Unlike those before it, Nigeria\u2019s 63rd Independence Day observance will not feature a ceremony at the Eagle Square, Abuja, but will be held \u201clow-key,\u201d the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, has disclosed.
\nAkume revealed this to State House Correspondents after he emerged from a closed-door meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima, at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.
\nHe said October 1 would be \u201ca time for reflections\u2026to think very deeply as a people and the journey forward.\u201d
\nThe former Minister of Special Duties, who was reluctant to reveal details of the issues discussed, said it bordered on plans for the Independence Day.
\n\u201cIndependence is a historic event for any country and we Nigerians are no exemptions. c
\n\u201cWe are fully prepared for celebrations and for obvious reasons, it is going to be low-key and we are wishing Nigerians the best of luck and I want to assure them that better days are coming and pretty soon too,\u201d he noted. c
\nOn the modalities of this year\u2019s edition, Akume said, \u201cThis is going to be low key; we are not going on fantastic jamboree at the Eagle Square and other locations.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a time for reflections\u2026to think very deeply as a people. This journey is being charted by the captain of the ship.\u201d
\nOn what the government would do concerning the Labour Unions\u2019 21-day ultimatum that ended yesterday, he said, \u201cLabour leaders are very patriotic Nigerians and we want to believe correctly that nobody will want to cause a strike.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not in the interest of the workers; it\u2019s not in the interest of anybody because this government is very determined to ensure a good standard of living for Nigerians and to create prosperity for all.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not something that can be done overnight. This government came into being on May 29 and we have a tenure of four years. So, it will be inappropriate for us to begin to judge based on the few months we have spent in the office.\u201d
\nThe organised labour had on September 1 issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government over the delay in sharing palliatives, saying it might be compelled to declare an indefinite labour action if its demands were not met.
\nIt said all is set for a total shutdown of the economy, which would start at the expiration of the ultimatum on Friday.
\nAmong other demands, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress are asking for wage awards, implementation of palliatives, tax exemptions and allowances for the public sector workers and a review of the minimum wage.
\nThough the Federal Government committed to restructuring the framework for engagement with organised labour on palliatives, the eight-week timeframe set for the conclusion of the process expired in August with no action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unlike those before it, Nigeria\u2019s 63rd Independence Day observance will not feature a ceremony at the Eagle Square, Abuja, but will be held \u201clow-key,\u201d the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, has disclosed. Akume revealed this to State House Correspondents after he emerged from a closed-door meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":279691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-322727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322737,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322727\/revisions\/322737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/279691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}