President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, right, expressing satisfaction with the performance of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyeson Wike, when he commissioned the fifth project executed by the minister today, June 3.
The Project is the Full Scope Development of the Arterial Road N20 from Northern Parkway to the Outer Northern Expressway within the Federal Capital City, FCC which he named after Professor Wole Soyinka.
House of Representatives has frowned at the unruly manner in which the organized labour carried out the nationwide strike yesterday, June 3, over the controversy on national minimum wage.
The Reps, in a statement today, June 4, by the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep Akin Rotimi, Jr. said: “we observed with concern, the direction of the strike action before its suspension, and what it portends for the future.
“Importantly, the shutdown of critical infrastructure, such as the national grid, constitutes economic sabotage and is detrimental to the well-being of our country. Those responsible for these actions must be held accountable.
“We also find it troubling that the leadership of Organised Labour, majority of whom live far above the means of the average Nigerian, would engage in actions that exacerbate the suffering of ordinary citizens.
“It is necessary therefore, to state that while industrial actions and dissent are fundamental rights within our democratic space that must be protected, the manner in which Labour conducted itself during the just-suspended strike, largely shows a lack of empathy for Nigerians.”
The lawmakers asked: “is the objective of the leadership of the unions to compel the government to implement a living wage or to inflict pain on Nigerians?”
The Reps stressed the importance of addressing what it called “persistent misinformation and disinformation propagated by Organised Labour Leadership regarding the earnings of lawmakers.
“This is especially because Organised Labour has for years, contributed to false narratives about the remuneration of Members of the National Assembly, exaggerating figures to stoke public resentment and undermine the credibility of the Legislature.
“This tactic diverts attention from the core issues at stake and unfairly vilifies the institution of parliament. “It is crucial for all parties to engage in an honest and transparent dialogue rather than resorting to the spread of inaccuracies for political leverage.
“Contrary to the insinuations of the Labour Leadership through its social media platforms, the Legislature is on the side of Nigerians and will continue to act in the best interest of our constituents – giving meaning to their mandate.
“The 10th House of Representatives is committed to strengthening relevant legislation to ensure that essential services remain operational during future industrial actions, thereby protecting the lives and well-being of all Nigerians.
“We urge the Leadership of Organised Labour to return to the negotiation table and engage other stakeholders, in good faith, with a view to achieving a balanced and sustainable outcome. “The People’s House remains steadfast in our commitment to the well-being of the Nigerian worker and the overall development of our country.”
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House, Abbas Tajudeen, has said that he had consistently advocated a living wage and better working conditions for Nigerian workers.
According to him, he had at various fora, emphasised the importance of addressing key national priorities, including the state of the economy and insecurity, through legislative action.
He said that while the House is in full support of the call for improved wages and working conditions, there is great need to exercise caution in increasing the minimum wage beyond what the nation’s economy can sustain, to avoid unintended outcomes such as inflation, layoffs and other adverse economic consequences.
“Thus, we restate the importance of approaching this issue from a balanced perspective to ensure long-term stability and prosperity for all Nigerians.”
The true national minimum wage is expected to emerge before Friday, June 7 as the President, Bola Tinubu has directed the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to work out the cost Implications of the new minimum wage.
According to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who spoke to newsmen after a meeting between the federal government and the labour leaders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja today, June 4, all the parties to the negotiation of the new minimum wage would work together with the organised labour to present a new minimum wage for Nigerians in one week.
“All of us will work together assiduously within the next one week to ensure that we have a new wage for Nigeria that is acceptable sustainable and also realistic.”
Mohammed Idris said that the President had given a marching order that all those who have negotiated on behalf of the Federal government and all those who are representatives of organised private sectors, the sub nationals to come together to have a new wage award that is affordable, sustainable and realistic for Nigerians
“We were all there to look at all issues, and the president has directed the minister of finance to do the numbers and get back to him between today and tomorrow so that we can have figures ready for negotiation with labour. Let me say that the president is determined to go with what the committee has said, and he’s also looking at the welfare of Nigerians.
“The government is not an opponent of labour discussions or wage increases.”
The minister said that the president directed the committee to work together to give Nigerians an “affordable, sustainable, and realistic” minimum wage.
“All of us will work together assiduously within the next one week to ensure that we have a new wage for Nigeria that is acceptable, sustainable, and also realistic.”
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, had summoned labour leaders to an emergency meeting after the strike which crippled economic activities yesterday, June 3.
At the end of the meeting, it was announced that the Federal Government had offered to pay higher than N60,000 minimum wage as a result of which the labour unions suspended the Nationwide strike action for a week.
Organised labour has resolved to suspend the nationwide strike for one week.
This is coming on the heels of the commitment made by President Bola Tinubu to ensure that workers get a fair deal from the ongoing minimum wage negotiations, labour said,
At a joint National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), the unions agreed to suspend industrial action for one week with immediate effect.
Details later…
Source: ThisDay.
The Nationwide strike action embarked upon by workers in Nigeria, under the canopy of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has grounded the socio-economic activities of the country and threw it into total darkness.
As at this morning, June 3, which is the first day of the strike, all the airports in the country have shut down, the same way banks and other commercial houses and organizations were shut down.
The power grid and the electricity transmission and distribution companies have also been shut down
Reports reaching us at Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper said that workers and commuters who ventured out to the streets are stranded on the roads because there are no vehicles to convey them to their destinations as transporters joined strike.
General Manager, Public Affairs of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Ndidi Mbah, confirmed that the Labour Union has shut down the national grid, resulting in black out nationwide.
“The national grid shut down occured at about 2.19am this morning, 3rd June 2024.
“At about 1:15am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out of the control room and without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Center was brought to zero.
“Other transmission substations that were shut down, by the Labour Union include the Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba and Osogbo Transmission Substations.
“Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union.
“On the power generating side, power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants, the Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its generating units while three others in the same substation subsequently shut down on very high frequency. The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19am.
“At about 3.23am, however, TCN commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation.
“The situation is such that the labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.
“We will continue to make effort to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has wielded its big stick on the Heritage Bank Plc, withdrawing its operational licence with immediate effect for poor performance.
The apex Bank’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, in a statement today, June 3, said that the decision to revoke the Bank’s license was taken in accordance with the CBN mandate to promote a sound financial system in Nigeria and in exercise of its powers under Section 12 (1l of the Banks and Other Financial Act (BOFIA) 2020.
She said that the Board and Management of the affected bank were adjudged not able to improve the bank’s financial performance, a situation which the apex Bank viewed as constituting a threat to financial stability.
“This followed a period during which the CBN engaged with the bank and prescribed various supervisory steps intended to stem the decline.”
Hakama Sidi Ali said: “Regrettably, the bank has continued to suffer and has no reasonable prospects of recovery, thereby making the revocation of the license the next necessary step.”
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the release of additional results of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), bringing the total to over 1.8 million, even as it fixed June 22, 2024 for the conduct of a supplementary 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for 24,535 candidates.
In a statement today, June 2, in Abuja, the Board’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin said that the candidates include those from Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies (CAILS) and the Kwara State University (KWASU), on the CAILS-KWASU Diploma programme.
Others are 20,550 candidates whose results were up till now under investigation and 2,702 candidates whose fingers could not be verified and were given the benefit of doubts to sit for the 2024 UTME.
He said that the remaining 322 candidates have been migrated to the category of candidates under examination misconduct as a prima-facie case had clearly been established that those who had registered were not those who appeared for the examination.
Dr. Benjamin said that the board had released additional 3,921 outstanding 2024 UTME results.
“The Board has painstakingly analysed the process and conduct of the 2024 UTME in some centres where there are strong proofs of substantial non-compliance with the Board’s standards.
“Consequently, 24,535 candidates have been rescheduled to retake the examination in their chosen examination towns on Saturday, June 22, 2024.
“Meanwhile, 3,921 outstanding 2024 UTME results that had been cleared have now been released.
“Therefore, concerned candidates are urged to check their results from Saturday, June 1, 2024 by sending RESULT to 55019 or 66019 to ascertain their status as those cleared would have their results while those rescheduled would be told that they had been rescheduled.”
He asked the candidates that have been rescheduled to print their supplementary examination notification slip from June 4, to ascertain their designated examination centres.
He said that the additional 3,921 released results brought the total results released so far to 1,883,350.
He said that this notice did not concern candidates whose results had earlier been released.
He said that candidates with prima facie case (s) of examination misconduct would be further interrogated to establish their culpability after which appropriate measures would be taken on them and announced.
He said that the Board, after yielding to pleas of many stakeholders and authorities for the extension of the 2024 Direct Entry (DE) registration, had decided to bring the DE registration to a close on June 17.
Dr. Benjamin said that in order to facilitate the wrap-up of the registration, it had expanded the DE registration points beyond the Professional Registration Centres (PRCs) owned by JAMB.
“The states where there is upsurge of prospective DE candidates are in Lagos State: – (a) JAMB PRC, No 11, Ojora Road, Ikoyi Lagos; (b) JAMB PRC, No 35-37, Isheri Road, Ogba, Ikeja Lagos, (c) ETC Nig. Ltd, 229, JKK House Ikorodu, Road, Ilupeju.
“In Oyo State:- (a) JAMB PTC, JAMB Zonal Office, Quarters 845, Agodi G.R.A, Ibadan, Oyo State; (b) Federal College of Education (FCE) Special, CBT Centre, Oyo; (c) JAMB PTC, Igboho.
“In Kwara State: (a) JAMB PTC, National Headquarters Annex, After Oyun Bridge, Old Jebba Road, Ilorin, Kwara State; (b) University of Ilorin CBT Centre, Mini Campus.
“In Osun State: (a) JAMB PTC, behind Technical College WAEC Road, Alekuwodo, Osogbo, Osun State;
(b) JAMB PTC, Block Y (Commercial) OSPDC, Oroki Estate, Service Area, Ilobu Road, Osogbo, Osun State; (c) JAMB PTC, Gbongon.
“It is our belief that all eligible candidates would take advantage of this opportunity to register as no further extension would be entertained.”
He said that the previously announced criteria for DE registration remained unchanged.
On CAILS-KWASU Diploma, he said that the Board had agreed to conduct a special registration exercise for the 3,633 prospective candidates, who did not participate in the 2024 UTME.
He said that they did not participate in the examination based on the assumption that they would be accommodated in the 2024 DE exercise.
He advised these candidates to register at any of the approved CBT centres in Kwara, Oyo or Osun State within the next one week (ending on Monday, June 10, 2024) to register for the UTME.
He stressed that 469 others among this category of UTME candidates, who had already taken the 2024 UTME need not retake the examination as the one they had already taken suffices.
He said that this concession is to ensure that that while standards are being maintained, efforts are in place to support and promote the aspirations of qualified and willing candidates even if it required bending over backwards.
Source: The Eagle Online
Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Femi Fanwo has made it clear that the State government will continue to excel in the area of child rights promotion and free education for the young ones in a secured environment.
The Commissioner, who announced the rescue of the remaining eight students of the Conference University of Science and Technology, Osara, from their kidnappers, said: “now that the remaining students have been rescued, our administration will continue the drive to recalibrate our security architecture and pay an uncompromising attention to the Safe School Initiative.
“As the State with the lowest out of school children in the North, we have put structures in place to keep our schools safe to ensure every child is not deprived of his or her right to education.
“Kogi has domesticated the Child Rights Act and we will defend the right of our children to quality education.
“In Kogi State, education is free up to the Secondary School level. “We also pay the registration fees for our students to write all internal and external examinations with a budgetary allocation that is way above the UNESCO benchmark for education. We do all of these to educate our children and make them responsible contributors to the economy of Nigeria.”
The Commissioner said that the State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo has directed full support towards the recovery of the students and their parents, and that modalities are being put in place to make Kogi safer for all.
“The Government of Kogi State expresses profound gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for directing the mobilization of resources to ensure the rescue of the kidnapped students.
“We also thank the National Security Adviser immensely for his commitment to the release of the students and the general security of the State.
“The Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Chief of Air Staff, the Director General of DSS, the Inspector General of Police and all the officers and men of the Armed Forces that put in their best as well as the Pilots, did a wonderful job to support us in reuniting the kidnapped students with their families.
“The Kogi State Command of all the security agencies, Police, DSS, NSCDC and our local hunters are also highly appreciated for their efforts towards this feat.
“Governor Ododo also expresses immense gratitude to his Kwara State counterpart, Governor AbdulRahmam AbdulRazak for his personal commitment, cooperation and support towards the success of the operation that led to the rescue of the remaining kidnapped students.
“The Kwara State Governor showed the reason he is effectively leading the Nigerian Governors Forum.
“His actions have also reinforced the Kogi/Kwara cooperation and unity of purpose.”
“We urge our citizens to always volunteer intelligence to security agencies to enable them to prevent crime. This is safer, cheaper and better for us all.
“All of us must come together to defeat banditry, kidnapping and any form of criminality in our society.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has described the Nationwide strike action scheduled to begin tomorrow, June 3, by the organized labour as premature, ineffectual and illegal.
He therefore asked the main labour unions: the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to reconsider the strike.
The justice minister, in a letter to the leadership of both unions today, June 2, said that the decision to embark on a strike was made at a time when the Federal Government and other stakeholders involved in the Tripartite Committee on the determination of a new national minimum wage had not declared an end to negotiations.
He said that there is the need to balance the interests and capacities of all employers of labour in the country, including the Organized Private Sector, to determine a minimum wage for the working population.
The Attorney-General said that the unions have failed to comply with the statutory condition precedents provided under the Trade Disputes Act 2004 and the Trade Unions Act, which require the issuance of a mandatory 15-day strike notice and adherence to dispute resolution procedures.
He said that the proposed strike action is at variance with an interim injunctive order granted by the National Industrial Court in June 2023, which restrained the unions from embarking on any industrial action or strike.
The Attorney General acknowledged the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the government and labour in October 2023 to address the consequences of fuel subsidy removal, even as he asked the unions to return to the ongoing negotiation meetings in the spirit of collective bargaining and pursue their cause within the ambit of the law to avoid imposing avoidable hardships on Nigerians.
He promised that the government will continue to adopt a conciliatory approach to resolving matters pertaining to workers’ and citizens’ welfare.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC Limited) has received certification of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code Compliance obtained.
A statement today, June 2, by the spokesperson of the NNPC Limited, Olufsen Soneye said that the award was given by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
He said that the ISPS certification was issued in April 2024 and that it covers all NNPC jetties nationwide.
Soneye said that the certificate is crucial for the Company’s business continuity as it prevents potential operational disruptions and financial losses.
The spokesperson quoted the NNPC’s Executive Vice President, Business Services, Inuwa Danladi, as pledging the NNPC Ltd commitment to sustain the Company’s march towards process improvement, regulatory compliance and performance excellence.
“Beyond demonstrating NNPC’s continuous adherence to regulatory compliance, the certification also grants the Company entry into the Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS), enhancing its reputation as a safe and reliable business destination and potentially reducing the company’s insurance premiums.
Inuwa listed some of the rigorous processes followed in obtaining the certification to include the upgrading of relevant security facilities at the nation’s ports and jetties; the establishment of the ISPS Code Command Center; as well as the engagement of NIMASA Recognized Security Officer (RSO), who played a crucial role in managing key regulatory processes.
He said that the development of Port Facility Security Assessment (PFSA) & Port Facility Security Plan (PFSP), coupled with the meticulous Verification Inspection Exercise (VIE) from NIMASA have also underscored NNPC’s commitment to ensuring adherence to the highest standards of maritime security in the Company’s operations.
“This achievement is a testament to our consistent dedication, and we pledge to continue striving towards attaining regulatory excellence in all our operations.”
