Tag: tinubu

• Fed Govt, Labour reach agreement
• NLC summons emergency NEC meeting

Ahigh-level meeting between government and Labour yesterday might have averted the planned  workers strike over the removal of petrol subsidy and its attendant pains.

Labour, which shunned an invitation by government on Friday, insisting on the strike call for tomorrow, returned to the table yesterday.

At the end of the four-hour meeting, more relief packages were approved for federal workers and other categories of Nigerians by the Federal Government.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s broadcast rolled off what turned out eventually to be gains for workers on the country’s 63rd Independence anniversary day.

The agreement at the meeting include:

* N35,000 provisional wage award for all categories of federal workers

*freezing of VAT payment on diesel for six months; and

* N25,000 each to 15 million households for three months (October to December)

Leaders of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) agreed to the terms and promised to get back to the organs of the unions ahead of another meeting with government.

The unions last week  put their affiliates on notice to begin the indefinite strike today to protest the economic hardship triggered by the removal of petrol subsidy.

Yesterday’s meeting was presided over by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Gbajabiamila clarified the N25,000 provisional wage increment unveiled by President Tinubu in his Independence Day anniversary broadcast (which was raised to N35,000 after the meeting).

He said: “There was a lot of chatter on Twitter about the issue of low-income workers only falling into the category of the wage bill. They spotted that and we communicated that to Mr. President and he quickly agreed that all categories of workers will be given the wage bill. There’s nothing like low-income, mid-income or high-income. I think that’s worthy of clarification tonight.

“A lot of issues were addressed; issues that concern the Nigerian worker, the average Nigerian worker. I can’t begin to reel them out here. But I am happy to say that after four hours, we have reached certain agreements that are for the benefit of the Nigerian worker.

“Agreements on wage bill, agreements on committees on salary increment, CNG buses, on several other things, I believe both TUC, NLC and government side?

 ”Hopefully, we expect that Labour will call a meeting of their various branches and executive tomorrow to present the agreements that have been reached, and we pray and we believe and we hope that the strike will be called off on Tuesday.

“So, I want to once again, thank Labour for taking time out on a good Sunday like this one when they should be with their families to come and discuss in the interest of the workers.”

In a statement after the parley, Information and National Orientation Minister, Mohammed Idris, provided more details of the agreements and resolutions reached by both sides.

Idris said: “The parties noted the following: The Federal Government has announced N25,000 only (later adjusted to N35,000) as provisional wage increment for all treasury-paid federal government workers for six months.

“The Federal Government is committed to fast-tracking the provision of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses to ease public transportation difficulties associated with the removal of PMS subsidy.

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 ”The Federal Government commits to the provision of funds for micro and small-scale enterprises. VAT on diesel will be waived for the next six months.

“The Federal Government will commence payment of N75, 000 to 15 million households at N25, 000 per month, for a three-month period from October-December 2023.”

He added that following discussions at the meeting, resolutions were reached, which included facts that “the issues in dispute can only be resolved when workers are at work and not when they are on strike.

“Labour unions argued for higher wage award and the Federal Government team promised to present their  request to President Bola Tinubu for further consideration.

“A sub-committee to be constituted to work out the details of implementation of all items for consideration, regarding government interventions to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.

“The lingering matter of Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos State needs to be addressed urgently and Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who participated virtually, pledged to resolve the matter.

“NLC and TUC will consider the offers by the Federal Government with a view to suspending the planned strike to allow for further consultations on the implementation of the resolutions above”, the statement said.

NLC President Joe Ajaero and the acting President of the TUC, Tommy Etim Okon, however said a decision to rescind the strike plans would be made after meetings with their various organs.

They both expressed hope that a resolution would be reached, following the meetings and promises from government.

Last night, the NLC summoned an emergency NEC meeting to review the agreement.

In a statement, the Congress General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, said NEC members will meet virtual by 11am today.

Ajaero said: “I don’t have much to say than the Chief of Staff has said. We’ve been meeting and we’ve looked at almost all the issues, all the promissory notes from the government and we’ll look at how to translate them to reality and to be workable. Then, we’re going to take those promises to our organs, of course you know these people here cannot just wake up and review and call off action.

“So, like he said, we’re hopeful that our organs will have a look at them and give us a fresh mandate on what next to do. So it’s a simple one”, Ajaero said.

TUC’s acting President, Okon, said: “Let me on behalf of the TUC also point out to the fact that we’ve had series of conversations surrounding the issue raised and we do hope that by tomorrow we are going to get across to our organs so that we can also look at it and cross-fertilise ideas and see the way forward. I’m sure we’re coming back again tomorrow for that.”

Governor AbdulRazak AbdulRahman of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, participated virtually in the meeting, chaired by Gbajabiamila.

Others in attendance were ministers Wale Edun (Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy); Idris (Information and National Orientation); Simon Lalong (Labour and Employment); Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (State, Labour and Employment); Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (Budget and Economic Planning); Dr. Betta Edu (Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation); Doris Uzoka-Anite (Industry, Trade and Investment); Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan (Head of Service of the Federation) and the National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

The Labour delegation was led by Ajaero, TUC Deputy Dr. Tommy Etim Okon, NLC General Secretary, Emma Ugboaja and TUC General Secretary, Nuhu Toro, among others.

A United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois has directed the Chicago State University (CSU) to produce non-privileged documents on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar. 

But the court said it will not take a position on Atiku’s claims on  the authenticity of the documents, which Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest the last presidential election. 

The decision, rendered on September 30 by Justice Nancy Maldonado, overruled the objection raised by Tinubu against the September 29 order by Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert and proceeded to affirm Gilbert’s ruling directing the CSU to comply with Atiku’s request made on August 2 for the release of some documents relating to Tinubu’s academic records in the school.

The order reads: “Respondent CSU is directed to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to Requests for Production Nos. 1 through 4 (as narrowed by Judge Gilbert and adopted here) in Mr. Abubakar’s subpoena, by 12:00 p.m. (noon) CDT, on Monday, October 2, 2023. 

“The Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU’s corporate designee must be completed by 5:00 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. Given the October 5, 2023, filing deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Court will not extend or modify these deadlines.” 

On Atiku’s other prayers, the court said it will not take a position on the authenticity of the documents, which President Tinubu submitted to INEC to contest election. 

The judge said:” The Court therefore, finds that the “for use in” statutory requirement under § 1782 is satisfied. 

“The court reiterates, as mentioned at the outset, that in reaching this finding, the court is not taking a position on the merits of any of Mr. Abubakar’s underlying claims as to the authenticity of the diploma submitted to the INEC, President Tinubu’s education and graduation, or the truth of what is or is not shown in any other CSU documents that have been produced in the Nigerian proceedings.

“Nor should the Court’s opinion be read as taking any position on any of the broader claims as to the validity of the election or what the documents and discovery from CSU might or might not show.

“ The court simply finds that Mr. Abubakar has cleared the relatively low hurdle of showing that the documents he seeks could be relevant to his claims (either proving them or disproving them) and could potentially be presented to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”

Atiku had challenged Tinubu’s election before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) through a petition in which he merely claimed that Tinubu was not qualified to have contested the election, without providing any particulars of his alleged non-qualification, a defect Tinubu raised in his reply to the petition.

He however, attempted to introduce fresh evidence in his response to Tinubu’s reply by calling as a witness an Abuja-based lawyer, Mike Enahoro-Ebah, through whom he tendered some documents he claimed were obtained from CSU about Tinubu.

The PEPC, in its judgment on September 6, rejected the fresh evidence Atiku attempted to introduced on the grounds that they were not filed along with the petition, a decision he appealed, among other grounds, before the Supreme Court.

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Before the PEPC judgment, Atiku had on August 2, applied to the US to compel the CSU to allow him access to Tinubu’s academic records, which he claimed, was needed to boost his appeal at the Supreme Court.

In the September 30 judgment, Justice Maldonado found, among others, that Tinubu did not prove that the Nigerian Supreme Court can no longer obtain additional evidence from Atiku under “exceptional circumstances.”

The court added: “Here, while there is evidence of the Court of Appeal’s non-receptiveness to the ‘non-qualification’ evidence, there is nothing in the record, other than rhetoric, from which the court can make a determination as to whether the Supreme Court of Nigeria will ultimately be receptive to any additional evidence Mr. Abubakar seeks to introduce. 

“It is true that Mr. Abubakar himself  has admitted that the ‘exceptional circumstances’ standard for the submission of additional  evidence is ‘demanding.’ And it may be, as President Tinubu repeatedly suggests, that Mr. Abubakar will ultimately be unsuccessful in convincing the Supreme Court of Nigeria to consider such new evidence in light of the holding of the Court of Appeal. 

“But again, President Tinubu has not contested that the mechanism exists for Mr. Abubakar to try to make the argument to the Supreme Court of Nigeria that there are exceptional circumstances that justify the introduction of the evidence he is seeking from CSU. 

“There is simply no evidence to suggest that  the Supreme Court of Nigeria must necessarily reach the same result as the Court of Appeal. 

“Further, this court would be improperly intruding into Nigerian law if it made any determination or prediction as to how the Supreme Court might rule on the ultimate question of whether to adopt the Court of Appeal’s approach, or whether to allow the evidence under exceptional circumstances.

“To do so would require the court to improperly consider the ultimate admissibility of the evidence sought, which it may not do.”

In further affirming the findings by Magistrate Gilbert, Justice Maldonado noted that Gilbert “found that the discovery requests were reasonably tailored to obtain information for possible use in support of Mr. Abubakar’s appeal to the Nigerian Supreme Court, and that Mr. 

Abubakar’s interest in obtaining the discovery outweighed President Tinubu’s privacy rights in the materials, because he had put his diploma at issue by submitting it to the INEC. 

“Judge Gilbert ordered that the application be granted, though he did limit the scope of one of Mr. Abubakar’s discovery requests.”

“Specially, Judge Gilbert narrowed Mr. Abubakar’s fourth document request above, excluding the request for any and all communications concerning the Orr Documents because it would call for time-consuming and burdensome electronic discovery that was particularly infeasible in light of the looming court deadlines.”