their tripartite partners for their understanding while particularly appreciating the roles of the private sector.

The Chairman of the committee, Amma Pepple, expressed delight that their assignment had been concluded.

“I am happy to report to you that we have concluded our assignment and we will submit our report to the President by 4.15pm on Tuesday.

“We will reveal the figure at the presentation,” she said.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, thanked members of the committee for doing a wonderful job. He described the process as a long journey.

“The committee has worked assiduously to reach the conclusion,” he said.

UPDATE:

The Tripartite Committee set up by the Federal Government agreed on N30,000 new minimum wage. Nigeria Labour Congress President, Ayuba Waba (m) addressing a rally on Good Governance before a delegation took a list of Labour demands to Ag. President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

At the end of the first meeting of the tripartite committee set up to arrive at an agreeable minimum wage template, Chairperson of the committee and former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Ms Ama People had said while the federal government insisted on N24,000, organized labour maintained its earlier stance of N30,000.

She however said the government pleaded with labour to call off its planned strike “We have concluded and we have a little challenge with what we call Chapter 5 of our report, that is where we have the numbers and the figures we used for the negotiations and the figures that we concluded with and the committee has two figures: the N24, 000 suggested by the federal government and the N30, 000 given by the organized labour.

“There is no stalemate. We have finished and we have signed it but we are insisting that the strike must be called off. There are still two figures, N24, 000 and N30, 000. You know that labour came up with a figure of N66, 500 but when we put all that together with the figure we got from the states…so, we put all that in a basket plus the initial figure that the federal government recommended which was N20, 700. We put them together in a basket and came up with four scenarios, we worked with one of the scenarios and that was how we agreed on that N24, 000 and N30, 000 respectively”, said Ms People.

Asked on what the committee was going to submit, she said both figures would be forwarded to the president. On his part, Labour and Employment minister, Chris Ngige said the committee was working to secure an appointment with President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that its resolution would be passed to the Federal Executive Council, then the National Economic Council and later the National Council of State after which the president would initiate an Executive Bill to be transmitted yo the National Assembly. 

He said; “We are making progress. The governors’ figure should be the figure of the federal government. We are just trying to carry them along. That is why we made the discussions ‘tripartite plus’. It is just because we want to carry them along, otherwise the federal government speaks for governments. Yes, the figures are standing but we know that there are other processes. It has to go through the Federal Executive Council, the National Executive Council and the National Council of State, then an Executive Bill will be transmitted to the National Assembly”. Asked if the two figures would pass through those processes,

he said; “Yes, because the federal government figure is noted and is also weighty because it says that it depends on the ability to pay, affordability and sustainability. “Labour are quiet satisfied, we are doing the needful, we have passed the rubicon. The only aspect of it now that we need to do is to fix an appointment for the handing over of the report to Mr President.

We are reconvening tonight because that appointment has to be gotten because the president has gone home. He is not just sitting down in the office. If we get the appointment now, we will reconvene later and agree on how to proceed. “The governors have no choice now because they have attached themselves to us because we are the supreme sovereign, they are minor sovereigns”, he added.

On whether the strike would go on as planned on Tuesday, he said, “no”, referring all enquiries to labour leaders. All the labour leaders at the meeting however declined media enquiries, saying they were on break and the meeting would reconvene later tonight.

NEPOTISM: PRESIDENT BUHARI QUIETLY APPOINTS SON-IN-LAW AS HEAD OF BORDER AGENCY

L: Junaid Abdullahi

President Muhammadu Buhari has quietly appointed his son-in-law as the head of Nigeria’s Border Communities Development Agency.

Junaid Abdullahi, a retired pilot, assumed duties at the agency on a low-key on October 18.

He was married to Zulaihat, Mr Buhari’s first daughter who passed away in 2012 from childbirth complications. She was 40.

Mr Abdullahi took over from Jummai Idakwo, the former director of the agency.

Such appointments are usually announced by either the Presidency or the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

It was not immediately clear why both institutions kept a sealed lip over the appointment.

A government source who learnt about the appointment last month said it might have been hushed to save Mr Buhari the trouble of again being accused of nepotism.

The president has faced regular allegations of being sectional, with critics saying his appointments have been lopsided since he assumed office in 2015.

His critics often raise concerns about how most key federal appointments, especially top national security positions, have been ceded to northerners.

Last week, the presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, Oby Ezekwesili, said Mr Buhari was Nigeria’s “most nepotistic” leader ever.

Mr Buhari has repeatedly denied the allegations, and often urged Nigerians to scrutinise his appointments, after which they are likely to reach a different conclusion.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has also said the administration’s appointments are not lopsided, and suggested that more seats have gone to the south than the north under Mr Buhari.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Abdullahi has remarried since the passing of Zulaihat, who was born with sickle cell anemia.

MINIMUM WAGE: FG PLANNING TO INCREASE PETROL PRICE TO N185 – AYO FAYOSE

Fayose

Immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has said that the federal government must perish the idea of increasing the pump price of petrol from N145 per litre to N185 in March next year.

He said that “Nigerians have suffered enough in the hands of the APC government and won’t accept any further upward review of petrol pump price.”

The former governor, who described the planned increment as a way of taking back of whatever that is added to workers salary as minimum wage increment.

He said; “They are delaying the increment till March because of its effects on the February 2019 elections.”

Media Aide to the former governor, Lere Olayinka, said in a statement on Monday that the NNPC presentation to the Senate last week that N145 fuel pump price was unrealistic and that the pump price of petrol was supposed to be N185 per litre as against the official price of N145 per litre was a way to prepare the minds of Nigerians for the planned increment.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru had told Senate Ad-hoc Committee set up to investigate allegation that the Corporation created a fund to finance fuel subsidy without appropriation by the National Assembly that the NNPC set aside $1.05 billion to augment the differential between the landing cost of imported fuel and the pump price of N145 per litre. He said landing cost of petrol was N185 per litre, pointing out that the N40 gap was being filled with the $1.05 billion Support Fund.

Reacting, Fayose, who said the NNPC must explain to Nigerians where it derived powers to spend $1.05 billion (over N350 billion) from crude oil sales to subsidise petrol, noted that it was unexplainable for any agency of the federal government to spend revenue belonging to the entire country without first remitting the fund into the federation account.

The former governor said it was uncharitable for anyone to draw comparison between the pump price of petrol in West African countries with that of Nigeria without considering cost of living in those countries and whether or not they are oil producing like Nigeria.

He said “smuggling is an outdated excuse for increasing petrol pump price, it will no longer be accepted by Nigerians.

“Nigerians are suffering. Millions of jobs have been lost and even many of those still employed are not gainfully employed. The federal government must not add to the burden of the suffering masses by increasing the pump price of petrol as being planned.”

BREAKING: STALEMATE AS MINIMUM WAGE COMMITTEE ADJOURNS MEETING TILL 10PM

The meeting of the tripartite committee set up to come up with a new national minimum wage has ended in a stalemate.

The Chairman of the committee, Ama Pepple, told journalists at the end of their marathon meeting that they would be reconvening at 10pm.

She, however, said the committee arrived at two figures of N24,000 and N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

She said the committee had appealed to the labour leaders to call off the strike and they have promised to consult and revert when the meeting reconvened at 10pm.

But the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said the meeting at 10pm was meant to get appointment on when the report will be submitted to the President.

POLICE ARREST WOMAN FOR LOCKING HER HOUSEMAID INSIDE TOILET

The Nigeria police, in Lagos, on Monday arrested a 35-year-old mother of two (name withheld) who allegedly locked her housemaid inside a toilet and left for church.

The 14-year-old maid was said to have been rescued by policemen who broke the toilet door.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Imohimi Edgal, said that a neighbour who felt concerned about the ordeal of the victim reported to the police.

“Based on the complaint, the DPO of Ipaja division visited the house at Baruwa estate and forced the door open to rescue the girl.

“During interrogation, the victim told me that since she had been living with her madam, she had been going through one form of maltreatment or the other,’’ Edgal said.

He said that police saw various degrees of injuries on the body of the victim.

“On close examination of the girl, wounds of various forms were seen all over the victim’s body,’’ the CP said.

He called on parents to be careful of who they give their children to.

The suspect, however, said that she lock up the victim in the toilet for refusing to follow her to church.

“On the fateful day of the incident when we woke up, I asked her to get prepared so that we can get to church early, but stayed in the toilet doing something else.

“After waiting for her for a while, I went into the toilet to check her only to see her doing some irrelevant things. Out of annoyance I spanked her for avoiding going to church.

“In order to punish her for her action, I locked her inside the toilet and went to church.

“It was when I came back from church that I was told my neighbour reported the incident at Ipaja police station.

“I was told that police broke the door to bring her out of the toilet,’’ she said.

Similarly, the CP said that the Command Gender Unit is investigating a case of defilement against one Nigerien national who allegedly inserted his fingers into the private part of a 10-year-old girl.

Edgal said a concerned resident who saw stains of blood around the girl’s genital area reported the matter to the police.

He said that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded. (NAN)

ONDO STATE GOVT. PROMOTES 14,016 CIVIL SERVANTS IN ONE YEAR

The Ondo State Government says it has promoted no fewer than 14,016 deserving civil servants in the state between 2017 and 2018.

The Chairman, Ondo State Civil Service Commission, Dr Afolabi Adewakun made the disclosure at a press briefing on Monday in Akure.

According to him, the promotion affected officers from grade level 02 to grade level 17.

Adewakun also disclosed that 3,091 civil servants in the main stream of the state’s civil service had received their letters.

He said distribution of letters to the remaining 10,923 in parastatals and agencies of government were ongoing.

“One special feature of this exercise is the early approval for the exercise given by Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

“He gave the approval as early as August, and you will agree with me that this is unprecedented.

“Hitherto, such approval comes up between October and November of the promotion year and the exercise will not be completed until December.

“I am sure that by now, most, if not all, must have received their letters of promotion.

“Usually, promotion for senior officers on grade level 07 to grade level 17 is handled directly by the commission.

“A total of 1,742 officers were promoted based on the briefs forwarded by the commission by the Head of Service’’, he said.

The chairman said the governor’s gesture would not only ensure improved productivity within the service but would also boost the morale of civil servants in the state.

“Since the inception of the Akeredolu’s administration in February 2017, the welfare of workers has been prioritised through motivation and incentives.

“This has resulted in higher productivity leading to better service delivery for the people of the state,’’ he said.

Adewakun also said the governor approved the promotion of all the deserving officers despite economic challenges being experienced in the country at the moment. (NAN)

COURT REFUSES TO GRANT FRESH ORDER AGAINST ORGANISED LABOUR’S PLANNED STRIKE

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday rejected a request for a fresh order stopping the organised labour from embarking on its planned indefinite strike scheduled to commence Tuesday.

The court which was presided over by Justice Sanusi Kado also refused to grant a prayer for an order to compel the government to immediately commence the process of adopting N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

Justice Kado said it would be unnecessary to make another order stopping labour from embarking on the planned strike having earlier made a similar one in a case brought to the court by the Federal Government last Friday.

The Federal Government had filed its suit following the threat by the organised labour, comprising the National Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, and the United Labour Congress, to embark on strike if its demand for increase in the national minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000 was not met.

Contrary to the labour’s demand, the Federal Government said it could only pay N24,000 as minimum wage and the state governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, had stuck to N22,500.

The lingering dispute between government and the labour prompted the Federal Government to seek and obtain the court order stopping the strike last Friday.

But the fresh ex parte application seeking to stop labour from embarking on the strike and to also compel government to commence the process of paying the N30,000 minimum wage was filed by a civil society group, Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International.

The group’s lawyer, Mr. Okere Nnamdi, at the Monday’s proceedings, informed the court that he had filed his client’s ex parte motion alongside other processes on November 1.

He urged the court to grant the prayers, including the one seeking an order of substituted service of the court processes on the governors joined as the 10th to the 45th defendants in the suit.

But the judge immediately cut in, asking the lawyer if it would still be necessary to proceed to hear the application, in view of the Friday’s order made by the same court.

Okere conceded that he was aware of the order made by the judge on Friday.

But he insisted that his ex parte motion was different from that of the Federal Government, save for the prayer seeking an order stopping the planned strike, which is contained in both applications.

He said two prayers contained in his motion seeking an order of substituted service of the court processes filed in the case on the 36 state governors and the one seeking an order compelling the federal and state governments to commence the process of paying the N30,000 minimum wage differentiated his motion from that of the Federal Government.

Responding, Justice Kado said an order of interim injunction could only be granted if there was an urgency, there was the need to preserve the subject matter of the dispute and the defendants could not be served.

The judge noted that the court having, on Friday, granted an order stopping the strike, it was no longer any form of urgency in the matter, and as such, it was not necessary to compel the government to start the process of adopting the N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

Following the judge’s explanation, the plaintiff’s lawyer applied to withdraw two of the prayers having to do with the request for an order stopping the planned strike and the other seeking to compel the government to pay N30,000.

ATIKU SUPPORTERS WARN OBI EZEKWESILI

Ezekwesili

A group of Atiku Abubakar’s supporters, under the aegis of Atiku for Better Nigeria, has warned a former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, to desist from using derogatory remarks against Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party.

The Atiku supporters advised Ezekwesili, who is a presidential candidate for 2019, to concentrate on her campaign and stop tagging other contestants and political parties as fraudsters.

The Atiku for Better Nigeria, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Benita Dike-Israel, made available to our correspondent, advised Ezekwesili to learn the ropes in politics so as to avoid “falling into the abyss”.

The group argued that by painting Atiku and the PDP black, Ezekwesili was indicting herself and bitting the fingers that fed her since she was a minister under the PDP regime.

The group said, “Oby should learn not to be rude to Atiku or bite the fingers that fed her.

“For her to say that the PDP and Atiku lack knowledge in economy and (are) into 419 politics, is self-indicting. That means her period as Minister of Education and Solid Minerals added no value to the party that appointed her and to Nigeria as a whole; that also means that her immense credential amounts to nought and (she) has nothing new to offer. After all, a river is as good as its source; for whatever is built on void is void.”

The Atiku supporters argued that by joining politics, Ezekwesili, who had been spearheading the campaign for the release of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls through the #BringBackOurGirls movement, had “diluted her fame and goodwill among ordinary Nigerians and friends of Nigeria”.

According to the group, people will now begin to see Ezekwesili’s campaign for the release of the Chibok schoolgirls as “a mere ruse, smokescreen and cheap opportunity to feather her own political nest.”

“Whereas it is her constitutional right as an eligible Nigerian to contest the election, yet she should understand politics as a game of persuasion and lobbying rather than (using) pressure group tactics of brick batting and (using) foul language.

“She can politicise without being rude and judgmental,” the Atiku supporters said.

BREAKING: SOLDIERS KILL ONE AS YOUTHS PROTEST FLOODING IN RIVERS

Report reaching our news desk have it that some soldiers on Monday shot and killed one Aleruchi Woko during a protest against flooding by youths of Nkpolu Community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the Rivers State.

A policeman, whose identity could not be immediately ascertained, was alleged to have been seriously injured by the angry youths, while four other protesters were said to have also sustained gunshot injuries.

Our correspondent learnt that a policeman, who probably had come to maintain peace, allegedly lost his rifle during the clash.

It was gathered that the deceased was died on the spot after being hit by the bullet from one of the soldiers.

The incident resulted in a gridlock on the Choba-Rumuokoro axis of the East-West Road, leaving many commuters stranded for hours as the angry youths blocked the Nkpolu point of the road.

The spokesman of 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Col. Aminu Iliyasu, dismissed the claim that anybody was killed by soldiers.

“It is cheap blackmail to say that soldiers killed anybody. They smashed the windscreens of our vehicles, including that of the escort. The mob threw stones and other objects at them (soldiers and the government officials).

“For them to extricate themselves and because of the blockade, they (soldiers and government officials) had to turn back to base. In this era of social media, if somebody was killed, you would have seen it all over the social media,” Iliyasu said.

When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the clash between the soldiers and the youths, but could not confirm whether anybody was killed or not.

Omoni disclosed that 15 suspects had been arrested in connection with the breach of peace within the area, adding that those arrested were helping the Police in their investigation.

GOV GANDUJE OF KANO STATE AGREES TO PAY N30,600 MINIMUM WAGE

The Government of Kano State has said it is ready to pay the new minimum wage of N30,000 with additional N600.

According to the state Head of Service, Auwalu Naiya, the decision to pay the N30,000 naira new minimum wage was adopted at the State Council meeting which has the governor and his Deputy in attendance.

Auwalu Naiyya reminded that Governor Ganduje gives much priority to the welfare of Civil servant’s a reason Kano is among the few State that has no payment of monthly salary problems.

Similarly, Naiyya hinted that apart from the monthly salary of over N8 Billion the State always was in the forefront in the payment of Pension and Gratuity.

“Therefore it is as easy as anything for us to pay the N30,000 monthly salary this is because welfare of our workers is Paramount to anything and will always gives it preference”, Naiyya added.

However, the state Labour Union Chairman, Comrade Kabiru Minibir said they have not received any formal communication on the state readiness to pay the new minimum wage.

Kabiru Minjibir who spoke to a local Radio notes that as soon as they received formal communication they would sit on the matter and discuss.

The government also pleaded with the Labour to spare some strategic places like hospitals, banks, filling stations, markets and other areas.