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Tag: Chris Ngige

  • Ozubulu church re-opens a week after gunmen attack

    Ozubulu church re-opens a week after gunmen attack

    Normal church services were held at St. Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, Anambra, a week after gunmen killed  worshipers during early morning service.

    The church was sealed after Aug. 6 massacre which claimed 11 people and 18 others sustaining various degrees of injury.

    A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who attended the church service, reports that there was an initial low turn-out of parishioners but the attendance later picked up.

    NAN reports that the service was attended  by officials of the state government led by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu.

    Also, present at the Mass was Aloysius Ikegwuonu, popularly called ‘Bishop” and one of the chieftains of the village, who was alleged to have been the target of the Aug 6 attack.

    IIkegwuonu, who lost his father in the attack, refused to talk to newsmen, but one of his aides said his principal would talk at appropriate time.

    Security operatives were seen in and around the church wielding arms.

    In his homily, Rev. Fr. Jude Onwuaso, the Parish Priest, encouraged parishioners not to be deterred by Aug 6 attack, adding that “God is still on the throne”.

    Ownuaso said that the slain parishioners were at the right hand of the Almighty.

    Some Parishioners told NAN that many of them were yet to overcome the shock of the invasion.

    Mr Jude Okoye, a parishioner, said he forced himself to attend church service because of his deep religious understanding that a Christian believer must experience persecution to make to heaven.

    NAN recalled that a delegation of the federal government led by Minister Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, visited the place on Saturday Aug.12 to condole with the state.

  • Gunmen kill Policeman, civilian in Anambra

    Gunmen kill Policeman, civilian in Anambra

    Some people suspected to be gunmen on Sunday, shot dead a policeman and a civilian near Assemblies of God Church, Oguta Road Onitsha, Anambra.

    An eyewitness said that the gunmen had stopped near the Church, adding that on sighting some policemen at the church, they opened fire on them.

    The source also said the attackers made away with the rifle of the slain policeman.

    “When the firing became too hot, the policemen abandoned their patrol vehicle and ran away for safety.

    “The gunmen moved to their patrol van and took a gun belonging to the policeman they killed,” he said.

    The eye witness said he could not identify the number of armed men involved.

    Another eyewitness said, “Gunmen on Okada (motorcycle) shot a policeman and collected his rifle.

    They also shot dead an Okada man while escaping and the passenger he was carrying was injured.

    The policeman was the one armed among his colleagues; they were providing security while church service was going on at Assemblies of God Church, Oguta road Onitsha.

    Reacting to the incident, Mr Garba Umar Commissioner of Police in Anambra confirmed the incident to journalists.

    Umar said it was not an attack on the church, adding that the gunmen took away a rifle belonging to the slain cop.

    “My men were on patrol near the church when they were attacked by some gunmen. ‘’It was not an attack on the church in the real sense of it, “he said.

    Unknown gunmen on Aug. 6 attacked worshipers at St. Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, Ekwusigo council in Anambra, killing no fewer than 13 persons and injured 27.

    A Federal Government delegation,led by Sen. Chris Ngige had on Aug. 12 visited Anambra to condole the people and government of the state as well as the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi over the incident.

  • FG to beef up security in worship centres – Ngige

    FG to beef up security in worship centres – Ngige

    The Federal Government says it will come up with security plans that will guarantee the safety of lives and property in worship centres across the country.

    Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister for Labour and Employment, said this in Amakwa, Ozubulu in Ekwusigo council when he led a delegation to commiserate with the people and government of Anambra on Saturday.

    The delegation was led to St. Philips Catholic Church by Dr Nkem Okeke, Deputy Governor of Anambra and Most Rev. Dr Hillary Okeke, the Catholic Bishop of Nnewi Diocese.

    Ngige said the Federal Government would cooperate with Anambra to ensure that the culprits were brought to book.

    The minister, who described the attack as heinous, wicked and sacrilegious, said the delegation would report back to the presidency.

    He said the Federal Government would also work out a security framework that would protect worshipers anywhere in the country.

    Ngige, who was briefed by the Bishop and Parish Priest of the church, Rev. Fr. Jude Onwuaso, said efforts would be made to forestall future recurrence.

    In his remarks, the deputy governor said the church was praying for the repentance of the perpetrators.

    He said government and the security agencies could go ahead with the hunt for the culprits, but as Christians, the diocese was praying that the masterminds should change their ways.

    He called for prayers and support for the victims either directly to the affected families or through the church through its Victims’ Support Fund.

    Other members of the delegation included the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister of State for Environment, Mr Ibrahim Jubrin.

  • Unveil Anambra Church killers urgently, Ngige urges security agents

    Unveil Anambra Church killers urgently, Ngige urges security agents

    The Minister of Labour and  Employment, Senator Chris Ngige wants security agents to urgently unravel the circumstances surrounding the murder of innocent worshipers at  St. Philips Catholic Church Ozubulu,  Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State on Sunday.

    In a condolence message to the Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, His Lordship,  Dr. Hilary Odili Okeke, the Metropolitan Bishop of Onitsha, His Grace Dr. Valeria Okeke , the clergies and faithfuls, as well as  the good people of Ozubulu, the Minister described the killings as wicked, dastardly and unwarranted. 

    ” This killing, so dastardly and so wicked is a dangerous dimension which is very  alien to our people and culture. I therefore call on the police and other relevant security agencies to leave no stone unturned in tracking down the murderers and bringing them to justice”

    “If justice is a virtue  that observes the right of all,  then, justice must be given  to these innocent worshippers at any cost,” Ngige said.

    The Minister further called  for prayers for the repose of the souls of the slain worshipers, fortitude to the families left behind and quick recovery of those that sustained injuries in that unfortunate incident.

  • Ngige tells labour to explore opportunities in law for workers’ benefit

    Ngige tells labour to explore opportunities in law for workers’ benefit

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has urged organised labour to explore the social security opportunities in the Employees Compensation Act for the benefit of workers.

    Ngige spoke in Abuja on Thursday when he declared open a two-day retreat for top management staff of agencies under the ministry.

    The retreat is on  “Improving Service Delivery in Agencies of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment’’.

    The law is a social security and welfare scheme that provides comprehensive compensation for workers.

    “We ask you to go a step further. The Employees Compensation Act being implemented by Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NISTF) today is for the benefit of workers and also for their employers.

    “It protects workers from accidents, death and disabilities in the course of work. It makes provision for their families to be protected financially too,’’ Ngige said.

    He added that under the law, ‘’the dependents in the family can be trained up to university level while the widow or widower is given something for sustenance.

    “It is a social protection that must be exploited by labour, NISTF being a tripartite organisation where labour and employers under the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association have representatives on the board. ”

    Ngige said active participation of labour was  required to ensure the fund was not mismanaged.

    He said the retreat was important to enhance the capabilities of the management team of the ministry and its parastatal agencies for effective goal delivery

    The minister said the productivity of any organisation depended on the top management.

    The President of  Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba,  said the union would partner the Inspectorate  Department of the ministry to ensure the sustenance of minimum standards for factory workers.

    Wabba decried the lack of factory inspectorate officers for effective service delivery to address alleged maltreatment of workers in some private organisations.

    He called for the revival of the department to ensure that it was able to carry out factory inspection.

    The NLC president commended the ministry for organising the retreat and urged the management staff to use the opportunity to gain knowledge and ensure implementation of policies.

    The Country Director, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Mr Dennis Zulu, said the retreat was timely due to emerging challenges in the world.

    Zulu, represented by Dr Rino Onosede, ILO Technical Expert, said that it was imperative for strategic actions to be  taken by managements to ensure good service delivery.

    Mr Kahism Akor, Director General of National Productivity Centre (NPC), commended the ministry for the passion and drive to ensure improved service delivery in the country.

    Akor noted that one of NPC’s goals was to embark on aggressive capacity building of staff for effective and efficient service delivery which had already commenced.

  • FEC okays new policies for oil, labour

    FEC okays new policies for oil, labour

    …FG to end fuel importation by 2019

     

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved new policies for oil and labour sectors.

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    They were with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.

    Kachikwu said that the Federal Government is committed to ending fuel importation into Nigeria by 2019.

    He said “In terms of specifics. What a policy document does is that it gives you a general guideline in terms of where you are headed then you go into the specifics in other separate documents for purpose of execution. If you take the 2019 time frame for refinery for instance, it won’t tell you what I’m doing today but will tell you that I have set a timeline to exit importation and to get the refineries working by 2019.

    “But if you ask me specially off the shelve what are we doing on that? There is a steering committee already in place which I head, there is a technical committee team already set up headed by chief operating officer in NNPC, we have had series of meetings with individuals who are willing to put money into the refineries.

    “I need to state this clearly, this is not a sale, this is not a concession, this is a financing scheme and there are over 30 people who have indicated interest in that financing.

    “They are going to go through the usual due process mechanism to see who qualifies for that financing. What we have resolved however which we have at least have a landing is that each of the refineries would be repaired by the individual company that built the refinery.

    “Who does the  work is different from who does  finance the work to be done. We are still dialoguing who is going to get the financing opportunity but who is going to get the contracting opportunity to do the work is already decided. If you check the companies that built I think is Chioda in the north, Saitem in Warri if I’m not mistaken. I have forgotten the one in Port Harcourt but all of them have reached agreement with us in terms of willingness and readiness to do the so work.

    “Government is not putting money into this. It’s going to be very sector led effort and they will recover their money through incremental volumes that will arise from the production increase arising from the repairs. We are doing about 30 percent performances on most refineries now so if you get them to above 90 percent template we are going to use some of the product line to pay for some of the debts and free ourselves from the importation problems.” he said

    While noting that all the refineries in Nigeria today when repaired cannot cover all her consumption, he said that some level of efficiency and upgrade will increase the refineries capacity in the country.

    He said “We are banking on the fact that efficiency steps we are taking will reduce the consumption. We have gone from the 50 million liter per day when I resumed office down to today that is about 28 million liters per day.

    “So, obviously efficiency has wiped off smuggling, efficiency has reduced consumption and also whatever gains we made under the subsidy regime by taking the subsidy out has also taken out. So if we are reducing the level of consumption and increasing the efficiency of the refineries, we are banking that we will be able to exit importation completely. And this is not building in Dangote refinery that is 165,000 barrel cap on it, or the modular refineries we are looking at or the AGIP we are looking at.

    “So I think we are finally on course and we are going to be very aggressive on target,” he said.

    But he said that improving oil production target was very dicey.

    “We are targeting to recover full barrels; it’s going to be a longer time provided the OPEC environment permits I think I see the potential of 2.5 and 3 million barrels over the two year period. But then we are all looking at market fluidity and the challenges that goes with how much we pump into this market,” he said.

    On legislation, he said that a policy is a policy and cannot over take the legislation that will help drive inputs into some of what the National Assembly has done.

    “Ultimately we are going to work collaboratively to make sure all is put in place to push some of the policies we are doing here. Some are efficiency off the shelf things we can do on our own but some the legislative mandates behind it would have to crystallized.” he said

    According to him, the Council on Wednesday considered the Nigeria Petroleum Policy document.

    Stressing that the essence of the gas policy, which was considered three weeks ago, is towards changing the imperatives of Nigeria from an oil producing country to a gas producing country.

    He said “We are lot more privileged to produce more gas. Today policy focused on oil, the imperative needed to change in policy in the oil sector, it dealt in certain fundamentals we are already pursuing some of the policy.

    “We are working assiduously to exit the importation of fuel in 2019 and captured the cash calls changed we have done which enables the sector to fund itself through incremental volumes, it captures the reorganisation in the NNPC for efficiency and enable accountability, it captured the issues in the Niger Delta and what we needed to do as a government to focus on stability and consistency in the sector.

    “It is a very comprehensive 100 page document that deals with all the spectrum in the industry, the last time this was done was in 2007 and it has been 10 Years and you are aware that the dynamics of the oil industry has changed dramatically.

    “Apart from the fact fluidity in pricing and uncertainty in terms of the price regime in crude. We are pushing for a refining processing environment and move away from exporting as it were to refining petroleum product, that’s one change you will see.

    “Secondly how we sell our crude is going to be looked at, there is a lot of geographical market we need to look at long term contracting and sales as opposed to systemic contracting we have been doing,” he added.

    He was optimistic that the change process that was started in 2015 will be brought to logical conclusion in next few years if the new document is well executed.

    Ngige disclosed that FEC received the National Employment Policy which will guide the administration.

    He said that the last employment policy in operation in Nigeria was approved in 2002.

    “That’s 14 years and in that 14 years a lot of things have changed in labour and employment industry.  Things like employment, for people with disabilities, decent jobs programme and doing jobs without polluting the environment and other things that are new and contemporary in the labour market.

    “So this policy was reviewed in 2013 with technical assistance from international labour organisations and major stakeholders like employers were involved, workers, unions and this document was crystallised and this policy seeks to give decent jobs to people.

    “Job creation is multi sectoral, it is not limited to one ministry, not limited to the public service alone and private sector is involved and this policy seeks to capture the relevant affected persons and people that will apply this so that we can fight unemployment and under employment,” he said.

    On the issue of minimum wage, he said “You were here in May when FRC approved the composition of the minimum wage committee. We have since then gone into action

    “Government has approved their representation which is the secretariat. The secretariat is domiciled at the National Council for Salaries and Wages Commission with the chairman there acting as secretary.

    “We also have the minister of labour and employment as deputy chairman, minister of finance, minister of budget and national planning as members. The only appointee which is being awaited now is the chairman and we have concluded the process for the nomination. We are waiting for the requisite approval.

    “The labour centers that is NLC and TUC are yet to bring their nomination that is on the workers side. On the employers’ side, you know we are like a subunit. We have Nigeria Employers Consultative Assembly, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. (NACCIMA), Small and Medium Scale Industry Association (SMSIA).

    “These groups will give us nominations so we are waiting. Once these nominations are in place the president will then inaugurate the committee.

    “On the other side, the labour laws are clear; the labour laws seek to protect both the workers and the employers. You don’t sleep on your right. When you know what is there your worker cannot take you for granted provided you also conform to the law. You cannot lock them out and if you do the law says you pay them for the period of lock out. They too cannot take the law into their hands and embark on strike without giving you the mandatory notice, due consideration and social dialogue with you internally, second level with the ministry of labour and employment and third level is the issue of giving you notice.” he added

    Ahmed said that her Ministry presented the National Social Protection policy to the Council on Wednesday.

    The policy, she said, is a framework that seeks to provide social justice equity and inclusive growth by using a transformative mechanism for mitigating poverty and unemployment in Nigeria.

    According to her, the social investment programme started by the Federal Government since 2016 were drawn from the policy, which is currently in a draft form.

    “What we have done is to submit to the council today, a policy that is largely inspirational, aspirational but seeks to ensure that every Nigerian gets at least a minimum of what is required in terms of human development and protection,” she stated.

  • Updated: FG sets up National Minimum Wage Committee 

    Updated: FG sets up National Minimum Wage Committee 

    The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved a National Minimum Wage Committee to deliberate on an agreeable minimum wage for the country.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting presided by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, said that the committee will be made up of 29 members.

    According to him, the members will come from the organized Labour, Federal Government and State Government.

    He said “Council deliberated on the report of the joint committee of government on one side and the labour federation of NLC and TUC. If you recall on May 11, 2016, there was a deregulation of oil and gas sector in Nigeria and this resulted in increased we had in the PMS otherwise called petrol and as a result of that, the labour federation kicked against the increase and said that if even the increase will be there, govt should put in place, mechanism to make sure that we do not have further increases.

    “In that wise, they said PPPRA board regulatory board should be put in place. Two: they also asked for a review of the minimum wage available to workers in the country in other to enable them have better purchasing power.

    “Prior to the increase, they have made a demand of the N56,000 monthly as the lowest paid wage to any Nigerian worker which we call Minimum wage. Thirdly, they said they would need some palliatives to cushion the effect of increase in pump price of petrol, transportation allowances and things like that.

    “So, government put in place that committee. That committee finished its work on April 21 and handed the report to the SGF.

    “Today at Council, I presented the report with the various recommendations therein and I am happy to let you know that government has approved the setting up of a national minimum wage committee comprising of 29 persons with a chairman ans a secretary.

    “Composition of this committee is that, the federal government will contribute 5 persons from the public sector, the state governors who are major stakeholder will contribute 6 governors, one from each geopolitical zone. Then the labour federations will present 8 persons and the organized employers association represented by Manufacturing Association of Nigeria, Chamber of Commerce and Small and Medium Enterprises will jointly produce 8 persons. Government will appoint the Chair and the Secretary.” he said

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said that the executive is still analysing and reviewing the 2017 Budget before it can be assented to.

    On the recently released statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics,  he said “One of the things we discussed in Council was the GDP report for the first quarter which was released yesterday by the NBS. We found the first quarter encouraging even though during the first quarter, we are still in a recession.

    “But we found it very encouraging as the best result for the past three or four quarters. And it is a sign that we are moving out of recession.

    Interior Minister, Abdulraman Dambazzau said that the Council looked at prison congestion in the country and how to reduce the congestion.

    He said “In today’s council, we looked at the situation in Nigerian prisons including the conditions of inmates and state of the prisons themselves. This came out as a result of council’s directive a few weeks back.

    “We looked at the criminal justice administration and some of the things we briefed the council are that most of the prisons are old. As a matter of fact, quite a number of them were built about 100 years ago. They are dilapidated and lacked the platform for rehabilitation.

    “The major problem is terms of congestion are the issue of awaiting trials of inmates. Today, about 70 persons of waiting trials constitute the prisons inmates, 30 percent of them are convicted.

    “So, this is the situation. It gives a lot of stretch to the prisons system in terms of rehabilitation, feeding and providing other essential amenities. It also makes the general administration extremely difficult. So, we made some suggestions as how these problems can be tackled.

    “About 200 of those inmates awaiting trials have been in prison for over 11 years. Quite a number of them have been in prison for about 5 to 10 years.

    “So, we are looking at ways that through either prerogative of mercy, state pardon or those who are condemned after staying for more than 10 years whether such conviction to death can be committed to life imprisonment and those who have been there as lifers that have served 10 years and above can have some relief. So, these are some of the issues we looked at.” he said

    Minister of State for Environment, Usman Jubril, said that the council looked at the issue of aforrestation and sustainable forest management in the country.

    “It subsequently approved the take-off of National Forest Trust Fund. You are probably aware that in the last 5 months, we suspended the issue of sighting permit that would allow export semi-proceed woods out of the country,” he stated.

  • FG plans to convert Industrial Arbitration Panel to commission – Ngige

    FG plans to convert Industrial Arbitration Panel to commission – Ngige

    The Federal Government says it is planning to convert the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) into a commission to give it more power in its operations in the country.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige disclosed this while receiving the management team of the Industrial Arbitration Panel in his office on Thursday in Abuja.

    Ngige said that the establishment of the commission would enable the panel address most of the challenges being faced in the discharge of its responsibilities

    “The labour institutional bill we had in the National Assembly expired with the 7th National Assembly.

    “So, we are going to represented the bill to the 8th National Assembly that would take care of converting the panel into a commission.

    “We are representing it for your place to be evolved in to a commission and if it is made a commission the benefits are monumental.

    “As it will cut down cost of people going for litigation in the courts. It also will give speedily dispensation of industrial relations cases as justly and equitably.

    “So justices will be brought quickly to the door steps of the Nigerian workers and their employers, ”he said.

    The Minister said that the establishment of the commission would enable the panel to give its judgment without fear or favour and without discrimination.

    Ngige also noted that the ministry was also working on the outdated IAP rules guiding the establishment of the panel.

    “We have worked on the new set of rules which will be sent to the Attorney-General office for fine-tuning, so that it will be promulgated as rules that will guide you.

    “The new rules will make you better in handing of cases that come to you, ” he added.

    Earlier, Mr Dunama Azura, Chairman of the panel, said that the panel has been operating with outdated guidelines and rules guiding dispute resolutions.

    Azura appealed to the minister to prevail on the government to convert the panel to a commission as being practiced globally.

    He said the only document guiding the operation of the panel was a four paragraph rules, which has hampered their performance.

    He added that in spite of the challenges, none of its decisions has been upturned by the National Industrial Court.

    The IAP Chairman said that converting the panel into a Commission would  save a lot of resources for the government.

    He also appealed to the government to consider the welfare of members of the panel in view of the risk involved in their assignments.

  • Ngige donates ambulance, drugs to mission hospital

    Ngige donates ambulance, drugs to mission hospital

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has donated an ambulance, wheelchairs and drugs worth millions of Naira to St. Mary’s Catholic Church Hospital, Alor in Anambra.

    Presenting the items on Wednesday at Alor, Ngige said the gesture was in fulfillment of his promise to the hospital in December 2016.

    The minister, who lauded the Church for their spiritual and material contributions to the people, pledged to continue the support whenever called upon.

    Receiving the items, Rev. Fr. Martin Onukuba, the Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Alor, Idemili South Local Government Area of the state, commended the minister for the gesture.

    “The situation before now was that we were using our private cars to bring patients to hospital; sometimes, we use plastic chairs to take patients into the hospital.

    “The ambulance will solve all these problems and we can now even move anytime of the night without fear on emergencies,” said Onukuba.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister was accompanied by the state executives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as some governorship aspirants in the state.

     

  • Osinbajo meets presidential task force on food security

    Osinbajo meets presidential task force on food security

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday met behind closed doors with members of the presidential task force on the rising cost of food items in the country.

    The meeting, which took place at Aguda House, the official residence of the acting president, was attended by all members of the group, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the setting up of the task force as part of efforts to enhance food security in the country.

    The task force is to urgently consider measures that would ensure a steady flow of farm produce to the market and reverse recent price increases.

    It also has the responsibility of exploring strategies toward ensuring availability and affordability of food items to Nigerians.

    The group, expected to submit its interim reports on February 8, has the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh; Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and Minister of Industry, Trade and Development, Dr. Okey Enelamah, as members.

    Other members of the team are – the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.