'N30,000 MINIMUM WAGE WILL CAUSE INFLATION' – UMAHI

The Governor of Ebonyi State and Chairman of the Southeast Governors’ Forum, David Umahi has raised alarm over the new minimum wage of N30,000.00, warning that the new pay rise could trigger off hyper inflation in the country.

Umahi, who gave the warning while inaugurating his campaign organisation, the Divine Mandate Organisation, said, “we are approaching this issue of minimum wage wrongly.”

He noted that the N30,000 new minimum wage was not enough to carter for workers’ welfare, urging civil servants to look beyond the new pay rise.

“If what we are being told is correct and some states are using up to 90 per cent of their resources to pay salaries, if what we are told is correct that ASUU is going on strike because ASUU is saying that the budget for education is only 7 per cent against 20 per cent. So, if you put these two sections together, it is 110 per cent. We are just talking about this section alone- education, other sectors are there, health, security votes, water, light and so on. We are just talking of education and workers’ salaries alone.

“The two cannot mix; they cannot work until we are able to sit down and think how we can run this country. I do not believe that all the resources of this nation are correctly collected. I believe that if we collect in honesty the resources of this country, we will have enough to take care of our workers and we will have enough to take care of our heath, education and others.

“Civil servants should look beyond minimum wage component. Even the minimum wage of 30,000d what can it do? It will cause inflation and that inflation is going to sweep out whatever gain you think you have.

“Till we sit down in this country and look at all sides and agree that this is how we are going to do it otherwise, we will ground this country”, he stated.

Umahi, however, said he was not afraid to contest with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

“If I were in the opposition, I will be afraid to say I am contesting election because considering the type of structure we have on ground, no ordinary man will be able to build it. It is God and Holy Spirit that made it possible.

“The people that say they are contesting election, some of them cannot define budget, they don’t even know what GDP is. They make promises like making a cross without ground,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday declared his government’s readiness to work towards implementing the new national minimum wage agreed by the tripartite committee.

Buhari gave the assurance shortly after receiving the report of the National Minimum Wage Committee set up to recommend a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers on 27th November 2017.

“I want to assure you all that we will immediately put in place the necessary machinery that will close out these open areas. Our plan is to transmit the Executive Bill to the National Assembly for passage within the shortest possible time. I am fully committed to having a new National Minimum Wage Act in the very near future,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has declared that the federal government has a cordial working relationship with labour unions in the country.

Mohammed, who said this in Abuja Tuesday, said the federal government and the organised labour had been able to amicably address the recent stalemate arising from the implementation of a new minimum wage for workers.

FAKE ARMY GENERAL WHO SPONSORS BOKO HARAM

     FAKE ARMY GENERAL

 Another suspected Boko Haram sponsor, Aliyu Hussaini, who has also been parading himself as a Army brigadier general has been arrested. 

The Nigerian Army in a statement on Tuesday said that Hussaini was arrested by soldiers of the 33rd Artillery Brigade in Bauchi State during a raid. 

The fake Army General, Aliyu Hussaini, the statement read, “The 33 Artillery Brigade, Nigerian Army, has recorded another landmark success in the ongoing Operation Zaman Lafiyah as troops of the brigade recently arrested one Aliyu Hussaini, popularly known as Colonel, a suspected Boko Haram terrorist and an Impostor who has been parading himself as a Brigadier-General in the Nigerian Army. 

“The troops, who were acting on a tip-off, said Aliyu Hussaini was a sponsor and also a member of the Boko Haram terrorist organisation. They carried out a raid operation, which led to the successful arrest of Aliyu and another suspected Boko Haram member, one Ibrahim Mohammed, who is also known as Yuram. 

“It was later gathered that Aliyu had been defrauding innocent citizens (with the claim) that he was a general in the Nigerian Army.” The military had earlier today announced the arrest a financier of the terror group in Bama, Borno State. It was reported that the sum of one million naira and other items were found on the suspect.

BREAKING: PRESIDENT BUHARI ENDORSES N30,000 MINIMUM WAGE

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday endorsed N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

He said this while receiving the report of the Tripartite Committee on the Review of National Minimum Wage at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The report was submitted by the committee’s chairman, Amal Pepple.

Buhari has also promised to send a bill to the National Assembly to effect the change from N18,000 to N30,000.

BREAKING: BUHARI RECEIVES MINIMUM WAGE TRIPARTITE COMMITTEE REPORT

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday received report of the Tripartite Committee on the Review of National Minimum Wage at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.  The report was submitted by the committee’s chairman, Amal Pepple.

The committee which recommended N30,000 as the new national minimum wage also submitted a draft bill that will be sent to the National Assembly.  

BENUE FAMILY TRAGEDY: PUNCH, SUN REPORTER ATTACKED

The family of Nicholas Adetsav, who was allegedly killed by his wife, on Monday attacked and molested the correspondents of The PUNCH and The SUNnewspapers, John Charles and Mrs Rose Ejembi, respectively.

A house wife, Mrs Rachael Adetsav, was reported to have killed her husband, three children and later stabbed herself to death on Friday night.

The two reporters had gone to follow up on the story when they were attacked by the family members of the late Nicholas at the Makurdi Local Government Secretariat.

The reporters had earlier visited the residence of the deceased family, the school where the children were attending and later proceeded to the local government secretariat where both the husband and wife were working before their death.

At the secretariat, some of colleagues and friends of the deceased, who spoke with the reporters, stated that members of the Adetsav family were also around and in a meeting with officials of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees.

After their meeting with the NULGE Secretary, Mandu Igber, the reporters approached the women, who were identified as members of the Adetsav family for audience, when one of them flared up and heaped insults on the reporters for writing rubbish about their family.

All efforts to calm her down were rebuffed as the woman insisted that she would not interact with any reporter. She added that journalists were the architect of the misinformation and negative impression the public was having about the family in respect to the incident.

Other family members surged towards the reporters, while one of them dispossessed the PUNCHman of his gadget while trying to escape the mob action.

However, some members of staff of the local government whisked The SUN correspondent through a window to the vigilante office, while the family members held the PUNCHman hostage until he was also rescued by the NULGE officials.

WITHDRAW FROM POLITICS OR BE WITHDRAWN, GOV. WIKE WARNS MONARCHS IN RIVERS

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike

Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike, yesterday warned traditional rulers in Rivers State to desist from what he described as involvement in politics, saying he would not hesitate to move against any monarch found to be partisan.

He also said traditional rulers would be held responsible for the conduct of operatives of  the newly constituted Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Agency.

Wike, at the 108 and 109 general sessions of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers in Port Harcourt, also said the security outfit would soon become operational.

In addition, he cautioned the monarchs against being partisan, adding that partisanship would reduce their relevance in the society.

His words:  “The Neighborhood Watch arrangement will soon be fully operational to complement efforts of federal security agencies in the detection and prevention of crime in our neighbourhoods.

“Let me remind you that the corps members were recruited based on your attestations to their character and suitability. Consequently, we will hold you accountable for the performance of the corps and the success of the scheme in your local government areas, communities, and neighbourhoods.

“If you don’t respect your stool, you will have challenges. Withdraw yourselves from playing politics. If you don’t withdraw yourselves, I will withdraw you. If you take sides, I will also take sides.

“We expect political parties to play by the rules and embark on peaceful, issue-based campaigns.”

But you must be on the watch to ensure no person or entity violates the peace of your communities under the guise of political campaigns.

“At the end of the campaigns the votes of our people are very important and we expect the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct free, fair and credible general elections that will enable our people to freely determine their political direction and destiny.

“It is time you lend your voices more forcefully to the neglect of the state by the Federal Government, the devastation of our environment by the oil companies, the grand fraud and deception on the Ogoni cleanup and the call for economic justice and fiscal federation”

Chairman of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Dandeson Douglas Jaja appealed to the federal government to revive ports in Rivers to create employment opportunities for the youths.

ITF TRAINS NO FEWER THAN 120 PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED ENTREPRENEURS

No fewer than 120 physically challenged persons have benefited from the skills training and empowerment programme of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) across the country.

The director general of ITF, Sir Joseph Ari said that the programme is part of the 2018 implementable programmes aimed at equipping many Nigerians with skills for employability and entrepreneurship in line with the policy direction of President Muhammad Buhari’s administration.

The director general who was represented by the deputy director, ITF, Martins Shepga said the objective is to provide technical and vocational training to disabled Nigerians in different trades and crafts, adding that nine out of every 10 persons with disability in the country live below the poverty line.

“In most societies including Nigeria, any major disability renders an individual more vulnerable to poverty in view of several factors-some of which are cultural while others stem from the absence of policies that would have ensured that they thrive as any normal person.

“ We believed that equipping the physically challenged people with skills will strengthen them socially and economically”, he said.

According to him, the training commenced in August this year with 120 participants drawn from Bayelsa, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Osun, Plateau and Taraba.

He said the participants were trained in foot-wear making, phone repairs, lady’s wig cap making and manual clothes design and embroidery.

Nicodemus Hananiya who is one of the 20 beneficiaries in Kaduna State promised to contribute his quota to the economic development of the country.

While encouraging the beneficiaries to make use of the opportunity, the District Head of Doka, Bala Tijjani said they must develop the habit of giving back to the society.

ITF also presented startup packs to the beneficiaries to enable them start business immediately.

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.”