NEWS
Minimum Wage: FG to Investigate States, Firms
The Nigerian government has constituted a team to identify states and possibly firms not complying with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) of N30,000.00 monthly salary.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, at a workshop to sensitise the public on the matter in Abuja averred that no establishment could rightly claim ignorance or non-involvement in reaching the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on the national minimum wage.
Represented by his Special Assistant, Chinedu Clara Dike, Dr Ngige described ensuring compliance with the NMW Act as a way to ensure that workers were not short-changed, which would bolster productivity.
In the minister’s opinion, a satisfied worker will surely contribute effectively and efficiently to the sustainability and growth of the enterprise.
This, he reckons, would contribute to national development and fewer disruptions in productivity due to industrial actions in any of its variations.
Dr Ngige said that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) known globally as the Global Goals, adopted in 2015 by the United Nations is a call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Similarly, Director General, Budget Office, Ben Nwabueze decried that Nigeria has been going through a lot of fiscal challenges, with the government overstretched to the extent that any money used to fund any project in Nigeria today is borrowed.
Budget Manager, Budget Office, Nuhu Mohammed, stood in for the DG at the event. He also averred that if the country does not borrow, no projects would be executed in Nigeria as of today.
The critical nature of the investigation hinges on the current rate of inflation, as against when the NMW was adopted, which was put at 11.40 percent and 21.47 percent respectively. This amounts to 88.3 percent increase.
The Statistician General of the Federation, Prince Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, who made the disclosure maintained that a new minimum wage had become due, because the N30,000 minimum wage came into force in 2019.
Prince Adeyemi was represented by Adeyeye Elutade and used the occasion to point out that in 2019, the poverty level was 40 percent as against 63 percent where it currently stands.
He noted that government’s desire of moving 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years would not be possible with the N30,000 minimum wage.
In the same vein, Chairman, National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Ekpo Nta (represented by Dr Mojisola Yaya-Kolade), while agreeing with the Statistician General, noted that the monitoring exercise ought to have been done earlier but was hindered by circumstances beyond the control of the commission.
In the midst of political tensions, the faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly aligned with Governor Siminalayi Fubara has conducted the screening and confirmation of legal expert Dagogo Israel Iboroma, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as the Commissioner-designate.
Led by Speaker Victor Oko Jumbo, the faction endorsed Commissioner-nominee Dagogo Iboroma on Monday, within the Chambers of the Rivers State Government House in Port Harcourt.
Iboroma is poised to assume the role of Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, succeeding Professor Zaccheus Adangor SAN, who resigned upon his redeployment to the Ministry of Special Duties (Governor’s office) two weeks ago.
According to report, Iboroma received an invitation on Sunday, signed by Dr. G.M. Gills-West, the Clerk of the House, summoning him for screening as the Commissioner nominee and potential member of the Rivers State Executive Council.
Recall that last week, Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo, a factional Speaker aligned with Governor Fubara, was elected after Governor Fubara asserted that the Martin Amaewhule-led lawmakers, loyal to Nyesom Wike, Minister of Federal Capital, ceased to be Rivers State lawmakers in the eyes of the law following their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Observers speculate that Governor Fubara is pushing forward to instigate governance activities, with more Commissioner nominees expected to undergo screening by the Victor Oko Jumbo-led three-man Lawmakers.
However, our correspondent highlights that the invitation for screening is already stirring controversies.
In a Facebook post by lawyer Oraye St Franklyn, he raised various legal issues.
Former Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker, Edison Ehie has revealed that he was offered money to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Ehie, now serving as Chief of Staff to the governor, was previously the majority leader when the first attempt to impeach Fubara took place.
Along with a few others, he opposed the move, leading to a split from the lawmakers loyal to Nyesom Wike, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Ehie later became the speaker of the faction, which disbanded after President Bola Tinubu intervened and a peace accord was signed between the Wike and Fubara camps.
The peace efforts faltered shortly thereafter, and the two factions resumed their conflict.
Speaking at an event in Ahoada East area of Rivers State over the weekend, Ehie reiterated that he was offered money to oust the governor.
While he didn’t reveal the identities of those behind the offer, he affirmed that he declined it.
He said “They invited me, your son, to impeach the governor and I told them clearly, I was not interested. They gave me all the money that was hidden before, which I rejected. And because I refused, they conspired and declared me wanted.”
Recall that in 2023, the police declared the Chief of Staff wanted in connection with the invasion of the State House of Assembly.
Also, in October 2023, an explosion rocked the state assembly building amidst reports of lawmakers attempting to impeach Fubara.
The lawmakers led by Martin Amaewhule reportedly lodged criminal complaints against Ehie with the Rivers State Police Command over the invasion and arson of the Rivers State House of Assembly chambers by unidentified hoodlums.
Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), led a raucous protest at the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) headquarters in Abuja against the recent spike in electricity tariffs on Monday.
According to report, protesters, including workers from the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), forcefully entered the NERC complex on Monday.
Workers, supported by the NLC and the Trade Union Congress, besieged various electricity distribution company offices in defiance of the Band A tariff increase.
This nationwide agitation, sparked by the Federal Government’s removal of subsidies and tariff adjustments, threatened to paralyze key power sector institutions including NERC’s Abuja headquarters, the Ministry of Power, and state distribution company offices.
Recall that NERC’s had April 3, announced the electricity tariffs hike for Band A customers from N68/kWh to N225 per kilowatt-hour.
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