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Tag: Emeka Wogu

  • SEDC board visits Uzodimma, strengthens developmental ties with Imo

    SEDC board visits Uzodimma, strengthens developmental ties with Imo

    The South East Development Commission (SEDC) Board, led by its Chairman, Dr. Emeka Wogu, paid a working courtesy visit to Imo Governor Hope Uzodimma.

    The engagement was aimed at fostering synergy between the Commission and Imo State Government to accelerate development in the South East region.

    Wogu acknowledged Uzodimma’s giant strides in governance, particularly in infrastructure, security, industrialization and urban renewal. 

    He commended the Governor’s commitment to rebuilding and repositioning Imo State and noted that his administration’s projects align perfectly with the mandate of the SEDC.

    Wogu highlighted road construction & rehabilitation, including the dualisation of Owerri-Orlu and Owerri-Okigwe roads, enhancing connectivity, Urban Renewal Initiatives such as the Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu International Conference Centre and the new Imo State House of Assembly complex.

    He also pointed at healthcare infrastructure with 305 primary healthcare centres established across the state, Education & Industrialization, the conversion of Alvan Ikoku College of Education into a Federal University of Education and the University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in Umuagwo.

    Economic Growth & Free Trade Zone, including the Orashi Free Trade Zone project to drive industrialization.

    He reaffirmed that the SEDC was not created to compete with state governments but rather to will play complementary role with Imo state in the drive for development as SEDC is focused on addressing key developmental gaps in the region.

    Read Also: Nigerian scholars in Morocco, Hungary, others appeal to FG on payment of stipends

    Managing Director/CEO of SEDC, Hon. Mark Okoye, reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to regional transformation, infrastructure development, economic growth & Industrialisation, power & energy; security & stability in the region.

    He reassured Uzodimma that the SEDC would remain transparent, accountable and focused on delivering measurable progress.

    Uzodimma thanked the SEDC delegation, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) for actualizing the South East Development Commission. 

    He described the Commission as a long-overdue initiative that provides a strategic platform for advancing the region.

    The Governor reminded the SEDC that its role is to fill development gaps, not duplicate state efforts. 

    “SEDC and state governments are partners, not rivals”, He emphasised cohesion and teamwork as essential for success.

     Uzodimma advised that while some projects must be commercially viable, others can be socially impactful to benefit the people.

     “You must be vigilant, prudent, and focused on value addition” , He stressed that real success will be measured by the visible impact on people’s lives.

    “Infrastructure, security, and power are key”, The Governor called for strong investment in roads, energy and security, which are fundamental to economic survival. “You have an intelligent MD, but results matter”, Governor Uzodinma encouraged the SEDC to execute impactful projects that will earn the trust and recognition of the people.

    Uzodimma assured the SEDC of Imo State’s full cooperation, urging them to engage deeply with state governments to maximize developmental impact.

    This high-level engagement underscores a new era of coordinated development, ensuring that the South East remains a thriving hub of infrastructure, industrialization and economic prosperity.

  • Fed Govt creates Labour desks in seven ministries

    Fed Govt creates Labour desks in seven ministries

    The Federal Government has approved the establishment of Labour desk offices at its ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to minise industrial disputes.

    Such desks are to be established in MDAs with perennial industrial disputes.

    Labour and Productivity Minister Emeka Wogu spoke at a two-day workshop for newly appointed zonal directors of Labour and Resident Labour Desk Officers.

    He also said the government had approved the upgrading of the six zonal Labour offices across the country to directorates.

    The minister named the affected ministries as Health, Education, Petroleum Resources, Aviation, Power, Transport and Agriculture and Rural Development.

    According to him, the decision is aimed at ensuring harmonious industrial relations in the MDAs.

    Wogu said the move would also strengthen Labour administration in the zones.

    The minister hailed the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for approving the desks.

    He noted that decentralising Labour administration was the ministry’s proactive measure to check incessant strikes.

    Wogu said the move would enable the Federal Government to attain the goals of its Transformation Agenda, especially in the Labour sector.

    The minister explained that the focus of his agenda was on policy development and programmes, which would reposition and strengthen the ministry in line with the government’s aspiration to achieve harmonious Labour relations.

    According to him, these are the panacea for national growth and development.

    Wogu said the ministry was changing its tacticks for handling industrial disputes in line with international best practices.

    The minister said there were increasing and sophisticated challenges which demanded a more developmental, pragmatic, decentralised, functional and democratic approach to labour administration in a globalised world.

    He said the new approach would reduce routine reports on Labour administration, which were usually forwarded to the headquarters.

     

     

    Wogu said: “The ministry will also be able to benefit from the Peer Review mechanism, which will be instituted among the state controllers, the zonal directors and labour-related institutions at the zonal levels.”

    The minister added that the transformation of labour administration was a collective responsibility of the government, workers and social partners.

    He assured that the ministry would create the enabling environment to further enhance performance and productivity.

    The Permanent Secretary Dr. Clement Illoh said decentralising labour administration would enable the ministry to easily resolve any Labour crisis that may arise.

     

  • FG approves level 17 for trades men

    FG approves level 17 for trades men

    THE federal government has approved the upgrading of the career progression of tradesmen from the current terminal grade level 14 to grade level 17.

    The approval is the first step towards removal of discrimination between technicians/tradesmen and other civil servants in the country.

    The government also approved a new Skills Development and Certification/Trade Testing Cadre as well as its inclusion in the Scheme of Service of the Federation.

    The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, disclosed this in Karu, Nasarawa State while inagurating a two-day Capacity Building Workshop for Skills Development and Certification/Trade Test Officers.

    The workshop was organised by the Ministry in collaboration with Technical Vocational Educational Training (TVET) arm of SURE-P.

    Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Clement Illoh, Wokgu said the ministry will partner with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN); Industrial Training Fund (ITF); Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to fashion out a Skills Development Policy for the country to boost human and institutional capacity in this specialised area.

  • Assault on academia

    Assault on academia

    •We deplore police handling of poly, COE teachers’ protest

    Will this democratic leadership ever purge itself of the better forgotten tyranny of the military era? This question becomes pertinent in view of its unleashing of state instrument of coercion on harmless protesting lecturers over non-payment of their dues by government. Their students from across the country that joined in the protests were also victims of this official highhandedness in a country where the law guarantees the right to assemble and freely express grievances.

    The Federal Government, through some errant policemen in Abuja, wantonly deployed hot water cannon and teargas to disperse striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, their College of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU counterpart, and their students who went public to protest the government’s failure to implement agreements reached with the unions.

    The distraught lecturers and their home-weary students got to the labour ministry’s end of the Abuja federal secretariat carrying placards bearing, among others, instructive inscriptions such as ‘Wike must go now’, ‘Spend money on tertiary institutions’, ‘Give priority to teacher’s education in Nigeria’, ‘Adequate funding, democratic management of all higher institutions.’ This kind of public procession is not alien to our laws just as the court has also reaffirmed its legality.

    The protesting lecturers could not be unduly crucified given the justifications behind their actions. The ASUP and COEASU as academic trade unions have been on strike for the past 10 and four months, respectively, without any show of concern from the authorities. The government has been lethargic to their demands, which among others, include the appointment/constitution of governing councils for the institutions, release of the white paper on the visitation panels to the institutions, implementation of CONTISS 15 for lecturers and the setting up of the NEEDs committee. Nothing, in our view, shows that these demands are illegitimate, unlawful or unreasonable.

    Despite the fact that the protest was peaceful, the protesters, after being addressed by Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister of Labour, were inexcusably waylaid by security forces on their way to submit their protest letters to Senate President David Mark and Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives at the National Assembly. Their reported regrouping caught the attention of some overzealous security men that forcefully dispersed them in various directions. The lecturers reportedly used cold water and kerosene to palliate the offensive effects of the tear gas.

    We wonder why the police at this age and time could be so uncivilised against eggheads engaged in orderly protest for their dues. They were peaceful during the protest. We are not in doubt about their vulnerability and peaceable conducts as nothing shows that their actions provoked or threatened public peace as confirmed by the executive through Wogu’s observation while addressing the lecturers: ‘I am happy about the way you conducted yourself; you are not violent, so allow your leaders to discuss with me at the end of the procession. Before evening, you will get an answer,” the minister reportedly declared. This is an indictment of the Federal Government’s iniquitous handling of the teachers’ protest by its own, which makes the situation more damnable for the government that enjoys trampling on citizens’ rights with impunity.

    The government should realise the incontestable importance of tertiary education that is being put in jeopardy through its unpardonable apathetical attitude to the teachers’  demands. The government should realise before it is too late that no degree of oppression has successfully stifled an unquenchable urge for education in human history.

  • FG empowers 3,500 youths, women in Oyo

    FG empowers 3,500 youths, women in Oyo

    THE Federal Government has empowered a total of 3,500 unemployed youth and women under the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) project in Oyo State.

    While launching the programme in Ibadan on Saturday, President Goodluck Jonathans who was represented by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, noted that those who benefited from the project comprised 1,982 males and 1,518 females.

    According to Jonathan, all the beneficiaries of the project are currently working in 144 service units spread across all the 33 local government areas of the state.

    He added that the beneficiaries had received a total of N246.8 million as stipends, while a total sum of N29.9million had been remitted to the state as running/management cost between February and September 2013.

    While receiving the minister on Saturday, the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi said, “When you look at a state with about 10 million population and we are saying only 1,000 or 2,000 people have benefited, to me, this is terribly low.”

    The governor advised that such a life-transforming programme should be done without any political consideration.

    Ajimobi said if the Peoples Democratic Party-led federal government discriminates against members of the other political parties in the management of SURE-P, its aims would be defeated.

    He therefore called for the setting up of a committee comprising representatives of both the federal government and state governments in each of the 36 states of the federation that would run the programme.

    When constituted, the committee, Ajimobi noted, would ensure synergy between the federal government and the state governments on the SURE-P scheme and other similar empowerment and poverty alleviation programmes of states government.

  • Jonathan urges leaders ‘to submit’ to biblical injunctions

    Jonathan urges leaders ‘to submit’ to biblical injunctions

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday in Abuja called on leaders to submit to biblical injunctions, especially the need for love in the discharge of their duties.

    Jonathan made the call at the 5th National Prayer Breakfast, organised by the National Assembly with the theme: “God in the life of national leaders for development.”

    The president, who was represented by the Minister of Labour, Mr. Emeka Wogu, also urged the leaders to always “seek the face of God in every decision or policy they make.”

    “In a secular setting like Nigeria, Christian leaders in all tiers of government must seek the face of God in the discharge of their duties whether in the executive arm, the legislature or the judiciary,” he said.

    According to him, in the bible, there are several principles that touch on the importance of love, adding that love is an essential ingredient in powering positive transformation of the nation.

    He also stressed the need for leaders to formulate policies for the best interest of “every citizen” and not based on political alliances.

    “Leaders are enjoined to come with policies and programmes that will benefit the poor and the voiceless in the society.

    “As Christian leaders in government, we are enjoined to discharge these duties in line with biblical injunctions,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted President Jonathan as saying at the forum.

    The President, who emphasised the need for leaders to be forthright, also called on the citizens to be responsible and respect constituted authorities.

    “The citizens have a reciprocal injunction in respect to obedience to constituted authority.

    “This is clearly stated in 1 Peter 2:13 which talks about submission to authority.”

    He said the current administration, through the transformation agenda, was working tirelessly to improve the welfare of the citizens and urged Nigerians to support the government.

    In a goodwill message, the former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Dr. Tamrat Admassu, who stressed the importance of love, said that the substance of the prayer breakfast was love.

    According to Admassu, as long as Nigeria puts Jesus in the centre, all the challenges facing Nigeria and Africa as well will be resolved.

    Earlier in a keynote address, Pastor John Enelamah said that development could not occur automatically unless human beings took full responsibility and worked hard for what God had given them.

    Enelamah said it was important for leaders and all Nigerians to accept the principles of God as a way of life.

     

  • Aviation workers shelve strike

    Aviation workers shelve strike

    …As FG set up committee to address issue

    The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) has shelved their strike action.

    The suspension was on the heels of resolutions taken at the end of a meeting organised by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu with head of the unions including management of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) in Abuja.

    The union had threatened to embark on strike action which ought to commence on Monday.

    Their dispute with the management of NAMA bothered on issues on staff welfare.

    In a statement issued by the Special Assistant to the Aviation Minister (Media), Joe Obi, on Monday in Abuja it was unanimously agreed that due notification was not given to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity in the aforementioned dispute.

    According to the statement, “the meeting consequently resolved that: (i) the issue of determination of the basic salary and other allowances for the staff of NAMA concerned shall be taken up by a Committee to be headed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Aviation.”(ii) To be included in that Committee are the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity and the Chairman, National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC). Other members are to be worked out by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Aviation including the number of Trade Union membership.

    “(iii) The time frame for the work of the Committee shall be concluded within a reasonable time as was deliberated upon and agreed at the meeting.

    (iv) Based on the above, the proposed strike by the Trade Unions was shelved

    The Resolutions were jointly signed by the National President of ATSSSAN, Benjamin Okewu, his NUATE counterpart, Mohammed Safiyanu, Director, Human Resources Management (HRM), NAMA, Dr. Uwem Akangson, Director, HRM, Federal Ministry of Aviation, Mr. Clement A. Dosunmu, National President, NATCA, Eyaru Victor, Director Compensation, NSIWC, Ukut S.U and the Director of Trade Unions, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Mrs C.C. Dike.

     

  • Federal Executive Council meeting

    Federal Executive Council meeting