News
NLC Gives Buhari Conditions For New Minimum Wage
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have listed conditions for the proposed review of the national minimum wage, saying the continuous rise in inflation and the devaluation of the naira must be checked before the salary increase announced by the Federal Government could be considered.
The organised labour explained that the cost of virtually all consumables in Nigeria had been on the rise, stressing that if this should continue; any amount of money that would be added to the minimum wage might not meet the expectations of workers.
The NLC and TUC spoke against the backdrop of the disclosure by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, that the Federal Government would soon announce salary increments for civil servants and public officials due to the steady increase in prices of consumer goods.
Nigeria’s headline inflation has continued to rise this year, hitting a new high of 21.47per cent in November 2022 from 21.09per cent in October 2022, according to the Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) this month.
This was the highest rate in about 17 years.
According to the NBS, the reason for the increase year-on-year was the increase in the cost of importation due to the persistent currency depreciation and a general increase in the cost of production, including an increase in energy cost.
The food inflation rate also increased to 24.13per cent on a year-on-year basis, a 6.92per cent higher compared to 17.21per cent recorded in November 2021.
The World Bank recently said Nigeria might have one of the highest inflation rates globally in 2022, with increasing prices diminishing the welfare of Nigerian households.
Speaking at the Presidential Villa, last Tuesday, the minister explained that a Presidential Committee on Salaries is currently reviewing salaries with a plan to announce its decision in early 2023.
But reacting to the planned salary review,, the Deputy President, NLC, Joe Ajaero, said that the government, employers and labour unions must meet to review the minimum wage before any hike could be considered.
He said, “As we speak now, the price of kerosene, cooking gas, a litre of fuel; any of these items, multiply their cost by 30 days; it is more than the current N30,000 minimum wage.
“So, it is not necessarily the amount of money or quantum you are going to put that will solve our problem. You have to check the rate at which these items are going up, or else within even a day or two, the money will be used up.”
Asked to state what workers expect in terms of the review and the possible minimum wage that the government should consider, Ajaero replied, “I don’t think we should put the cart before the horse.
“But if they have used the word ‘review’, it then means the tripartite body will meet and factor in all the issues, whether it is based on the cost of living, as we will also look at the inflationary trend and the devaluation of the currency.
“All these things must be brought to the table in the course of the review. So, one can’t just give figures on the amount at this point in time. If it is a review, I think it will be a comprehensive review in line with the prevailing situation.”
Providing explanation on what he meant by the tripartite body, Ajaero said, “It includes the government, labour and employers, which are the parties that constitute the legs in the industrial relation tripod. They should be present when this issue is being discussed.”
When pushed further to project an amount that should be considerable at the moment, bearing in mind the current economic situation in Nigeria, the NLC deputy president insisted that it would not be possible to give a figure because of the country’s galloping inflation.
He said, “The inflationary trend is not constant and that is why it becomes difficult to project at any point in time. From the level of inflation and the way it eroded the current minimum wage, it will be difficult to project in percentages what should be good for the review.
“This is because when you multiply the cost of all consumables by 30 days, what you get seems to be higher than the current minimum wage, for instance, the price of a loaf of bread multiplied by 30 days, is more than the minimum wage.
“If you don’t check inflation by making it stay at a nearly constant rate, if it continues to go up, there’s no amount of increase in naira terms that will assuage the level of devaluation of the currency and the take-home pay of the workers.”
Ajaero added, “Another thing is that if the naira continues to depreciate in value on a daily basis, it will be tough to project an amount, unless we are going to look at a situation where the minimum wage of workers would be self-adjusted such that if the inflation rate rises at a particular percentage, the minimum wage will adjust too based on that percentage.”
Determining the new wage, Ajaero said, would be based on different indices such as the cost of living, inflation rate, devaluation rate and others.
He stated, “It is not going to be a strait-jacket issue. If the Federal Government says there will be a review in the New Year, and that review will involve a tripartite session- labour, government and employers. And since they equally said it will be determined by the increasing cost of living; then, some factors will be considered, which is the cost of living index, inflation rate, devaluation rate and others in determining the new wage.
“That is why we can’t project a particular amount, but if you check all the indices that constitute a living index, they are higher than even the current minimum wage of N30,000.
“Take for instance, a loaf of bread is now N1,000, and in 30 days that will be N30,000. So, all of these will be brought to the table. If you look at even transportation, kerosene, diesel, petrol and cooking gas; and other expenditures are more than N30,000 minimum wage”, he explained.
He spoke on the need to keep inflation constant, saying, “There will be a need to keep inflation constant, not just minimum wage. Because if you don’t keep inflation constant, no matter the amount you approve today, it will be eroded the following day.
“So, if it is a review, then, the Federal Government has to bring all these factors to the table. But if it is an award, then, it is a different thing entirely. We will know how to make comments when we get clarification from them.”
Speaking in Abuja, the TUC Secretary-General, Comrade Nuhu Toro, stressed the need for the government to address the devaluation of the naira and rising inflation, while also reiterating the imperative of regulating the cost of goods and services.
He stated, “We can’t just talk about an increase in minimum wage; there is a need to regulate cost of goods and services and that is the only way Nigerian workers can have value for the little wages they receive.
“Remember, the workers toiled to create this wealth, so, it is not right that the worker that created the wealth is left hungry. Take for instance, the current N30,000 minimum wage which presently cannot do anything.
“As a worker living in Abuja, if you take N1,000 and you live in Mararaba, you transport yourself to the office with N500 and when you are going back home from the office, you also pay N500; transportation would take everything. That N1,000 per day multiplied by 30 means N30,000 is gone.
“What happens to the feeding, health, and school fees of children? Automatically, there is nothing which means workers only work to earn transport fare. That is not fair. It is inhuman. The TUC will not sit down and fold their hands. We will speak out.”
News
RSG Moves To Diversify Rivers Economy …As Farmers, Others Laud Ibas Over Implementation Of RAAMP
The Rivers State Government has restated its readiness to diversify the economy of the state from oil to Agriculture.
This is as farmers and other stakeholders have commended the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Retd) for approving the implementation of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing project (RAAMP) in the state.
Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this during a meeting on implementation of RAAMP in Ikwerre, Eleme and Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Areas.
Ogolo said the programme would create an agricultural industrial hub in the 23 local government areas, and urged the people to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, rural farmers and other stakeholders in the State have lauded Ibas for approving the implementation of RAAMP in the State.
RAAMP is a world bank program with support from the International Development Association ( IDA), the French Development Agency and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
According to a statement made available to newsmen, the programme aims to strengthen the institutional and financial base for sustainable management of state and rural networks, fostering historic development to enhance food security, creating access in rural communities to boost agricultural processes through creation of durable access roads and agro logistics centres/hub.
Tide source confirms that the program has been in operation since 2020 with 19 states benefitting.
The benefitting states are Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and Bauchi.
Other beneficiaries are Plateau, Kwarra, Ondo, Niger, Gombe, Anambra, Cross River, Taraba and Benue states.
The source said that 12 new states including Rivers State recently completed their requirements for inclusion into the RAAMP 3.
Speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting at Isiokpo, Nchia and Omoku, headquarters of Ikwerre, Eleme and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas respectively, a cross section of farmers described the programme as timely as it would boost food production as well as create markets for agricultural produce.
At Eleme, HRH Emere J D Nkpe warned against politicising the project.
The people also complained against incessant destruction of crops by herdsmen and called for it to be checked.
Also speaking at Omoku headquarters of Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Area,Eze Allison Dan and Barrister Lola Nwaribe commendation the government for the program but warned against it going the way of other programmes.
For Barrister Nwaribe Women in the area needs assistance to break free from subsistence agriculture
Speaking at the three ocal government areas Ogolo said Rear Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas rtd needs to be commended for approving the implementation of the program in the state.
Ogolo said the program is aims at diversifying Rivers economy from oil to Agriculture.
He said the program will also enable farmers to move from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, adding that access roads will not only be created to farms but markets will be built for farmers to sell their produce.
He listed other benefits to include creation of employment for the youths and helping small traders to boost sales.
Also speaking the state RAAMP Coordinator,Mr Joshua Kpakol said the “the essence of this project is to provide rural access roads and improve agricultural marketing systems across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state”
Kpakol said the project is divided into three components which are improvement of Rural Access and Trading Infrastructure, Sector Reform,Asset management and Agro logistics performance Enhancement and Institutional Development, Project Management and Risk Mitigation.
He urged farmers and traders to embrace the project as it would go along way in changing their fortunes.
At Ikwerre and Eleme local government areas respectively, the sole administrators of the two councils Hon Isaiah Christian and Dr Gloria Obo Dibiah said the councils will work towards the success of the program.
They commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Sole Administrator of Rivers state for ensuring that their respective councils benefits from the programme.
John Bibor
The FCT High Court in Abuja, yesterday, granted the suspended Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, bail in the sum of N50 million and one surety who must be a person of reasonable integrity resident in F.C.T Abuja and owns a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
The trial judge, Justice Chizoba Orji, made the declaration in a ruling after taking arguments for and against the bail application from the parties in the suit.
The Attorney General of the Federation, in a three-count criminal charge marked CR/297/25, accused Akpoti-Uduaghan, the sole defendant, of making defamatory statements against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during a live television broadcast.
The charge, which lists Akpabio and the former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, as nominal complainants, alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed Bello had conspired with Akpabio to orchestrate her assassination outside Abuja, disguising it as a mob or local attack.
According to the Federal Government, these allegations were made during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
The Federal Government claimed that Akpoti-Uduaghan knowingly or recklessly made these imputations, fully aware that they could harm the reputation of the individuals involved.
The charge alleged that she said, “Let’s ask the Senate President, why in the first instance did he withdraw my security, if not to make me vulnerable to attacks? He then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi. What is important to me is to stay alive, because dead men tell no tales. Who is going to get justice for me?”
The charge also cites her statements during the programme as saying, “That you, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on or about the 3rd day of April 2025, during the same Politics Today programme on Channels Television in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, made the following imputation concerning Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.
“It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night, to eliminate me. When he met with him, he then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi. You knew or had reason to believe that such imputations would harm the reputation of Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.”
The senator is also accused of making defamatory statements about Akpabio during a telephone conversation with Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on March 27, 2025.
The alleged statement is as follows, “That girl that was killed, what’s her name, umm…. Imoren Iniubong, her organs were actually used for the wife, because the wife was really ill… when they killed the girl, and her organs were used for the wife.”
The Federal Government contends that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan knew or ought to have known that this claim would harm the reputation of Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bello, and four others have been listed as witnesses in the trial.
The arraignment of Akpoti-Uduaghan was initially scheduled for June 3, 2025. However, the strike action of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria stalled the arraignment.
Meanwhile, a similar matter is also lodged before Justice Muhammed Umar, of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
While Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was slated for arraignment before Justice Umar, she, however, did not appear for the arraignment since the prosecution had not been able to serve her as stated in court.
The prosecution, however, applied for a bench warrant to be issued on the suspended senator, which the court refused.
At the commencement of the hearing, the counsel to the Attorney General of the Federation, David Kaswe, told the Court that the matter is for arraignment of the defendant (Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan).
Natasha was docked, and the three-count read to her. She pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Akpoti-Uduaghan’s legal team, led by Professor Roland Otaru (SAN), afterwards informed the Court that a bail application filed on May 27 has been submitted to the court.
Kaswe, however, informed the court that the Federal Government is opposing the bail application and called the attention of the judge to a counter-affidavit filed before the court to this effect.
He proceeded to ask the court to remand the Kogi Senator in prison as she poses a flight risk.
He said, “In view of the charge, we will be asking for a remand in a correctional facility.
The defence counsel, however, interjected, stating, “We already filed an application for bail. We are in a court of law for Justice. We have a motion on Notice dated May 27, 2025. You represent the Ministry of Justice, not the Ministry of Injustice.
“If your lordship graciously will, we urge your lordship to grant the bail application. This is a case where your lordship has the discretion to grant bail, and nobody can query it, not even the president can query it. Even on self-recognition because it is not a case of murder.”
Referencing the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Otaru added that anybody who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty. “And she pleaded not guilty. As she is standing there, she is innocent until proven otherwise,” he added.
Justice Chizoba Orji, after listening to both arguments, however, granted Natasha bail in the sum of N50 million, with one surety who must be a person of reasonable integrity resident in F.C.T Abuja and owns a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, has received 119 stolen artefacts from the Netherlands.
The Oba who disclosed this on Wednesday in Benin, the Edo State capital, said plans by some international cartel to re-loot the artefacts were thwarted after he prayed to God and the ancestors.
He said, “I thank President Bola Tinubu for supporting and committing to the efforts former President Buhari put in place to ensure the artifacts are not re-looted because there were groups in this country believed to be an international cartel that had all sorts of conspiracy to re-loot our artifacts.
“They stole and burnt our Kingdom. They killed my people and tried to kill their spirit and their morale. Today, the boldness, courage, and bravery of the Benin people are still there. Events of 1897 reduced that to a significant level that Sometimes when I see my people, they are afraid of the unknown.
“The return of these objects has reawakened the courage we had in our people. We do not want modern-day politics and partisan politics to diminish the courage of our people.
“The Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments has been doing wonderful work. His predecessor was part of the conspiracy to re-loot our artefacts. We had a running battle in this hall.
“I addressed my Chiefs in Benin language, and I said these artefacts belong to my ancestors, and I will not sit on the ancient throne and watch the artefacts re-looted. They would rather remain where they are than be re-looted. I thank the government of the Netherlands for working with us. This is part of the efforts to reawaken the morale and spirit of my people.
“After 1897, the kingdom was reduced. There was a government in this state that wanted to reduce the kingdom more and scatter it. I am angry when I speak about it. Why would anybody want to scatter the kingdom.
“The youths were courageous like the youths of those days. They were not afraid of anybody. I vowed that it would not happen. Not in my reign. Not while I am sitting on this throne. God heard my prayers. My ancestors heard my prayers. This throne is not partisan, but I should support what is good for my people.
“I urge the youths to be tough and strong in the face of adversity. This is not for anybody else. It is for my ancestors.”
The Benin Monarch further prayed for the return of more artefacts.
The NCMM DG, Olugbile Holloway, said the commission and the Benin Royal Palace were working hard to ensure more artefacts were returned.
Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, who was represented by the Secretary to State Government, Barr. Musa Ikhilor said his administration would continue to build necessary infrastructure to preserve the returned artefacts as well as collaborate with the Federal Government to improve the storage system for the artefacts.
The General Director of the Wereld Museum, Marieke Van Bommel, said, “The artefacts are looted, and we have a policy in the Netherlands to bring them back. We are bringing back 119 artefacts. We don’t have more. These are the collections in the Netherlands. There are more collections in Europe, but that is not up to us. They have been with us for over 100 years.”
-
News5 days ago
Alia Commends Tinubu For Ordering Arrest Of Armed Herders, Bandits
-
News4 days agoDefamation: Court Grants Natasha N50m Bail
-
Sports5 days ago
Abia Warriors, Rivers United Prepares for next season
-
Business5 days ago
Food Security: FG To Review Nigerian Agric laws
-
Rivers5 days ago
Okrika SOLAD Charges Students On Involvement In Drugs, Others
-
Rivers5 days ago
Rivers State University Introduces SponsorsLink To Address Communication Gap
-
News5 days ago
FG Restates Commitment To Improve Rural Roads, Markets, Others
-
Politics4 days agoINEC Denies Registering New Political Parties