Month: October 2023

The organised Labour has expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with the Federal Government to avert its planned nationwide strike.

 

The state chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress said failure to implement the agreement before the October 30 deadline might leave them with no choice but to down tools, noting that they had commenced mobilisation of their members across the country.

 

Asked on Tuesday whether Labour was satisfied with the implementation of the MoU, the Head of Information and Public Affairs of the NLC, Benson Upah, said, “No, we are not. The government could do better and faster. We issued a statement a few days ago in which we expressed our displeasure with the Minister of Labour and Employment.”

 

The national leadership of the NLC and TUC had on October 1 reached an agreement with the Federal Government to pay N35,000 to all federal workers beginning from September pending when a new national minimum wage would be signed into law

 

The resolution provided that the wage award would be paid to the federal workers for six months while states were encouraged to extend the same benefit to their workers.

 

The unions had threatened to declare a nationwide strike on October 3 but the move was suspended on the condition that the wage award, cash transfer, and some other resolutions must be implemented within 30 days effective from the day the MoU was signed.

 

The PUNCH reports that out of the 15 demands contained in the MoU, only a handful had been implemented by the government.

Federal Government had ordered the payment of the N35,000 wage award and provision was being made for 55,000 Compressed Natural Gas conversion kits to kick-start the autogas conversion programme, while work had reportedly commenced on the construction of the state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide, among others.

 

However, the Ogun State TUC Chairman, Akeem Lasisi, said that the union might be forced to declare an industrial action after the October 30 deadline if the federal and state governments failed to implement the terms of the resolutions agreed with the organised Labour.

 

The decision to go on strike, he explained, would depend on the outcome of the consultation meetings with other organs of the union as well as a review of the government’s efforts taken to fulfil its side of the bargain.

 

Speaking with our correspondent on Tuesday, the TUC chairman said “Implementation of most of the agreements lies on the table of the Federal Government. The only one that is critical for the state and local government is the payment of the wage award.

 

“In Ogun State, the government has announced the extension of the N10,000 financial award. The announcement is not a product of negotiation between organised labour and the government. It is the initiative of the government which we appreciate. The leadership will meet with the government to ensure the implementation of the N35,000 wage award.

 

“There is a process in declaring a trade dispute: We shall call the necessary organ meeting to review how far we have gone and at the same time consider the possibility of declaring a trade dispute after the October 30 deadline.”

 

Lasisi’s NLC counterpart, Hameed Ademola, simply noted that the union would comply with any directive from its national leadership if the government failed to implement the labour demands.

This is purely a national issue and we shall follow any instruction given to the state council leadership,” he stated.

 

The Kano State chapter of the NLC said it would wait to see the implementation of the wage award by the Federal Government before knowing the right steps to take.

 

The state Chairman, Kabiru Inuwa, stated, “We shall wait to see if the Federal Government implements the wage award to its workers because we don’t want to say the action we will take until after we’re sure of what the Federal Government does.”

 

He said the union had written to the state government demanding the immediate implementation of the wage award to workers in the state, but the government had yet to respond.

 

“You know we have written to the state government requesting for the payment of the wage award to our members but the government is yet to respond. We are still waiting for the government to invite us or respond to our letter. But we will continue to wait until we see what the Federal Government does. So, we shall take the next line of action if the state government fails to implement the wage award to our members.’’

 

Speaking in the same vein, the Gombe State NLC General Secretary, Ibrahim Fika, said the chapter had presented four demands, adding that failure of the state government to implement them would result in an industrial action.

 

The demands, according to him, include biometric attendance, clearing of outstanding 2019 minimum wage for local government staff,palliatives and the N35,000 award across the board.

He said, “Failure to meet these demands, labour will declare industrial action in Gombe State because we have many issues in Gombe but these are our priority areas.

 

Commenting on the delay in the implementation of the demands, the NLC and TUC leadership in Benue State pledged their readiness to comply with any directive from the national secretariat of their respective unions.

 

Speaking in separate telephone interviews, Terungwa Igbe and Gideon Akaa, the chairmen of NLC and TUC, respectively, said that they would adhere to any directive from their unions.

 

Igbe said that the state government had yet to respond to his letter demanding the implementation of the N35,000 wage award.

 

“We have not received any response from the state government after the joint letter we sent to it on the N35,000 wage award. Anytime the union calls for a strike, we have no option than to comply,” Igbe said.

 

The TUC leader noted, “Neither the N35,000 wage award nor palliatives has been responded to as far as I know. Meanwhile, we heard from the media that the state government promised to use part of the N2bn palliative to pay for external examinations of students. We believe that the children of workers will benefit from that.’’

 

Asked about the union’s next line of action in the event the government fails to fulfil the agreement, Akaa said, “Whatever our mother union directs is what we are going to carry out.

However, the unions in Sokoto State revealed they would soon resume talks with the state government on the implementation of the MoU reached with the Federal Government.

 

“We are hoping to have a meeting this week on some of those issues raised in our letter. All the issues are already with the governor. Talking about the resumption of the strike, we will definitely wait for the directive of the national headquarters on when to commence strike even if all our demands are not met at the state level,’’ Hamisu Hussain, the TUC secretary, disclosed.

 

Checks indicated that the Kwara State government had yet to pay the N35,000 award to the workers in the state.

 

The TUC Chairman in the state, Tunde Joseph, confirmed on Tuesday that the government had not responded to the request letter sent to it.

 

“We wrote a letter to Governor Mallam AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq on the awards for workers on October 4 and we submitted a reminder last week, but the government is yet to respond to any of the two letters. We are still waiting for the government to give a reply to our request on the awards,’’ Joseph stated, noting that the decision to go on strike if the authorities refused to implement the agreement would be taken by the national leadership of the union.

 

The state NLC Chairman, Saheed Olayinka, also explained that the state government had yet to reach out to the organised labour.

 

“Although, they are yet to invite us for a meeting, whatever action that we would take would depend on their decision at the national level,’’ he pointed out.

 

The Bauchi State Chairman of the NLC, Dauda Shuaibu, bemoaned the delay in the implementation of the MoU, adding that the workers in the state would have no choice but to join any strike declared by the leadership.

 

“The state government has not fulfilled any of the agreements. You know that there are demands that are general and there are those that are specific; specific in the sense that the state councils should start discussing the issue of salary (increase).

 

“We wrote a letter to the state government but they didn’t call us. We wrote a reminder and they still didn’t call us, they didn’t do anything,” he lamented.

 

Asked if they would still stick to the October 30 deadline, he said: “You know that the strike is a nationwide strike, so if after the expiration of the ultimatum, they give a directive on the strike, we will join. We will stick to the October 30th deadline while awaiting the directives of the national secretariat; whatever they direct, we will do.”

 

Meanwhile, the NLC spokesman, Upah, has said that the setting up of a minimum wage committee is not an issue yet because the implementation of the new minimum wage was not due until 2024.

 

“The minimum wage is not due statutorily until next year. Constituting a committee for a new one, therefore, cannot be an issue yet,’’ he noted.

 

Following the removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, the NLC President, Joe Ajaero announced that the minimum wage may be negotiated to N100,000 or N200,000.

The NLC chief said many factors would be considered in arriving at a new minimum wage.

 

“Certain things would come into play when we discuss it – inflation, cost of living. Every other thing would come into it,” he added. “We would not go to ask for N65,000. We would go for a realistic amount because N65,000 is about $70 which is not up to minimum wage,’’ he further said

The bill seeking to extend the retirement age of staff of National Assembly has scaled through Second Reading on the floor of the House of Representatives.

 

The private member bill was sponsored by the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Aliyu Sani Madaki.

 

The controversial bill had during the 8th and 9th Assemblies suffered major setbacks following a series of opposition from various stakeholders who argued that the extension of the retirement age from 60 to 65 years and 35 service years to 40 years will create redundancy and stagnancy among the workers.

However in his lead debate 1o1n Tuesday,1111 Hon. Madaki explained that the bill seeks to make provision for a harmonized retirement age for staff of the National Assembly and make it independent.

 

The proposed legislation also proposed a retirement age of 65 years or 40 years of service, whichever comes first.

 

He stated that this extension will help for the efficiency of work of the professionalized staff of the National Assembly.

On his part, Hon. Ali Isa who supported the Bill stated that it will maintain the specialized experience of staff in the National Assembly.

 

He stated that Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has also called for this extension across board which is already in practice in many parts of the world.

Also speaking, Hon. Abdullahi Rasheed argued that the bill when passed into law will boost the morale of the staff of the National Assembly and ensure they deliver on the complex nature of the services they render.

 

After the debate, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Public Service Matters for further legislative action.

 

Recall that the Chairman of National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), Engineer Ahmed Amshi had in the wake of the controversy trailing the purported plan by the erstwhile Clerk for the National Assembly (CNA), Sani Omolori to unilaterally enforce a new condition of Service, directed that status quo on the 35 years and 60 years of age whichever comes first should be maintained.

According to the memo dated 15th July 2020 titled: ‘The National Assembly Service Commission approves the retirement age for the staff of the National Assembly Service as 35 years of service and 60 years of age whichever comes first.”

 

In pursuant to its mandate as provided in the National Assembly Service Act, 2014 (as amended), the National Assembly Service Commission at its 497th meeting held on Wednesday, 15th July, 2020 approved the retirement age of the staff of the National Assembly Service as 35 years of service or 60 years of age whichever comes first.

Disturbed by the rising number of awaiting trial inmates in the country and the delay in determination of cases in court, the Federal Government, on Tuesday, said it has concluded plans to convene a national summit on justice.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, made the disclosure at the opening session of a three-day national stakeholders’ forum on the review of the implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 & Administration of Criminal Justice Laws of States.

 

Participants at the opening ceremony of the workshop, included the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola; President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem; the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory; the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba; as well as the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Yakubu Maikyau, SAN.

 

Others, were; the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun; Representatives of the Nigerian Correction Center; Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, the Director General of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Buba Marwa; and Attorneys General of all the 36 States of the federation.

 

In his keynote address, the AGF, Fagbemi, SAN, maintained that a cardinal point of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, “is the commitment to ensuring that the criminal justice system of our country is more responsive to the demands of Nigerians for a simple, fast, efficient, effective, fair and trustworthy system for dispensation of justice.”

 

He said: “This forum will afford us the opportunity to collaboratively look back, evaluate and benchmark our performances in a journey that would lead to the improvement of our criminal justice system.

 

“It will help us to conduct a form of peer review of respective States approaches to the challenges of criminal justice administration, and also bring to the fore common approaches to common challenges confronting criminal justice administration.

 

“Accordingly, in conducting this review of the ACJA/ACJLs, we need to ask ourselves pointed questions regarding the nature and workability of the strategic amendments that we need to do in order to make ACJA/ACJLs respond to critical challenges and needs of our society.

We need to know what we could have done better, and how much further we need to go to enable us achieve the desired outcome.

“So much has happened since the passage of ACJA in 2015. Of great significance is the development of the National Policy on Justice, which was developed in 2017 through a collaborative platform.

 

“Indisputably, the National Policy on Justice identified some of the root causes of the failures and inadequacies in our entire justice system, and sought ways to consolidate on various reform efforts across justice sector institutions.

 

“The Federal Ministry of Justice is making plans with relevant stakeholders to convene a National Summit on Justice to consider and adopt a revised National Policy on Justice, 2024 – 2028.”

 

Continuing, the AGF, said: “The second intervening issue since the enactment of ACJA, which I would like to comment on, as it touches on the corrective aspects of our criminal justice system, relates to the recent amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 by the 9th National Assembly – vide Fifth Alteration (No. 15) Act of 2023.

As we may all recall, the Fifth Alteration (No. 15) Act of 2023 deleted the legislative item “prisons” from the Exclusive Legislative List, re-designated it as “Correctional Services” and re-categorised it as a legislative item under the Concurrent Legislative List. The effect of these constitutional changes is that the Houses of Assemblies of the various States of the Federation can now make laws for their respective States in matters pertaining to Correctional Services.

 

“It has therefore become imperative to properly address issues arising directly from these constitutional changes. Central among these issues is the need for expedited collaboration and coordination between the respective States of the Federation and the Nigerian Correctional Service, for the purpose of ensuring proper structuration and delineation of responsibilities on custodial and other correctional matters.

 

“This will help in tackling issues of custodial rights and related correctional policies and its challenges,” the AGF added.

 

While the SGF, Mrs. Jedy-Agba, said the forum was a vital platform for collaboration, dialogue, and exchange of ideas on the implementation of the ACJA (2015) which she described as fundamental to the principles of justice, fairness, and accountability that underpin any democratic society.

 

The CJN, who was represented by a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Tijjani Abubakar, while declaring the forum open, said the meeting was apt and timely.

This is a step in the right direction. I ask that the same zeal that gave rise to the enactment of ACJA should also be channeled towards its implementation,” the CJN pleaded.

 

 

By Flowerbudnews

Enugu:  Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State says the state government will deal decisively with individuals or groups found dissuading the state’s residents against accepting and receiving vaccinations.

 

Mbah, represented by his Deputy, Chief Ifeanyi Ossai, gave the warning on Tuesday while flagging-off the Introduction of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccination into the Routine Immunisation Schedule in Enugu State.

The flag-off was used to launch a free-of-charge week-long and statewide vaccination of HPV vaccine (meant to prevent cervical cancer) for girls between the ages of nine and 14, which will run from Oct. 24 to Oct. 29.

 

The governor noted that the state government would not fold its arms and watch those, who are not medically inclined and knowledgeable on medical issues, to rubbish its efforts through social media and other means.

 

“We are monitoring individuals and groups who are in the habit of dissuading our residents in taking preventive healthcare vaccination meant to better their present and future health.

“As a government, we will not allow those uninformed on health matters to rubbish our huge investment and commitment in the healthcare and well-being of our residents and people.

 

“We are going to take decisive legal steps on such individuals and groups henceforth. We are monitoring those sabotaging our efforts,” he said.

 

The governor thanked all health development partners for supporting the government’s resolve to improve the health of all residents of the state especially on preventive healthcare.

He noted that the HPV vaccine and other vaccines administered in the state had been scientifically proven for many years to be safe, effective and without any side effects.

 

Earlier, Dr Ifeyinwa Ani-Osheku, Executive Secretary, Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency (EN-PHCDA), said that the HPV vaccination was not just about vaccines and shots, adding that it would foster a culture of health and well-being in the state.

 

According to Ani-Osheku, it is also about educating our girls and their families about the importance of regular check-ups and screenings.

“It is about spreading awareness about other preventive strategies of Cervical Cancers including abstinence and regular screening as early detection can be the key to survival. It is about encouraging a society that prioritises the health of our women.

“If something were easy, it would have been done by now, if it hasn’t been done, then we know the kinds of obstacles we are about to overcome.

 

“We face increasing disinformation and distraction from sources easily accessible for example social media that crowd the information space with confusing and conflicting messages and increasing the difficulties we face with building trust and establishing what the facts are in so many things including vaccines.

 

“The vaccine being introduced today is the Gardacil Vaccine, which has been in use for over 17 years, gone through extensive and rigorous testing and certified effective and free against at least 95 per cent of HPV cervical causing strains,” she said.

 

She noted that “there is a high possibility of eliminating all forms of cancer”, starting with cervical cancer and when this is done it would be one less thing for young women to worry about as they grow into adulthood.

 

The executive secretary said that the Agency was not alone on this journey, adding: “We thank the Federal Ministry of Health with the NPHCDA for their doggedness in ensuring the achievement of this laudable project.

 

“I must not fail to also extend our profound gratitude to His Excellency, Dr Peter Mbah, for the massive support the agency has received and continues to receive; the Deputy Governor who directly oversees the immunization project of the state for his ever constant support.

 

“We also appreciate our parent ministry and our Commissioner for Health, Prof. Emmanuel Obi, for his passion to drive the Enugu State health sector to greater heights.

 

“We thank the CMD Parklane Hospital and our incredible partners (UNICEF, WHO, SYDANI) for staying so engaged with us during the past couple of months and that is why we are where we are today,” he said.

 

In an address, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Emmanuel Obi, said that cancer, especially cervical cancer, had continued to give those in the medical world a serious cause for concern.

 

“We will continue to engage in aggressive health promotion and prevention for the benefit of our people and these moves will raise awareness and participation of our residents in health programmes and projects,” Obi said.

 

In a goodwill message, Mr James Chukwunwedu representing the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), lauded the state government for contributing its counterpart fund for the vaccination as well as putting other logistics on ground for take-off of the HPV vaccine.

Speaking, Dr Adaze Ugwu, State Coordinator of WHO, said that her organization would continue to offer technical support to the state government of Enugu State in promoting health.

 

Ugwu said: “This, we have demonstrated in many ways including ensuring a successful roll-out of HPV vaccine introduction in the state. We commend other partners in the state for the support they have provided to make this campaign successful as well”.

 

The HPV vaccination would be introduced into the Routine Immunisation (RI) schedule and would be available in our Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) for those that were missed. The HPV vaccination would eventually be given to girls aged nine years from 2025./ Flowerbudnews