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FG Awaits Minimum Wage C’ttee Report

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Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige,  says that the Technical Committee on Minimum Wage and Palliatives will submit its report to the Presidency soon.
Ngige said this while briefing newsmen on the update of the meeting held between government and labour at the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) office, on yesterday in Abuja.
Our correspondent learnt that on June 3, 2016 a joint technical committee of the Federal Government and organised labour was inaugurated on palliatives and minimum wage.
According to sources, the move was to cushion effects of the increase in the pump price of petrol after the NLC nationwide strike and protest against the increase by the Federal Government from N86.50 to N145.
The Technical Committee was expected to discuss the minimum wage and other palliatives to cushion the effect of the hike on the workers as well as other Nigerians.
According to Ngige, the committee at its final meeting between the Federal Government and Labour made recommendations on the issue of the review of minimum wage and the prescription of palliatives.
“The committee is supposed to put up a framework for the composition, functions and establishment of a minimum wage tripartite committee to review the hitherto existing 2011 minimum wage.
“The committee is to prescribe to government the areas of palliatives that will cushion the effect of the increase in pump price of petrol.
“The committee has finally finished its work, so we held a meeting to finalise the report.
“If everything goes well and date is agreeable to everybody, we may be submitting the technical report sometimes next week to the presidency, ‘’ he said.
Ngige said that the presidency is expected to set up a tripartite committee which would include government, employers and Labour.
He noted that the technical committee made far reaching recommendations but subject to the approval of the presidency.
“For the first time we recommended that three governors should be nominated by their colleagues to represent them in the committee to review the minimum wage.
“Because, from the past experience, even some states have not been able to pay the minimum wage, so it does not make sense if we do not involve them as employers.
“So, when the National Minimum Wage Committee finishes its work, it will go to the National Assembly because it is an issue on the exclusive list,‘’ he added.
He, however, said the technical committee also made some recommendations on palliative, which the Federal Government was already implementing.
Ngige said that the 2017 budget for instant, would tackle the issue of housing deficit head-on.
He also noted that it was part of the recommendation that the Ministry of Power Works and Housing should inject N45 billion for mass housing, while the Ministry of Finance has voted more fund for mass housing
Ngige added that the Office of Head of Service was also doing something on mass housing for workers.
“Our recommendations also talk about how the Federal Mortgage Bank will be strengthened through capitalisation by all stakeholders including government to discharge its functions to workers. “We also made recommendations on how the mass transit bus for workers should be strengthened.”Other recommendations on the palliative are N-Power, Conditional Cash, Transfers, School feeding programme, among others,‘’ he said.

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FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

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The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.

Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.

He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.

“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.

He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.

“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.

 “We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.

“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.

He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.

Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.

He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.

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FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

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The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.

This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.

The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.

Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.

The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.

From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.

From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.

Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.

From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.

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KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus

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The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.

The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.

The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the  Polytechnic, recently.

Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.

He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.

This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly,  Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.

The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.

Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.

He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.

The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.

Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.

 

Chinedu Wosu

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