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Tag: Dr Chris Ngige

  • Ngige inaugurates NSITF board, cautions against award of contracts

    Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, has cautioned the board and management of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) against award of contracts.

    Ngige, who handed down the warning while inaugurating the new board of NSITF at the Presidential Villa Banquet Hall on Monday in Abuja, said that award of contracts was not within the obligations of the board.

    Prince Austin Enajemo-Isire was named the chairman of the 12-member board, while Mrs Ijeoma Okoronkwo, Deputy General Manager, NSITF, was named Board Secretary.

    Other members are: Olawale Timothy representing Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Dr Mohammed Yinusa, NECA President, Comrade Waheed Adeyanju, representing NLC, Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel, NLC.

    Also in the board are Ifeoma Anyawutaku, representing Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mrs Dutse Aminu, representing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Jasper Azutalam, NSITF, Tijani Darazo, NSITF, Titola Nelson, NSITF and Adebayo Somefun, NSITF.

    Ngige has been at loggerheads with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over his failure to inaugurate NSITF board with Frank Kokori as the chairman.

    NLC members on May 8 picketed Ngige’s Abuja residence with allegations that labour protesters were manhandled by the minister’s loyalists, allegation Ngige denied.

    Ngige had argued that, as the minister permitted by law to make a recommendation, he did not recommend Kokori.

    The minister told the new members of the board that they were men and women of esteemed integrity, who by their antecedents had proven themselves worthy of the appointment.

    “You should particularly note that boards are not to award contracts as there are Parastatals Tenders Board put in place for such purposes, guided by the Public Procurement ACT (PPA), 2007.

    “In this wise, the Parastatals Tenders Board should strictly adhere to the prevailing thresholds for contract for Consultancy/Supplies of Goods and for Construction.

    “Expenditure thresholds that are above the Parastatals Tenders Board should be forwarded to the Ministerial Tenders Board(MTB) for approval and from there to the Federal Executive Council(FEC), if the threshold is above the MTB’s approval limit,’’ he said.

    Ngige said that the function and operations of the board were regulated by various Federal Government circulars which were being made available to the board members.

    Ngige urged the board to take issues of staff welfare, proper placement among others seriously.

    “Be mindful of the general principle which states that nominal board members are not to be involved in the day to  day running of the Fund.

    “In this regard, you are particularly to be guided by Circular No. SGF.OP/1/S.3/T.1/142 dated Aug. 2, 1999 and Guidelines to Administrative Procedure in the Federal Public Service.

    “In terms of remuneration for the board chairman and members, please be guided by circulars Ref. Nos. SWC/S/04/S.310/105 dated June 10, 2010, and SGF.OP/1/S.3/X/804 dated Oct. 23, 2015 respectively.

    “The Managing Director and Executive Directors are to be guided by their letters of appointment issued to them by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

    “For others, the NSITF Act, on powers of the minister to provide from time to time the remuneration and allowances of members of the board applies. Fortunately this is also in alignment with the circulars above.’’

    He said that the board members’ remuneration had been clearly spelt out as to what to be paid for board meetings and for travels both within and outside the country.

    The minister said that salaries and emoluments of staff members were fixed by the board, but subject to the ratification by the supervising ministry and subsequent confirmation by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.

    Ngige regretted that the last board and management of the NSITF left negative trails inimical to development and progress for both the human and infrastructural components of the agency.

    Responding on behalf of other board members, Enejemo-Isire, thanked God, President Buhari and Ngige for the opportunity given to them to serve.

    He pledged that the board would not betray the confidence reposed in it.

  • Ngige to workers: Buhari committed to leaving a bouyant economy

    Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has assured Nigerian workers that President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to lifting the lives of Nigerian workers and leaving behind a legacy of service and a buoyant economy.

    In a message he personally signed and made available to The Nation, Ngige said it was as a result of the President’s resolve to better the lives of Nigerian workers that he gave states bailout to pay salary and pension of their workers.

    The Minister also said the President was determined to creating an economy capable of creating a sustainable abundance for the people.

    He said: “On behalf of the Management and Staff of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment as well as its parastatals, I wish to send warm felicitations to the Nigerian workers on the occasion of 2019 Worker’s Day.

    “The Theme of this year’s celebration which is “Another 100 Years of Struggle for Jobs, Dignity and Social Justice in Nigeria” aligns with the vision and efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR to not only uplift the lots of the Nigerian worker, but also leave a legacy of a buoyant economy capable of creating a sustainable abundance for our people.

    “The uniqueness of this year’s event manifests eventfully in its co-incidence with the Centenary celebration of the International Labour Organization (ILO) which Nigeria proudly pioneered as the first Country Office in Africa sixty Years ago, in Lagos, 1959.

    “While I sincerely salute the resilience of the nation’s workforce and its numerous contributions to national development, we owe plentiful accolades to the most labour-friendly President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, who took practical steps to douse the restiveness in the labour force he inherited four years ago due to unpaid salaries and allowances.

    “He released bailout funds at the State and Federal level, and capped it all with a New National Minimum Wage for the Nigerian working class in public and private sectors. As we move to the Next Level, I have no doubt that things will get better. I wish you all a productive and fulfilling workers day celebration.”

  • Kokori lacks experience to head NSITF, says minister

    Labour and Employment Minister, Dr Chris Ngige, yesterday said the appointment of Chief Frank Kokori as chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) never got presidential approval.

    The minister dismissed the claims by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), saying Kokori lacks the requisite experience to lead the fund.

    A statement in Abuja, by the Special Assistant to the minister, Nwachukeu Obidiwe, faulted NLC’s claims.

    Obidiwe claimed that the appointment of Chief Kokori as Chairman of the NSITF board was never transmitted to the President for approval, as required by the act establishing the fund, which empowers the minister to transmit the name to the President for approval.

    According to him, the name of the replacement for Kokori as chairman of the board followed due process and got the presidential approval.

    He said: “You know what has happened in that place in the recent past.

    “The NSITF needed somebody with the required knowledge and experience and the new chairman is very qualified, as a chartered accountant and an Insurance expert, who has what it takes to reposition the place. On the other hand, Kokori does not have what it takes to manage the place.

    “The minister also did not receive any vehicle from NSITF. The only vehicle they advanced to the ministry is attached to the Minister of State and that vehicle was only to ease means of transport. It still belong to the fund.”

    Obidiwe told The Nation that the minister set up an inter-ministerial committee comprising of representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, among others.

    He said the committee spent about three months to carry out its assignment and visited several offices of the fund.

    Obidiwe said: “If they spent N18 million in the process of trying to recover over N2 billion, I don’t think that is too much.”

    The statement accused the NLC of frustrating government representative from taking their rightful place on the board of Trustfund Pension in which he said the government equity had risen from 40 to 42 per cent and held in trust by the NSITF, whose managing director seats on the board.

    The minister’s aide alleged that the NLC was trying to hijack Trustfund pension, hence its opposition.

  • So, we have enough doctors, eh?

    As usual, I am seated on my vantage, comfy chair on this twenty feet high and ten feet broad wall standing between us and the Buhari government. From there, I have watched with some kind of sad bemusement as our Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, inadvertently put his Size Eleven foot in it. How do I know he wears Size Eleven? I don’t; but have you noticed that people in government tend to abandon their former shoe sizes called ‘Size C-caution’ and take on these large sizes called ‘Size C-carefree’ that go flip-flop? The Minister of Health, Prof. Adewole, also has that same size! Don’t get me wrong; I’m firmly on Ngige’s side, and I’m firmly on the people’s side. Indeed, I’m firmly on everyone’s side who has a side to stand on.

    When people put down stakes on a side in an argument, it’s usually because they have something to gain; may be a house, a jet or a future vote as in ‘it’s your turn today to need my vote, it may be my turn tomorrow’. It’s called buying your tomorrow vote today. Nations have been built on such bargains because, really, arguments are bargain chips held in trust.

    Our Minister of Labour caused something akin to a stir by stirring the hornet’s nest. How was he to know that he would be stung so sharply by so many angry wasps? Indeed, the reactions that have trailed his utterance, that Nigeria presently has enough doctors so it can afford to export the surplus, have come very close to a ‘calling out.’ You know what that is, don’t you? It is that act of asking satisfaction from someone to explain himself (no, not herself; in a woman, it would be considered vulgar) on account of an utterance. The demand usually took different dimensions in the past: a duel of fists, swords or pistols. Very interesting spectacle then. The ones I witnessed in the sixteenth century (truly!) sometimes had people blazing at each other with guns simply for saying someone had told an ‘untruth’! And pouf!, a life would be lost.

    Anyway, Nigerians appear to have called out the minister to explain himself, which he did. I’m not sure though if the explanation was not longer than the main; you know, like the photocopy being longer than the original and one is not sure any more where the truth lies. It sounded too much like an apologia. However, for anyone to have said, originally or in photocopy, that Nigeria has produced enough doctors has never been sick enough to visit a Nigerian hospital. Or, he has forgotten what it is like to be sick and have had to go to a hospital in his fatherland. The truth is that that statement caused the people’s emotions to boil, then broil over, then froth and finally be vomited. The statement brought to the fore once again, just what the people think about their government functionaries: not much.

    So, let me see if I can be on the minister’s side here, not that he needs anyone to fight for him; he appears quite capable of putting his foot in it by himself. You know, it’s a little like the advert of a suicide hotline that said, ‘Thinking of killing yourself? Come, let us help.’ So, I have not come to help the minister. No, I have certainly not come to hang him either; my name is Oyinkan, not Brutus. I appear to be clowning around today, don’t I? Never mind me, it’s just one of those days.

    There are certain truths that the Ministers of Labour and Health need to accept about the country’s health facilities: they hardly exist, and to say that people are not happy about that is to put it very, very mildly. Naturally, when things like the minister’s utterance come into being, then facts that have been socially ignored begin to emerge from people’s angry reactions.

    For instance, I did not know that the ratio of doctors to the populace stands presently at 1: 6,000. I have no idea what figures the two ministers have been working with, but it could not have been this. I think they probably were using themselves to do the calculations: if the medical field could spare them to go into the political field, then certainly, there must be a surplus. The medical field can also spare more doctors to become tailors, singers, interior decorators, doctors-in-diaspora, etc.

    Apparently, our two political doctors were only using the absence of training spaces for our budding resident doctors to draw their conclusion. No, no, no. The parameter needs to change sirs. We must shift our attention to the country’s needs rather than the health sector’s affordances. For a country of one hundred and something million people to have only forty thousand or thereabout doctors is far from hitting the mark, hence the absurdity of the ratio mentioned above. The health sector’s needs are enormous and a frontal attack on these needs will serve better than a frontal attack on doctors’ desires for greener pastures.

    Let’s take the physical needs to start with. I think that every right thinking person has made enough noises about the state of our health facilities. Anytime you have to pass through the public hospitals as a visitor, teaching hospitals included, you have to pray that you should only pass through. If and when you do find yourself becoming a patient, your prayers will now be that you should not contract anything heavier than what you went in for. The hospitals are standing contagion zones.

    The reasons are not too remote for us to guess: The Honourable Ministers and their families have become twice removed, like remote cousins, from the average Nigerian and can no longer patronise Nigerian institutions, like the schools, the hospitals, or even the road-side bukaterias. This is just not fair; those bukaterias are missing them.

    The monies government functionaries are said to be spending on their blood pressure alone outside the country are enough to take care of the illnesses that deprived Nigerians across the land shove in my face in traffic: abnormally swollen scrotums, cheeks, breasts, legs, arms, or fingers. Our hospitals, big and small, lack facilities, and the government is pretending not to notice.

    The dichotomy between the governed and the governing is clearly wide, as the minister’s statement shows. If it wasn’t, he would have known that, according to my research especially from those around me, doctors’ desires for greener pastures is motivated by the absence of fulfilment at home. There is a lack of opportunity because hospitals at home are too few, too primitive, underfunded, lacking in attention, and inadequate in service delivery. Nothing about their situation spells adequacy or surplus of doctors. The governed know all these, but not the governing bodies because they both inhabit different universes.

    The kind of gulf exhibited in the minister’s utterance is what actually gets the people’s goat. People are angry because the governed and the governing are not feeling the same pain, and yet someone undertakes to rub salt in the people’s wound. The anger that spills out must necessarily flow from the belly.

    Most Nigerians agree that one of the reasons for the low influx of funds into education or health sectors is this overly large cost of governance. Politicians are paying themselves sums that checkbooks cannot contain as remunerations and pension.

    On the other hand, I find it marvelous indeed that people are making their feelings known on the subject of the minister’s utterance. This is a good sign; it means that the people wish to repair a very bad situation. The government should listen.

     

     

  • Ngige: Fed Govt has created 8 million jobs

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has said Federal Government’s programmes under the Muhammadu Buhari administration have created about eight million jobs through agriculture and vocational skills training.

    The minister said rice production created new millionaires across the country.

    He also said the government had embarked on advocacy, promoting blue-collar jobs.

    Ngige spoke yesterday when he appeared on Channels Television’s morning programme, “Sunrise Daily”.

    He said: “We did food security arrangements, tackled agriculture. The government went into agriculture and started encouraging farmers.

    “Government programmes have yielded a lot of fruits. If you go to the agricultural belts of Nigeria – Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Anambra, Enugu, Ogun, Kebbi states – rice production created a new group of millionaires, the farmers.

    “And there is the backward integration of the rice mills, jute bag manufacturers and the rest of them. A lot of jobs have been created, numbering about 8 million now.

    “We did advocacy and told people not to look at white-collar jobs; there are blue-                                                                                                       collar jobs, skills. You have to train your hands: you have to do plumbing, carpentry, tailoring.

    “We have mini-collaboration with the state government. We send people to the skills centre to train them and people come in there as apprentices. After we finish with them, we empower them. But the problem is that how many people are ready to come here and train?

    “The responses to the programmes are low. They regard those jobs as unbefitting to people’s status. But it is not true.”

    Read also: Doctors are free to leave Nigeria – Ngige

    Also, Ngige said medical doctors who desire to leave Nigeria are free to do so.

    He said the country has sufficient medical personnel.

    The minister said he was not bothered by the large number of medical doctors leaving the country.

    He was responding to questions about brain drain and deliberate recruitment of Nigerian doctors by foreign embassies.

    Ngige said: “I’m not worried. We have surplus (doctors). If we have a surplus, we export. I was taught Biology and Chemistry by Indian teachers in my secondary school days. They (doctors) are surplus in their country. We have a surplus in the medical profession in our country. I can tell you this. It is my area; we have excess. We have enough, more than enough; quote me.

    “There is nothing wrong. They go out to sharpen their skills, earn money and send them back home here. Yes, we have foreign exchange earnings from them, not from oil.”

    The minister also said the number of doctors leaving the country did not amount to brain drain.

  • No work, no pay: You are vindictive, NLC tells FG

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused the government of being vindictive in its application of Labour laws in the country insisting that Nigerian workers will not accept being turned into slaves in their own country as a result of government’s selective application of the laws.

    Labour said the decision by government to invoke the no work; no pay rule on striking workers was an attempt to intimidate workers into accepting unfriendly Labour practices, adding that the current struggle by the Academic Staff Union of Universities did not start today, while government has consistently failed to meet its own side of the bargain.

    It recalled that the government is still holding onto salaries of health workers for protesting government unfriendly practices and refusal to implement agreement with workers, adding that if government fails to meet its obligations, it has no moral right to enforce the no work no pay rule.

    The statement signed by the Acting President, Comrade Lawal Dutsinma reads: “The attention of the Nigeria Labour Congress has been drawn to a memo by the Federal Government dated November 29, 2018 directing all Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities to apply the “No Work… No Pay” rule. We understand that the Federal Government has since rescinded this order.

    “Nonetheless, Nigerian workers are concerned that for the umpteenth time, the Federal Government and many state governments have resorted to bullying and draconian threats in dealing with matters that strictly reside in the domain of industrial relations. This is truly sad, highly unfortunate and extremely provoking.

    “We recall that the current struggle by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for improved conditions of learning in our public universities is not the first time that the Federal Government is issuing the “No Work… No Pay” threat. During the last warning strike by the NLC on the new national minimum wage, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige issued a “No Work… No Pay” threat against workers.

    “Also, during the last nationwide strike action by health workers, the Federal Government did not only issue a “No Work… No Pay” threat, it went ahead to implement it. Till now, government still withholds about three months of salaries due to health workers.

    “The Nigeria Labour Congress considers the application of the “No Work… No Pay” rule as an autocratic attempt to cow workers into abandoning their legitimate demand for decent wages, conducive work spaces and social justice.

    “As far as we are concerned, government’s invocation of the ‘no work, no pay” clause in the Trade Disputes Act is selective, erroneous and hypocritical. As we speak, the Federal government and nearly all the states in Nigeria owe workers varying arrears of salaries, allowances, pension and gratuity – some running into years.

    “Yet, workers have continued to endure such profound neglect by political leaders elected to prioritize the welfare of citizens. Given the grand betrayal of workers by government, workers stand the higher moral ground to invoke a “No Pay… No Work” action.

    “Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act of Nigeria has always been in our statutes, but successive governments had hardly ever invoked it to punish an already impoverished workforce. It is sad that the current government is making a lot of fuss on just one aspect of our laws while holding in contempt several provisions in our labour laws and even our constitution demanding just and humane treatment of workers.

    “It is important to reiterate that Nigerian workers will never accept slavery in their own country. The right to strike is both a human and trade union right protected by our laws and international conventions particularly ILO Convention 87.

    “It is the right to strike that distinguishes a worker from a slave. Do we need to remind government at all levels that Nigerian workers are worthy partners in nation building and not slaves? As a matter of fact, labour builds the commonwealth that political leaders and their cronies, more often than not, squander. It is, therefore, regrettable that government continues to behave as if Nigerian workers are slaves who have no rights or privileges to claim.

    “It is truly unfortunate that our political leaders act with a failed sense of history. On June 22, 1945, organized labour in Nigeria commenced a general strike action that shook the foundation of British colonialism in our country.

    “Not a few historians would argue that our journey to nationhood started with the strike action of June 1945 as millions of Nigerians from every part of the country for the first time in their lives rallied around a common cause.

    “Succinctly put, the 1945 general strike action was the foundation of Nigeria’s independence and sovereignty. It is therefore heart rending that latter day politicians would use the legitimate weapon of strike action to intimidate, hound and oppress the working class which sweat and blood procured the freedom we enjoy.

    “We warn government at all levels to desist from using the “No Work… No Pay” rule to shirk away from their responsibilities. We also demand immediate release of workers’ salaries withheld on the account of “No Work… No Pay” rule.

    “Also, we ask government to respect agreements it freely entered into with ASUU in order to restore normalcy and sanity to our public institutions of learning especially our universities. Our children have suffered enough already. Enough is enough”.

  • Labour wants Ngige to clarify comments on minimum wage

    The United Labour Congress (ULC) on Friday told the Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige, to explain his `double-speak’ on the planned new minimum wage, to avoid confusion on the issue.

    On May 30, Ngige announced that the new National Minimum Wage would not be paid to workers by the end of September, contrary to a previous announcement by the Federal Government.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) labour correspondent reports that Ngige’s announcement appears to have dampened the morale of workers, who have been expecting a new wage in September.

    Nigeria currently operates a wage structure for civil servants, described as one of the lowest in the world, despite its position as Africa’s top oil-bearing nation.

    Addressing newsmen in Lagos, the President of the ULC, Mr Joe Ajaero, told Ngige to clarify his statement to avoid creating tension among workers.

    He said that the minister’s statement that the wage would no longer be paid in September amounted to double-speak on the matter.

    Ajaero described the minister’s statement as unfortunate, saying that he should have consulted with members of the tripartite committee on the minimum wage before making an announcement on the wage.

    “We are not sure the stakeholders, who are members of the committee were consulted and this is undemocratic and lacks due process.

    “Our fear and worry is that the statement is laden with intentions.’’

    Ajaero said there was need to be sensitive to the plight of Nigerian workers, who had been facing immense hardships over the years.

    The labour leader said it would not be good for any government official to sabotage the interest of workers, vowing that the labour movement would not accept anything that would affect workers adversely.

    He assured workers that labour would continue to put pressure on government to ensure that the committee submitted its report next month.

  • Ngige, Kokori & NSITF: When two elephants fight

    The recent media campaign casting aspersions at the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, over the delay in inaugurating the board of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, is a very unfortunate development. Frank Kokori, chairman nominee of the NSITF who is spearheading this campaign, claims that Ngige is running a one man show; that the minister has been busy populating the Fund with members of his community before he was stopped; that the savings of Nigerian workers is domiciled in the Fund.

    Kokori is not alone in criticizing the delay in inaugurating boards of federal establishments. Some critics have gone to the extent of insinuating that the delay is to afford the APC-led federal government the leeway to siphon funds for the 2019 general elections. Others impute ethnic undertones; that President Buhari simply allowed his kinsmen a field day to run the parastatals according to their whims and caprices. When you hear this kind of allegation, you are left with the impression that all the MDAs are headed by the President’s kinsmen from Katsina. Pray, is Ngige one of his kinsmen?

    That said, there are indeed genuine reasons to worry over allowing long and serious gaps in the structure of government. First, it is difficult to do so without committing serious constitutional breaches on infringing on the governance environment envisioned to guarantee transparency and accountability. Second, it is axiomatic that power corrupts and absolute power breeds absolute corruption. It therefore goes without saying that wherever it occurs, no matter the ministry, department or agency of government, such a scenario should not be allowed to fester indefinitely. Besides, boards usually add fresh insight into the running of organisations and as extensions of the social capital, can be quite useful in broadening the resource base of the MDAs as they implement Government polices of course with the ministry, having an over-arching eye on all her parastatals as their supervisor. It is in these contexts that Kokori’s discomfiture begins to gain some currency.

    For the benefits of those who do not know, it is important to state that Comrade Kokori has been a dogged fighter for the rights of workers. He remains one of the most powerful General Secretaries (GS) produced by the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers, NUPENG. (Even though GS are paid staff)  In his day, the fear of NUPENG was the beginning of wisdom for any government. You can ask the Abacha Government in 1993/1994. He is also a very smart political actor who, as he amply demonstrated during the June 12 debacle in Nigeria, can adopt the most invidious propaganda machinery to achieve his objectives. In other words, most times, the line between his patriotism and self-interest can, at best, be very tenuous indeed. From that standpoint, characterizing his present position could be tricky: where do you draw the line between habitual activism and the noble pursuit of the interest of workers? This becomes necessary because today staff/workers of NSITF are praising Ngige to High heavens, for being the first Minister to tour their establishments in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Bauchi etc and making sure that all their outstanding allowances and contributions are straightened out.

    To start with, it is rather unfair and smacks of laughable hypocrisy to single Ngige out, as Kokori had done, as far back as January 2018, as obstructing the inauguration of the NISTF Board. For it is common knowledge that inauguration of boards had been tacitly placed on hold before the recent directive by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF placing a deadline to start off the boards. To be sure, the delay in inaugurating the boards had raised concerns over the legitimacy of actions of the managements of these companies. For another, certain statutory approvals affecting staff welfare such as appointments and promotions, discipline and even infrastructural development had suffered undue delays. However, it will be misleading to place Kokori’s agitation just within this construal. For he knows and NLC also knows that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been investigating the place since 2016 and it was not until November/December that they charged about six persons from the last former Board to court for various financial malfeasance and even obtained temporary forfeitures on properties and accounts traced to members of the former Boards.

    Something appears to be amiss about his agitation. Yes: agitation. For that is what he has turned his grouse into. In content, temperament and methodology, Kokori’s agitation smacks of a vicious effort to unsettle the minister by instigating a media crisis to the effect that he is disobeying the President. Such a strategy is designed to fit the present national narrative that the President is not in charge; that his aides have pulled the rug from under his feet and that his noblest intentions have been derailed by his aides.

    But it will be entirely wrong to situate Nigige’s position within that context. On the contrary, the minister has made it clear that he sought and got the President’s nod to put an Administrative panel to look into the breakthrough of the Financial Regulations and Internal Audit Mechanism of the place and to stay action on the board’s inauguration, pending conclusion of the work of the committee investigating allegations of massive diversion of funds by the previous board. This runs into huge Billions of Naira! While it is debatable whether anything would be lost if the board was inaugurated, it does not seem that anything stands to be lost by allowing a little more time for the panel to conclude its work and for the Government to look at it, and, put in place the appropriate structures that will prevent future Board Members from doing “Business as usual” of the yesteryears.

    Quite frankly, one is rankled by the language ascribed to Chief Kokori who, at this stage should have qualified to be addressed as an elder statesman. It is bad enough that he descends to the usual Nigerian pastime of dressing every situation in ethnic garb. But to reduce the minister to an unserious person who is always attending burials and sundry matters as he did in his Gani Fawehinmi Lecture in Lagos recently as reported by Sahara Reporters is to descend to the nadir of pettiness and mischief. Ngige’s track record is a standing repudiation of any such claim. When Nigerians and International agencies heap encomiums on the Anambra miracle, they are simply paying tribute to Gov. Ngige whose regime sowed the seeds of the renaissance being aggressively pursued by Governor Willie Obiano.

    Besides, if Kokori is looking for anybody who will do anything to undermine the President’s anti-corruption crusade, he should look elsewhere. While I am not in a position to claim that the Labour Minister is a saint, one thing I know for a fact: his loyalty to Buhari even at the threat of filial disconsolation from his tribesmen does not permit any iota of treachery; Kokori can go to the bank with this. Also Comrade Kokori getting the Nigeria Labour Congress to issue threats on his non-inauguration into a Board that is 100 percent Federal Government-owned, in which the FG, in the spirit of Labour Tripartism, is carrying the social partners along, to me also smacks of a huge political miscalculation. After all by the 2004 Act of NSITF, is not the Minister the one that recommends to the President who to appoint Chairman. Are we to expect a fight between a Minister and his Chairman ad-infinitum in this case?

    If I have any worry about the face-off between the minister and the incoming board chairman, it is in the fact that both men are gladiators of no mean order. Kokori, as earlier said, is a dogged fighter. Play back Ngige’s day as Governor of Anambra State and you will see a human matador, a man who is ready to sacrifice all for any principle he stands for-fighting Godfathers backed by a sitting President Obasanjo without caring, all for the benefit of the people of Anambra State. So what gives, in the circumstance? We should be mindful of the saying that when two elephants fight, it is only the grass that suffers. By extension, this “fight” between two elephants is an unnecessary diversion from the serious challenges confronting the PMB Administration at this moment. It should not be allowed to fester. We take consolation in the knowledge that blessed with Mustapha Boss as Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF; we have a man who looks every part a sober mind, an impartial arbiter and an honest player who can be trusted to get the machinery of government back on track when it derails. Working together with the Chief of Staff to the President, he should be able to rein in on these compatriots: not everything should be thrown into the media highway lest it be hijacked by detractors for self-serving purposes.

    The NLC on its part should also give peace a chance, lest it be accused of having a sinister interest, and hidden agenda unknown to us.

    Finally, the NSITF panel should conclude its task quickly, submit its report and the House of Reps Committee Panel which was also instituted following the petition by Comrade Kokori and his Comrade supporters in the House over what to me is an Executive function, should also conclude its work. The NSITF for sure needs some breath of fresh air!! That done, the nation can benefit from the Board which is supposed to be the next layer for implementation of the FG’s policy for that noble and well thought-out establishment. For now, can I say: Let there be peace in the Spirit of the Holy period of Lent!

     

     

  • Obaseki swears-in elected council executives

    Obaseki swears-in elected council executives

    …Urges prudent mgt. of N2b Paris Club savings

     

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has sworn-in the newly elected local council chairmen for the 18 local government areas of the state, charging them on prudent management of resources saved up in their treasuries.

    Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony held at the Government House, in Benin City, Edo State capital, on Monday, Obaseki charged the new heads of the councils to be accountable, responsive and responsible in administering the affairs of their councils.

    He said, “My administration has kept aside N2 billion saved from the Paris Club refunds in the councils’ treasury for the new executives to commence activities.

    According to him, “You are not coming to meet an empty treasury. I have saved your Paris refund in excess of N2billion and some of you have savings in excess of N2billion.

    “So, you will be coming into office with some reserves and savings, but you have to focus on enduring projects.”

    He said the era, in which council bosses left offices with debts for their successors would not be accepted, noting that his administration has spent the last 17 months offsetting debts incurred by former local government executives.

    The governor described the peaceful conduct of the electoral process as historical, noting, “The increasing acceptability of the laudable programmes of the All Progressives Congress (APC) enabled you to secure victory at the polls. We do not expect less from you.

    “Your elections were free and fair, so you must go and serve the people who voted you into office. You have no Godfather to settle. Your sole responsibility must be the welfare of the people in your council,” the governor charged the newly elected executives.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who witnessed the swearing-in ceremony, commended Governor Obaseki for saving up funds for the chairmen to kick-start their activities. He described the act as benevolent and urged the council bosses to utilize the fund for the benefit of the masses.

    In his vote of thanks on behalf of other chairpersons, Mr Jenkins Osunde, Oredo Local Council chairman, thanked people of the state for finding them worthy to pilot their affairs.

    He assured that they would live up to the confidence reposed in them and build on the foundation already laid by the Godwin Obaseki-led administration.

    Read Also: Obaseki reassures of Economic Expansion, urges social, political harmony

  • Lawmakers urge ministry to check youth unemployment

    The Senate and the House of Representatives Committees on Employment, Labour and Productivity have urged the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, to tackle youth unemployment.

    According to them, he should widen the scope of the various vocational skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development programmes being anchored by the ministry.

    In separate remarks during the ministry’s 2018  budget defence, both Chairmen, Sen. Suleiman Nasif and Rep. Ezenwa  Onyebuchi, noted that employment generation was a critical area, which the ministry needed to do more upon the passage of the 2018 budget.

    The committees expressed readiness to visit the ministry’s projects sites with a view to ascertaining the level of compliance and implementation.

    In his presentation, the Ngige said the ministry did well in both structural and service delivery as a result of the concerted and diligent implementation of budgeted projects and prorammes in the 2017 appropriation despite paucity of budgetary releases.

    He said: “We were operating on only 20 per cent budgetary release until January 2018. Our budget performance for 2017 would have surpassed the expectation of Nigerians and critical stakeholders if not for the paucity of funds for the implementation of plans and programmes in critical areas of capacity building, strengthening of labour councils and other capital projects, which were not fully funded due to the global economic recession.

    “We are very hopeful that we will be able to complete many of the outstanding projects and programmes of all the line items of our 2017 budget before capital budget appropriation closes in March 2018. We are happy that the financial portals have just been re-opened. We, however, pledge to do more before the end of March 2018.”