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Tag: Ngige

  • ‘Obiano’ll join APC…’ says Ngige

    Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has disclosed that Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, will join the All Progressives Congress (APC) immediately after his tenure.

    The minister, who spoke to newsmen in Awka, said he was sure of the move, as he knows governor Obiano to be a pragmatist and a realist.

    “When he finishes serving, he will come. I’m sure. He is a pragmatist, he is a realist. I have tried to let him know that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is good, but it’s a regional party. You can’t use a regional party to go and do election and fight. People have abandoned the idea of regional parties. That’s why AD, AC decided that after many years of staying at the periphery of Federal Government, they decided to coalesce with LPP; CPC and rebel faction of APGA, led by Rochas Okorocha and formed APC.

    “So, regional parties are not in vogue and the governor knows. Even his predecessor, Peter Obi, when he was using APGA to canvass and do other things, it dawned on him that he cannot be playing in the region with a regional party. He can’t come to national with a regional party and that is why he unceremoniously defected. In fact, they started the defection you are seeing today. Obi is part of the early defectors.

    “So, he joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but Obiano is a progressive. Any day he will do it, we will sit with him and arrange it in such a way that the Igbo will go into a party that will reckon with them and that party is APC.”

    Meanwhile, Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba has said nothing will make Governor Obiano leave APGA.

    Adinuba said both APC and PDP have failed Nigerians as they had nothing tangible to offer.

    “Governor Obiano is what the great Zik of Africa would refer to as the “beautiful bride” wooed by every confident suitor. He is wanted by all the parties because of his record and brand of politics devoid of bitterness and primordial cleavages.

    “But, he is not going anywhere. He is an APGA man, through and through. He is strongly backing a candidate who all Nigerians expect to win the presidential election.”

    In a related development, Ngige has insisted that supporting re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari remained the best bet for the South-East to produce the Nigerian president in 2023.

  • FG gives update on new minimum wage

    FG gives update on new minimum wage

    Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has confirmed that the new wage structure will not come into place any time soon.

    According to Ngige, this is because State Governors are yet to submit their proposal on a new wage system.

    The Minister told reporters in Anambra State that without a proposal from the governors, there cannot be an agreement on a new wage structure.

    Ngige is the deputy chairman of the 30-man Tripartite Committee on the minimum wage set up by President Muhammadu Buhari last November.

    President Buhari, while inaugurating the panel, said the current wage structure had expired.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has proposed a minimum wage of N56,000, but employers under the umbrella of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, have rejected the proposal.

    Ngige said although the Tripartite Commmitte would conclude its assignment this month, the delay by the governors to submit their proposal would halt the action.

    He said: “I am the deputy chairman (of the committee); I drive it. We have a timetable and we will finish everything about it this end of August, but it is not attainable anymore because even in the committee we have not all finished dotting all the i’s and agreeing on a figure

    “We couldn’t agree on a figure because of two reasons, partly the state governors have not come up with a figure and the state governors are a critical constituent of this discussion. They have six governors in the committee, one from each geo-political zone

    “So the Governors Forum has not come up with their figure. They say they are still working on it. That was the last submission they made to us and the federal government team. We are working through the Economic management team.

    “The Economic management team dictates the economy of the country and they will now take whatever the governors say and fine-tune with that of the federal government, so that is where we are.

    “The national minimum wage tripartite committee is still at work, and is until it brings out its figures, brings out its recommendations pertaining to the national minimum wage. It is only after that that a Bill can be sent to the National Assembly for processing and be sent to Mr. President for assent and for it to become a National Minimum Wage Act.”

  • Attack on ministers: Ngige replies Oshiomole

    Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has faulted the stand of the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on the constitution and inauguration of the board members of federal agencies and parastatal under his ministry.

    READ: BREAKING: Oshiomhole vows to sack Buhari’s ministers over abuse of office

    The APC chairman, in a letter, had given the labour minister one week within which to constitute the board of the parastatals and agencies under his ministry.

    The parastatals and agencies are the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Productivity Centre (NPC), and Michael Imoudu Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS).

    But, Ngige, in his reply, explained why he would not constitute the Board of NSITF within the one week ultimatum given by Oshiomhole. He expressed disbelief that such a letter could emanate from the APC chairman.

    He said: “Our National Chairman, I am in receipt of a letter referenced APC/NHDQ/ GEN-S/28/018/003 dated July 11, 2018, which was sent from your office and received by me on July 12, 2018. Ordinarily, I would not believe the letter was from you except for the barrage of media statements that came before I saw the letter. I read the contents of this letter with both amazement and utter disbelief.

    “Three agencies have been reconstituted and members were inaugurated on March 8, 2018, in conformity with a presidential directive. All the three boards are currently operational. The only agency left out was the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), which, before the directive, had been enmeshed in major issues of corruption, involving about N48 billion, comprising Federal Government and employers’ contributions to the Employees’ Compensation Fund, plus some non-remitted PAYE taxes, which were carted away through well perfected sleaze operation. This resulted in the agency coming under the EFCC’s investigation/prosecution of members of the former board and some of her serving officials.

    “An Administrative and Financial Panel of Enquiry was instituted with a presidential approval as a follow – up to the criminal investigations. This was followed by a House of Representatives Committee on Labour and Employment probe in March 2018, which is still ongoing.

    “Comrade National Chairman, you are aware of this situation and you had broached this issue with me during your campaign period, when I visited your campaign office. Due to the fact that a lot of the information available to me as a minister are classified, I had told you that I will brief you later and, at our last meeting, during a function on Saturday, July 7, 2018, I had sought for an appointment for the next day, so I could brief you on the situation.”

    “I’m not oblivious of the fact that you are a very interested party in the matter because having served as chairman of the NSITF board before the last board, and as a former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, you would be interested in the tripartite colouration of the board being maintained. More so, as labour still remains your base constituency. Mr. Chairman, a lot of the classified information from the EFCC, the Auditor-General of the Federation’s “spot check” report for an organisation with an account that has not been audited for five years – 2013 – 2017, are not within your purview. In view of all these damaging reports, I had a presidential permission not to inaugurate this particular board at the time we did the others.”

  • Ekiti Guber: Presidency reacts to Ngige’s ‘campaign’ for Fayose

    Ekiti Guber: Presidency reacts to Ngige’s ‘campaign’ for Fayose

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has reacted to Chris Ngige’s campaign for the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose.

    TheNewsGuru had earlier reported that, Ngige mistakenly urged people of the state to vote for Fayose, on Saturday, instead of the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kayode Fayemi.

    The Minister said this during the grand finale of APC governorship rally in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

    Reacting to Ngige’s remark, Dabiri-Erewa claimed that the former Anambra Governor mixed up Fayose and Fayemi’s names, because they both start with ‘Fay’.

    “The two names start with “FAY”. He immediately corrected himself. Anyone can make that mistake,” she tweeted.

    The Ekiti governorship elections hold this Saturday, July 14.

  • Why can’t pay new minimum wage by September – FG

    A new national minimum wage will not materialize by the end of September as envisaged, Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has said.

    The September date was just a date to conclude negotiation on minimum wage, Ngige said while speaking with journalists in Abuja yesterday.

    Outlining the work ahead Ngige said: “The committee on the new National Minimum wage is expected to conclude its work by the end of September and present its report to the government for deliberation and approval.” He also said it would be tabled the National Council of State before an executive bill is sent to the national Assembly on the issue.

    He pointed out that the capacity to pay by employers was also paramount in the deliberations on the minimum wage.

    He said it was for this reason that the committee embarked on zonal public hearing across the country in order to get the input of all those concerned including state governments and the organised private sector.

    It was in the course of the zonal public hearings that many state governments made different submissions ranging from N22, 000 to N58, 000 monthly from the current monthly wage of N18,000.

    The governors, he said, were also of the belief that for the new minimum wage to become effective, the current revenue allocation formula will have to be reviewed in favour of the states and local government.

    He said some other states are also of the view that the minimum wage should be maintained at the current N18, 000 in view of the inability of some states to pay the current wages.

    He said even though it was not an easy task, the committee was making progress in its assigned responsibility, pointing out that it was in order to carry everybody, including the states and private sector along, that six governors were elected to be members of the committee as well as representatives of the organised private sector.

    On the threat of non teaching staff of universities to resume their suspended strike as a result of government’s failure to honour the terms of their agreement, the Minister said government was sourcing the N6 billion needed to pay them their earned allowances as contained in the agreement.

    He said that about 95 percent of agreements currently being paraded by trade unions in the country were signed before the Buhari government came into office in 2015, adding that most of such agreements had no timeline for implementation.

    He also said many of the agreements signed by the last government were not implementable because of the amount involved.

    He said what is important in all collective bargaining agreement is the ability to pay what is being demanded and what is agreed upon.

    He appealed to striking health workers to return to work while negotiations continue on their demands. He added that the delay in the implementation of their signed agreement was as a result of failure of the National Salaries, Wages and Income Commission to defend the two different figures presented to a government high powered committee.

    He said the committee had directed the commission and the Federal Ministry of Health to recompile the figures for onward submission to the committee for deliberation.

  • FG inaugurates National Employment Council

    The Federal Government has inaugurated the National Employment Council to curb the menace of rising unemployment in the country.

    Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, said this while inaugurating the National Employment Council and unveiling the revised National Employment Policy on Thursday in Abuja.

    According to Ngige, there is need for a shift from reactive and temporary measures to curbing the menace of rising unemployment in the country.

    “As job creation policies and programme must anticipate future labour market requirements rather than reacting to it.

    “In coordinating implementation of strategies to fast-track employment creation, we must bear in mind that such strategies are most likely to be successful.

    “That is, if it anticipates future labour market requirement rather than reacting to them.

    “We have to move away from past approaches where strategies for employment creation and poverty alleviation were a response to a crisis or a temporary measure to mitigate the impact, ‘’ he said.

    Ngige, who noted that unemployment was a global challenge, observed that Nigeria like other nations needed to make concerted efforts towards curbing the menace.

    The minister added that the concern is even more urgent due to the association of youth idleness to perennial violent crimes in the different parts of the country which poses a threat to socio-economic stability.

    Ngige said that the task before the inaugurated council was formidable and expressed confidence in the ability of the Council to come up with the solutions to the menace.

    According to the minister, the council should in the medium and long-term reverse the current alarming trend of unemployment.

    “The task before this council is formidable.

    “However, we have confidence in the calibre of members of this Council, which is made up of renowned experts, practitioners and policymakers in the field of development and employment promotion,

    “I have no doubt in my mind that you have what it takes to proffer solutions that will ultimately halt and in the medium and long-term reverse the current unemployment situation in the country, ‘’ he said.

    Earlier in his address, Mr Bolaji Adebiyi, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, affirmed that unemployment, underemployment and poverty are critical challenges that would require the concerted efforts of all stakeholders to address.

    Adebiyi said it was in a bid to holistically address the unemployment crisis that the National Employment Policy was formulated.

    He said this was aimed at consolidating into an integrated and coherent document, a beacon for the attainment of full employment for all Nigerians, particularly the youths.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the National Employment Council members whose membership was provided for in the National Employment Policy comprises of representatives of Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

    Others are Ministry of Youths and Sport Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Trade and Investment, Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics, among others.(

  • [Photos] Osinbajo, Boss Mustapha, Ngige, others attend late Ekwueme’s parade of honour in Abuja

    The remains of former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, arrived at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, for the ‘Parade of Honour’ on Monday in Abuja.

    Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Sen. Chris Ngige and other top government officials witnessed the parade.

    Dr. Ekweme who was born on October 21, 1932 in Oko, Orumba North Local Government of Anambra State, died in a London hospital at 10pm on Sunday, November 19, 2017.

  • Count me out of Anambra Central Senatorial rerun election – Ngige

    Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige has denied report that he will be contesting the rerun of Anambra Central Senatorial Election to be held today, (Saturday) 13th of January 2018.

    The Minister was the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the 2015 Anambra Central Senatorial election.

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday dismissed a motion seeking to restrain INEC from conducting the re-run election into the Anambra Central Senatorial District.

    The Minister in a statement signed by himself and sent to The Nation said he will not be participating in an election he described as charade.

    Dr. Ngige said he had earlier notified his party, (APC) of his intention to withdraw from the senatorial rerun election when it was earlier scheduled for March 2016

    “My attention has been drawn to a list by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) which contains my name as a candidate in the rerun Anambra Central Senatorial Election being conducted Saturday, January 13, 2018”.

    “For the information of the General Public and voters as well as my numerous supporters in Anambra Central Senatorial District, I’m not participating in the said election which can be described as a charade’.

    “I have since by a letter dated 11th January 2016 withdrawn from this rerun Election when it was earlier scheduled for March 2016 in accordance with the provisions of sections 33 &35 of the Electoral Act 2010 for personal& Family reasons’.

    “My party, the APC accepted and promptly wrote INEC for my substitution. It went ahead and communicated its intention to organise a primary election for my substitution”.

    “The primary monitored by INEC was organised at Awka and the name of a new candidate that emerged was promptly submitted, only for INEC to reject the new candidate on 29 January”.

    “My party, the APC and INEC are in the Court of Appeal Abuja over this obnoxious & illegal action of INEC with hearing on the matter fixed for 23rd of January which is still within the armbit of 90days ordered by court, only for the INEC to fix an ‘election’ for 13th in order to give an unfair advantage to the APGA candidate to go ‘unopposed”.

    ‘I have met with INEC on this issue and I’m using this forum to inform the general public that I’m not part of the re-run”.

    The election was won by Mrs Uche Ekwunife of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the seat has been vacant since 2015 after Dr. Obiora Okonkwo of PDP, filed suit against its former National Chiarman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, INEC and Mrs. Ekwunife claiming he is the validly elected representative for Anambra Central Senatorial District.

    INEC has however decided to conduct a rerun which it said was based on three subsisting judgement of court of Appeal directing it within 90 days to conduct a rerun poll for the senatorial district.

  • Ngige pleads with PENGASSAN to Shelve planned strike action

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has appealed to members the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ( P E N G A S S A N ) to shelve its planned strike scheduled to begin on Monday, December 18 in the spirit of the conciliation brokered between it and Neconde Energy Services Ltd.

    The union is asking the government to compel the company to recalled all sacked workers within seven days and stick to the nation’s Labour laws, adding that failure to do that, the union will have no other option than to call out its members on a nation wide indefinite strike action with effect from Monday, December 18, 2017.

    The union is Neconde Energy Ltd (of Nestoil Group of companies) of entrenching unfriendly Labour practices in contravention of the nation’s Labour laws and failing to remit taxes and pensions deducted from workers to government, while boasting that no government official can call it to order, adding that workers who decided to join unions are treated as slaves in their own country and dismissed from work”

    However, Deputy Director, Press in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Samuel Olowookere said in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday that with the conciliatory meeting brokered by Minister of Labour and Employment, the impending action by PENGASSAN has effectively been arrested in line with the provisions of the relevant labour laws.

    The statement said “We recall that the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige had on Wednesday, December 13 and Thursday, December 14, 2017 brokered long hours of conciliation between PENGASSAN and Neconde Energy Services Ltd and secured an agreement.

    “By that agreement, Neconde shall invite the sacked branch chairman of PENGASSAN and hold heart to heart discussion with him while PENGASSAN is to hold back proposed action pending the reconvening of the meeting in the second week of January 2018 when other contending issues relating to other oil companies would be also be sorted out.

    “We therefore wish to appeal to the Central Working Committee of PENGASSAN to reconsider its decision, respect the agreement and call off the scheduled action in the overall interest of the nation, more so when adequate notice of strike was not given. This appeal has become imperative in order to save Nigerians from further hardship in this season of Christmas and the New year”.

  • Money has been disbursed for payment of backlog of resident doctors

    Money has been disbursed for payment of backlog of resident doctors

    As announced by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun the payment of backlog of resident doctors nationwide.

    Dr Ngige made the revelation yesterday at the resumed negotiations between government and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) in Abuja, where he also explained that the office of the Accountant General of the Federation had remitted the arrears to the apex bank for immediate action.

    The minister also accused the doctors of violating Section 18 of the Trade Union Dispute Act of the Federation 2004.

    He said, “I do not think is very fair to the Federal Ministry of Health which is the employers of the doctors. In this ministry, we act as conciliators. Even though I am a government minister, I am a chief conciliator. If the government is wrong, I will tell them that they are wrong. If the employees are wrong, I will say so and at the end of the day, we will find a way to conciliate and make for equitable industrial relations.”

    Also yesterday, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) blasted the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, for reportedly directing all chief medical directors and medical directors of federal hospitals to employ the services of ad hoc doctors pending the resolution of the crisis.

    It described the order as reckless, unguarded and very unbecoming of the office of a highly placed government functionary.

    In a statement by its president, Bobboi Bala Kaigama, TUC said Nigeria had become a joke in the comity of nations owing to remarks lacking intellectual depth.