The Nigerian Army has described Dr. Sidi Ali Mohammed, a member of Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative as being irresponsible and a liar for comparing what Nigerian soldiers are being paid per day and what Boko Haram is also paying to members per day.

The spokesman of the Army, Colonel Sagir Musa, who made this known in a statement today, Wednesday vowed to report Sidi Ali to appropriate authority over his alleged knowledge of Boko Haram welfare.

Sagir Musa was reacting to Sidi Ali’s allegation that the “terrorist group members earn as much as $3,000 daily, as against the Nigerian soldier who is paid N1,000 only for the same duration.’’

Colonel Sagir called on Nigerians to discountenance the statement credited to Sidi Ali, saying: “steps are being taken to formally report him to the appropriate authorities to further substantiate these unfounded allegations.”

Sagir Musa described Sidi Ali’s statement as “false claim. In it, he alleged that the criminal terrorist group members earn as much as $3,000 daily, as against the Nigerian soldier who is paid N1,000 only.

“This is not true, pure lie and highly irresponsible comment coming from a supposedly knowledgeable person of his calibre.

“It is also criminal and preposterous to compare the gallant soldiers of our Armed Forces with the ragtag terrorist criminal gang.

“Indeed, there is no such basis at all between the outlawed criminal terrorist who commits crime against humanity and our highly patriotic, courageous and brave soldiers whose sacrifice cannot be quantified.”

Colonel Sagis said that over time, the Army have been alerting the world that the menace of Boko Haram terrorism was being “aided and abetted by sympathizers.”

The Army spokesman alleged that Sidi Ali’s statement could be part of a deliberate attempt to demoralise patriotic troops serving their fatherland so that the terrorists can take advantage of it.

“It is also a way of swaying the gullible youths to believe the lies of Boko Haram terrorists.”

He, however, assured Nigerians that the Army would remain resolute and focused in the fight against terrorism and insurgency, adding, “No amount of distraction or terrorists’ propaganda will dissuade it.’’

Sidi Ali had lamented that Boko Haram has been hijacked and operates like a cartel.

“I will give you an example. The Nigerian military, for example, gets N1,000 per day for being in the Northeast, at the war front, as an allowance — the same Northeast, where if you are a member of Boko Haram you get $3,000 per day, as allowance. So it is lucrative.

“Sometimes, they even give you money upfront. So, we must do something about the youths from where they are recruiting,” Mohammed was quoted to have said.

Source: NAN.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has listed qualities that made the preset government of Muhammadu Buhari different from the previos ones and stand it out as workers-friendly one.

Speaking today, Wednesday as the workers celebrate May Day at the Eagle Square in Abuja, the nation’s capital, Professor Osinbajo said that on assumption of office in 2015, in spite of the daunting economic challenges, which confronted the country at the time, Buhari government ensured that no worker was retrenched across the country.

“We further kept faith with this commitment by providing bailout funds for States unable to pay salaries and other benefits in order to pay accumulated arrears. We also released the Paris Club refunds owed since 2005 to make sure workers were not owed anything.
“We also ensured the payment of outstanding benefits of retrenched Nigerian Airways workers owed for decades. We also ensured the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), also paid arrears owed to parastatals and Civil Service pensioners covering 101,393 Civil Service pensioners on all grade levels and 76,310 parastatals pensioners across 186 agencies.
“This is in addition to arrears paid to pensioners in the Police and Customs Services in 2016 and 2018. Our administration also settled the issue of benefits of Nigerian Armed Forces and Paramilitary personnel who were dismissed and later pardoned for participating on the side of the secession in the course of the Civil War from 1967-1970. All of these veterans have now been paid their benefits.”
The Vice President looked at the government’s Social Investment Programmes which he described as the largest of its kind in Africa, directed at ensuring that the government provides opportunities in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
According to him, the largest numbers of Nigerian workers are informal workers, including petty traders, smallholder farmers, artisans and tradesmen, adding that they deserve the government respect and the protection of all labour laws.
“Our N-Power programme currently employs 500,000 young Nigerian graduates and additional 75,000 in specialized training as builders, automotive technicians and in other vocations. We have also expanded this programme to include technicians in animation and also specialists in other areas of technology.
“Our Homegrown School Feeding Programme where we now feed 9.5 million children daily in 30 States, provides opportunities for over a 100,000 cooks and farmers across the country.
“Our TraderMoni and MarketMoni schemes provide almost 2million loans to petty traders in all States of the Federation. At the Next Level of our administration, we intend to expand the scope of these micro-credit loans to traders and artisans.
“Our Anchor Borrowers’ Programme has also provided over 1million loans to smallholder farmers across the country. Already, that scheme is being expanded to cover yet another one million farmers all across the country.”
Osinbajo stressed that this year’s Workers’ Day theme: “Another 100 Years of Struggle for Jobs, Dignity and Social Justice in Nigeria’’ is not merely a headline for the celebration, but that Buhari’s government truly believes that the Nigerian citizen, especially those at the bottom of the pyramid, must be the central focus of all economic planning and budgeting.
“The welfare and well-being of all these Nigerians who work everyday and render honest services every day is the true benchmark of our commitment as government and a people to social justice and dignity of all Nigerians.
“We will continue to commit ourselves to the cause of improving the lot of every working Nigerian and providing for those who cannot work.”
The Vice President reassured workers that the government is determined to fully implement the new N30,000 National Minimum Wage which President Buhari signed into law recently.

The Oyo state Governor-Elect, Seyi Makinde, has accused the federal government of imposing the N30,000 new minimum wage for civil servants on state governments.

Makinde, who answered reporters’ questions on the sideline of the induction programme for returning and newly elected governors, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja today, Wednesday, vowed to renegotiate the new minimum wage with the state branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

According to the governor elect, Oyo cannot pay the new National Minimum Wage of N30,000 just signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Makinde said that the federal government should not impose a national minimum wage on states since Nigeria is a federation, adding that it is for this reason that the call for the restructuring of the country had become necessary.

The Governor-Elect said that though the President had signed the minimum wage into law, but that he personally believed that individual states should have been allowed to negotiate this “because conditions of living in Lagos are obviously not the same as living in Ibadan.

“And I will definitely say without fear or favour that it’s part of the reasons why we are thinking restructuring. That’s a federal system of government.

“We have a federation but the state governments I believe, are no subordinate to the federal government. They are coordinating governments.

“Then, when the federal government makes a law that says ‘well, we are going to pay 30,000 as minimum wage,’ what’s the condition in my state? Can we support it? I don’t think.

“We are going to engage the Nigeria Labour Congress in my state and we see how we go from there.”