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Tag: Chris Ngige

  • African leaders must take drastic measures to tackle underdevelopment – Ngige

    Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has asked African leaders to rise up and take drastic measures to fiercely tackle the myraids of teething problems of underdevelopment bedevilling the country if the continent is to get out of the wood.

    Ngige who spoke at the 3rd Biannual Special Technical Committee on Social Development, Labour and Employment under the auspices of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia said if African leaders fail to rise to the occasion, Africans will remain hewers of wood and fetchers of water, stressing that President Muhammadu Buhari has already taken the lead in this direction.

    Ngige said the Buhari administration has made serious efforts in the last four years to chart a new course for Nigeria with the results of that giant strides made manifest in core sectors of agriculture, anti-corruption , employment generation, infrastructural development and war on insurgency.

    He disclosed that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Buhari administration which is the economic development agenda of the Buhari administration was tailored towards a concurrent growth of the three-tier federal structures of national, states and local governments in line with the diversity of the nation.

    He said the battered economy which the administration met in 2015, slipped into recession in the first and second quarter of 2016, prompting an aggressive economic recovery plan with big emphasis on agriculture and food security.

    Acording to the Minister, “the effects were dramatic. We boosted agriculture and raised the capacity of the nation to feed herself, to the extent that importation of rice for example, dropped by 95%. The same goes for sorghum. This decisive inward look was pivoted on the elastic efforts of government which the Central Bank of Nigeria piloted through the Anchor Borrowers Programme in agriculture.”

    Read Also: INEC shouldn’t be crucified for electoral irregularities – Ngige

    Speaking on the government’s social investments, Ngige said the Home Grown School Feeding Programme has been complementing  the free education policy at the primary, and junior secondary school levels while stemming the incidence of school dropout which he identified as precursor to child labour. The programme he added has captured about N10 million school children in 25 states of the federation.

    He Identified poverty, disease and ignorance as an evil triad that must be fought together, and gave insight into other social investment programmes such as the N-Power under which the Federal Government has employed 500,000 graduates, the N-Build where 50,000 are engaged, the N-Agro, N-Knowledge, N-Health, and N-Build where hundreds of thousands are also employed.

    He also informed the gathering of the Government Enterprises and Empowerment Programme which makes interest-free loans available to small businesses  as well as the National Cash Transfer programme (Conditional and Unconditional) to over 1million vulnerable and poor Nigerians, besides the thousands already benefitting from similar programmes by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE)

    According to the minister, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan would have been impossible without the anti-corruption measures such as the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the whistle blowing policy  which government put in place, thus, shutting down leakages and easing the recovery of stolen funds as well as the efforts of the anti-corruption agencies primed for zero-corruption agenda of the government.

    Similarly, a co-discussant and the Chairperson of Business Africa, Mrs. Jackline Mugo called for a common front to solve Africa’s numerous challenges, while pushing for a change in Africa’s social dialogue as it relates to labour and employment so as to fully tap the full benefits of the  African population, which she termed her wealth.

    Mugo further said Africa can leapfrog from its present commodity dependency if each of the fifty-four countries is able to concentrate on the production of a single product and achieve an optimal international competitive advantage. “You can imagine what it means to have over fifty products from Africa,” arguing it was the route the Asians took.

    Meanwhile the Ministers nominated Nigeria as one of the Titulars members for Africa in the Governing Board of the International Labour Organization when the next election will be held in June 2020.

    Nigeria emerged from West Africa due to her performance since 2017 when Africa put her forward as a Deputy Titular. The Ministers further took particular note of the leading voice which Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment has given to Africa, the very fact that made the ILO elevate him to head government side of the Tripartite even as a Deputy.

     

     

  • Fed Govt created eight million new farmers, says Ngige

    THE  Federal Government has through its anchor borrowers programme  in the agricultural sector created over eight million new farmers, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige, has said.

    Ngige stated this while briefing senators on the achievements of his ministry during the 2019 budget defence session in Abuja.

    The Minister who was answering questions on what the government is doing to mop up the growing army of unemployed youths in the country told the Senate Committee on Labour and Productivity that there are three categories of jobs which the government has created.

    The three categories of jobs, he said, included, white collar jobs, blue collar jobs and punk collar jobs.

    According to him, the government has created millions of jobs in the informal sector including empowering women and artisans.

    He said that the Federal Government has also lifted embargo on employment so as to offer more white collar jobs to deserving applicants.

    Ngige however emphasised that job creation in every country is not the sole responsibility of the government.

    The private sector, he said, plays a significant role in the creation of job opportunities for the people.

    He urged those in the private sector to take more than passing interest in the creation of job opportunities in the interest of the youths.

    Scoring the government high in job creation and empowerment, Ngige noted that for the first time, Nigeria has developed a national roadmap on job creation.

    He said that the eight million new farmers were doing excellently in rice production in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Ebonyi and part of Anambra and other states.

    The minister also said that more than one million jobs were created through the social security programme of the government, particularly the N-Power, which he said has about five hundred thousand jobs, conditional cash transfer policy of the government and Tradermoni initiated by the Vice President.

  • Abia APC backs zoning of Senate Presidency to Southeast

    The Abia State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has joined other Abians and well-meaning Nigerians to call on the National leadership of the party to ensure that the position of Senate President in the 9th National Assembly was ceded to the Southeast.

    Abia APC speaking through the Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Comrade Benedict Godson on Thursday in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state posited that it will be both politically and morally correct to do so.

    According to Godson, the call was important going to the recent political development in the country where both the newly elected and already serving senators from different parts of the country have started scheming for a position, the APC publicity secretary said would ordinarily be zoned to the southeast to balance power sharing among the major ethnic groups in the country.

    Those touted to be key contenders of senate Presidency include former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor-Kalu (Southeast), Senator Ahmad Lawan from Yobe (Northeast), former Gombe State governor, Danjuma Goje (Northeast), Senator Ali Ndume from Borno (Northeast )and Senator Adamu Abdullahi from Nasarawa State (North-central).

    Godson said that the structural makeup of the current government from executive, legislative and judiciary, shows that it will be the most infallible and plain sailing decision for the party to cede the senate president to South East.

    “If you can recall, Dr. Chris Ngige because of his defeat could not be made Senate President because he couldn’t come back to the national assembly and there was no way that they could have given it to Ekweremadu who is from another party. That gave way for the manipulation that brought Bukola Saraki in as the senate President.

    “For us here, this should not be a difficult decision at all. It is a decision that will show inclusiveness in all ramifications. The structure of the current government from executive, legislative and judiciary calls for a space for the Southeast to accommodate and integrated.

    “Our able leader, President Muhammadu Buhari is from Northwest, Vice President; Prof Yemi Osinbajo from Southwest, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha and the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari are both from Northeast.

    “Although the current senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives are no longer our members, but both are from North Central and Northeast respectively. And the South-South until recently had the number one position in the judiciary (CJN). Even the National Chairman of our party is from the South-South as well.

    “This goes to show that the Southeast is the only geo-political zone which has no ranking government official in the hierarchy of power within the APC led government. So, giving us this one is a no brainer I must say it unequivocally.

    READ ALSO: Abia APC in final push for Saturday polls

    “Agreed, in 2015 we didn’t do much in terms of sending people from APC to the National Assembly, but the story is different today as we already have an elected Senator and members of House of Representatives. Even in the presidential election, we showed serious commitment and dedication to our party candidate who won convincingly,” he said.

    Godson who said that he was sure that Kalu was going to deliver creditably if chosen as the Senate President going by his level of experience as a businessman, governor and former House of Representatives member noted that it was imperative that the National Working Committee of APC, all elected Senators from both Southeast and other zones among other stakeholders of the party joined hands to support Kalu to clinch the senate apex position for justice and equity within the party and the nation at large.

    “Those of us from Abia are strongly behind our leader Senator Orji Uzor-Kalu and believe he should be considered for the post because he is capable and has collected his certificate of return from INEC and as such now a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from the Southeast.

    “People may say he’s a greenhorn in the senate, but we must put records straight, because he is not new in the National Assembly.

    “He was in the House of Representatives in 1991. He was deputy chairman, House Committee on Finance and Immigration, because his party, the National Republican Convention (NRC) was in minority then. He’s not a greenhorn at all.”

    Speaking further, Godson said, “Let no one get this call twisted in anyway, our call and demand for this position is not in any way trying to say that the APC led Federal Government has not done well in the Southeast.

    “That’s not what we are saying. The essence of this explanation is to make sure that people don’t twist it into that. In fact, our people are aware that the president Buhari led administration has executed more people oriented projects in the Southeast than previous administrations.

    “So, we must make this clear before mischief-makers will turn our simple call for rightful accommodation and integration into the progressive APC government to mean an agitation of dissatisfaction with the APC led administration.

    “We appreciate the Federal Government and all its efforts in the Southeast, but we are saying that it will be fair, politically and morally correct for our zone to be given the number one principal position in the Senate because we deserve it as it will make our party stronger and more balanced in national outlook.”

  • Ngige, APC petition INEC over alleged stolen materials

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged stolen electoral materials meant for two constituencies.

    The petition was addressed to the Resident Electoral commissioner REC in Anambra state, Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji.

    Addressing reporters on Saturday, Ngige said the two constituencies were Ihiala I and Awka South I, stressing electoral materials kept in the custody of the local government chairmen were stolen.

    According to him:  “So far, there are reported cases of pilfering of INEC materials at Ihiala I and Awka South I, where our party agents have reported that materials kept in custody of the Local Government Chairmen were no longer complete on the morning of the election at the RAC.

    “We have petitioned the INEC through the REC, bringing his attention to that situation otherwise the elections in those two places would have been compromised ab initio”

    Read Also: Obiano, Ngige fail to deliver Buhari in Anambra

    “So we are on standby, we are waiting for the votes to be counted in many places and for elections to come in.”

    On the election, the Minister said: “Anambra is not doing governorship, we are doing legislative House and it has somehow affected the turnout of voters”

    “But be that as it may, it’s a very important election as it affords the Anambra people the opportunity to form one arm of the government, State Assembly which is for making state laws and which is the ambit of governance that is nearer to the people.”

    However, he said Card reader was not much of a problem this time, adding INEC should look into it very seriously as majority were still rejecting peoples thumbs.

     

     

  • Ngige: INEC shouldn’t be crucified for electoral irregularities

    Minister of Employment Dr. Chris Ngige on Monday absolved the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of culpability over certain irregularities experienced during Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    He said the involvement of non-permanent staff of the commission makes it impossible for electoral irregularities not to be witnessed in any election.

    Fielding questions from journalists at the INEC collation centre in Awka, the Minister attributed most of the problems to the ad-hoc staff recruited for the exercise.

    He said: “You see when we talk about INEC, I like to be fair to them. INEC has both permanent and ad-hoc staff.

    “Lots of these problems emanate from the ad-hoc staff and you know they don’t owe deep loyalty to the commission.

    Read Also: Ndigbo endorsed Atiku in error, says Ngige

    “Government has tried to find a way around it by insisting they use federal government civil servants and lecturers in federal universities.

    “So if these ones misbehave, they can be punished according to civil service rules.”

    Ngige however canvassed early training for the ad-hoc staff and continuous training for the permanent ones as a way of mitigating the challenge.

    On the Presidential results so far released by the INEC, the Minister said he was not surprised at the outcome, expressing confidence that President Buhari would be re-elected.

    “What else do you expect? We’re expecting to clear more states, especially those with big votes,” he asserted.

    He however asked those who eventually emerge winners to be magnanimous with victory while those that lost should accept defeat in good faith.

    He said: “We expect that as a game, those who lost will try next time and for those who win to be magnanimous with victory.”

  • INEC shouldn’t be crucified for electoral irregularities – Ngige

    Minister of Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige on Monday absorbed the Independent National electoral commission (INEC) over certain irregularities experienced during elections.

    He said the involvement of non-permanent staff of the commission makes it impossible for electoral irregularities not to be witnessed in any election.

    Fielding questions from journalists at the INEC collation center in Awka, the Minister attributed most of the problems to the ad-hoc staff recruited for the exercise.

    He said, “You see when we talk about INEC, I like to be fair to them. INEC has both permanent and ad-hoc staff.

    “Lots of these problems emanate from the ad-hoc staff and you know they don’t owe deep loyalty to the commission.

    “Government has tried to find a way around it by insisting they use federal government civil servants and lecturers in federal universities.

    “So if these ones misbehave, they can be punished according to civil service rules.”

    Ngige however canvassed for early training for the ad-hoc staff and continuous training for the permanent ones as a way of mitigating the challenge.

    On the presidential results so far released by the INEC, the Minister said he was not surprised at the outcome, expressing confidence that President Buhari would be reelected.

    “What else do you expect? We’re expecting to clear more states, especially those with big votes,” he asserted.

    He however asked those who eventually emerge winners to be magnanimous with victory while those that lost should accept defeat in good faith.

    He said, “We expect that as a game, those who lost will try next time, and for those who win to be magnanimous with victory.“

  • Massive turn out of voters in Anambra

    The Presidential and National Assembly elections held in Anambra State on Saturday witnessed massive turn out in the state.

    But the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, failed fingerprint test, while blaming the situation on recent Anambra INEC Fire Incident

    Though the former governor expressed joy on the polls, his fingers could not be identified by the card reader

    He said the situation was not unconnected to the recent fire incident at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters in Awka.

    Despite the hitch, the Minister had to skip the thumbprinting and cast his vote at about 10.30 am,with the enthusiastic crowd cheering and shouting his name in his Alor ward.

    Read Also: Teachers’ retirement age rift in Anambra

    Also, the State Governor, Willie Obiano, praised INEC for living up to expectations after the initial postponement last week.

    Obiano, who voted exactly 10.05am while speaking with reporters, said things were going on as expected, praising the Anambra electorate for their dedication.

    However, the senatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party PDP for Anambra South zone, Chief Chris Uba, could not vote as card readers in his ward malfunctioned. At Amatutu Ward 11 in Anaocha Local Government Area, where the PDP Vice Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, voted at exactly 8.55am with his wife, Margret, the crowd was equally intimidating.

    But Obi, who was not looking happy, raised the alarm that some security operatives stormed the houses of some PDP chieftains in the state last night including himself.

  • Why FG withheld salaries of health workers, by Ngige

    Minister of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige has said the federal government withheld salaries of health workers who embarked on strike in 2018 because the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention allowed employers to hold back salaries of workers on essential services anytime they withdraw their services.

    Ngige also said that by the oath of the medical profession, professionals are not supposed to embark on strike because the services they render have to do with human lives, which if lost cannot be regained.

    The Minister, who spoke in an interview at his residence in Abuja at the weekend, said the government did not apply the same policy on the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) because the lecturers can recover lost ground by teaching extra hours.

    He also said the Minister of Education did not write to request for permission from his Ministry in accordance with the law requesting for permission to apply the no work, no pay rule.

    While the government was yet to pay the salaries of health workers on the platform of the Joint Health Sector Unions for the period of April and May 2018 when they were on strike, they failed to apply the same rule on the striking lecturers, withdrawing the notice barely 24 hours after it was issued.

    Health workers have alleged they are being punished because the Minister of Labour and his health counterparts are medical doctors.

    Read Also: …N27,000 is for all workers— Ngige

    Explaining what led to the invocation of the policy on the health workers, the Minister said: “When they went on strike in 2018, I told them as the conciliator, ‘’call off your strike to make for meaningful discussions so that no one will be under duress’.

    “They started the discussion with health and it broke down, they were still on strike and they came to me and when they came to me I said I will not conciliate anymore because if I apprehend a strike they must call off.

    “If you don’t call off I only have two things to do. It is either I send you to industry aberration panel or I can send you direct to a National Industry Court of Nigeria NICN.

    “They refused to call off and the health ministry wrote me and informed me that they are invoking ‘no work, no pay’ which is section 43 of the trade dispute act which say that when a worker leaves his work and goes away, the employer is not obliged to pay during those periods.

    “In many of the principles and conventions and decided cases that came to the committee on freedom of association and the committee on labour standards; the ILO have rules that apply to essential services.

    “They defined essential services as those services in which when the worker withdraw his services, such withdrawal will cause interruption that will lead to lose of lives and safety on a national scale or provincial scale or you have a national calamity, the employer is permitted to withhold wages.

    “It went further to say that in withholding wages, the employer can also replace such staff to make the business run and if it is a hospital; saves lives.

    “They have started comparing issues and saying that health minister and myself are doctors and because of that, we said that the salaries should be ceased or withheld.

    “But the labour laws are clear in section 43 that if there is withdrawal of services especially when it is done illegally or done by an essential service person, you have right to withdraw with those salaries or wages to enable you put someone else there.

    “This is the position; you can’t compare a worker who is in charge of dialysis or nursing services to a lecturer because once a life is lost in the period of strike you can’t replace it while a lecturer can teach day and night to make up for the lost grounds that is why the labour act and the ILO defines essential services and makes particular clearance for them.

    “It is not that I hate anybody or the health minister hates anybody. But this is what it is and this is enforced by the fact that some doctors who went on strike in some hospitals in 2016 had their money ceased at federal medical centre Owerri and Jos.

    “They withdrew their services unjustly and because they are essential services workers, section 43 of the law applies to them.

    “They came back in 2018 to beg me to beg Health Minister and I said you are my colleagues but I couldn’t and I won’t because the lives lost at that time, we can’t replace them.

    “I am a doctor and I have never gone on strike in my life because it is against the doctoral oath. Even those nurses, it is against their oath. So for me, once you are on essential services and you want to withdraw your services it must have its consequences as far as I am concerned.”

  • Minimum wage: Council of State okays N30000 for Fed. workers

    The National Council of State on Tuesday approved the transmission of the National minimum wage bill to the National Assembly

    The Minister of Labour Chris Ngige briefed State House correspondents at the end of the Council of State meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    According to him, the bill approved by the Council includes N30000 minimum wage for Fed. workers and N27,000 for states and private sector.

    The proposal, he said, will cover employers of labour with minimum of 25 workers.

    Read Also: Minimum wage: Revenue sharing formula for review

    He explained that the Federal Executive Council and the National Economic Council meetings have already considered the bill.

    The bill, he said, will be transmitted to the National Assembly before the close of business on Wednesday.

    As the National Assembly is on recess, he said that the concerned committees in the National Assembly will continue work on the bill.

  • Health workers threaten indefinite strike

    Health workers under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Unions have threatened to shut down the nation’s hospitals if the government fails to address their demands.

    This is coming eight months after suspension of their strike action for final resolution of issues without concrete actions from government.

    The government had, in April 2018 invoked the no- work- no- rule policy to deny striking health workers their two months salaries for embarking on strike for implementation of their agreement with the government.

    The Minister of Health claimed there was no agreement between the union and government then.

    However, the National Industrial Court, sitting in Abuja stepped into the issue for arbitration, asking all parties to maintain status quo ante.

    Read Also: Exams at OAU despite ASUU strike

    In a letter addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, the union said it will resume the suspended strike if the issues in dispute were not resolved by Thursday, 31st January, 2019.

    JOHESU chairman, Biobelemoye Josiah, said the decision to issue a 15- day ultimatum was in view of the apparent indifference of government to permanently resolve lingering issues

    The health workers insisted that some of the issues have persisted for over five years, pointing out even though the court has asked for a return to status quo ante during the last industrial action, government has gone ahead to implement the no work, no pay policy.

    Some of the issues at stake are the upward adjustment of the consolidated Health salary structure, CONHESS, unjustified withholding of the salaries of JOHESU members for the months of April and May, 2018 and headship of hospital departments.

    Others are non -promotion of members on CONHESS 14 – 15 as Directors in some Federal Health Institutions and implementation of Consultancy Cadre to JOHESU members.