Workers reject FG circular on minimum wage

The Federal Government has appealed to the organised labour to shelve its proposed strike on non-implementation of eighteen thousand naira National minimum wage by federal and state governments.

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu made the appeal in Abuja at a meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC and the National Salaries and Wages Commission.

It would be recalled that the federal government had through the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, released a template for the implementation of the new minimum wage.

But speaking at meeting between organised labour and federal government team led by Minister of Labour and Productivity, NLC President Comrade Abdulwaheed said that government had no locus stand to release the template without contributions from critical stakeholders.

He said it was unfortunate that government had not shown any serious commitment to the implementation of the new wage, pointing out that since all the critical stakeholders were involved in the process of negotiations, they were expected to be carried along in the process of setting up a template for its implementation.

However, speaking with journalists at the end of a closed door meeting with the labour representatives, Wogu reiterated federal government commitment to pay the new wage.

He said federal government would not only pay the wage, but would also pay the accrued arrears from the day the bill became law through the President assent.

While urging the organised labour to reconsider their stand on the planned strike, he said the country could not afford another round of strike at a time it was facing serious security threat.

However, given the outcome of the meeting, there are indications that the nationwide strike billed to start this week Friday, may not hold.

The organised labour had last week given the federal government, states governments and the organised private sector 14 days ultimatum within which to commence the implementation of the new minimum wage or faced a nationwide strike.

As the whole thing stands now, NLC and Trade Union Congress, (TUC) will have to revert to their National Executive Councils before any definite pronouncement could be made on the strike issue.

While NLC is expected to convene its own NEC meeting today TUC will hold its own on Friday, the day the strike is expected to begin, giving the indication they may have backed down on the strike.

Acting NLC Secretary General, Comrade Owei Lakemfa, who addressed journalists at the end of the meeting alluded to the fact that the strike might have been put in abeyance, as he said that labour would need to revert to NEC before any further move could be made.

Also speaking on the likelihood of the strike, TUC President General, Comrade Peter Esele, said he would have to report back to NEC and that it was after then that the union could make any categorical statement on the strike issue.

  Source: Radio Nigeria

Nigeria's Senate rejects Taraba’s ministerial nominee

The Senate continued with the screening of Ministerial nominees today as six nominees were screened. They are Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochepke, Dr. Obadiah Ando, Mr. Edem Duke, Mr. Nyesome Wike, Ms. Ama Pepple and Hajia Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia.

Ms. Ama Pepple, a former Permanent Secretary in the Federal Civil Service was allowed to take a bow without answering any question. It was the same for Dr. Obadiah Ando the former Minister of Water Resources.

Ando introduced himself on the floor and reeled out his achievements as Minister and his plans for the Ministry if confirmed. Surprisingly, he was not asked any question. Many Nigerians had expected that Ando’s screening would generate some fireworks especially with his rejection by the three Senators from his state.

The Taraba State House of Assembly had also rejected his nomination and communicated it to the Senate.

The other five nominees were however confirmed as Ministers.

Source:Radio Nigeria 

Women's Ministry, USAID Launch Database to Aid 17.5 Million Vulnerable Children.

A National Situation Assessment and Analysis of the Nigerian Populace conducted in 2008 put the number of Orphans and Vulnerable Children in the country at 17.5 million. In that report, various challenges which these children face were identified as stigmatization, depression and the tendency to drop out of school, among other problems.
Respite however came Thursday, as the Minister, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab  Maina in collaboration with some of the Ministry’s development partners launched a Database System for Vulnerable Children in Nigeria known as the National OVC Management Information System (NOMIS).
According to the Minister, the importance of the Database System apart from the basics of gathering, storing and retrieving information, also include the capacity to disseminate critical information on children to Governments at all levels, the private sector, analysts, researchers, opinion holders, and decision makers.
Hajiya Maina said the Child Status Index (CSI) measures seven broad areas of a child’s wellbeing. These areas, she said, include food and nutrition, shelter and care, health, psychosocial support, protection, education and skills. She explained that these areas are used by Community Health Workers and Caregivers to monitor the physical, emotional, and situational wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable children.
“This therefore explains why one cannot be said to be over-emphasizing the importance this database is for the country. It will enable us take stock of our progress and bring to the fore, the challenges we must overcome. We have to renew our collective commitment to improve the human development status of Nigerians in general; and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as they affect our children, in particular”, the Minister stated.
While commending the contributions of USAID, FHI and GHAIN, Hajiya Maina said efforts would be made to translate the data into local languages and Pidgin English in order to have a wider reach and usage especially at the grassroots.    
The Mission Director, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Ray Kirkland, who equally noted the alarming number of Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Nigeria, put at over 17 million, said his agency is committing over 35 million dollars such issues.
He said the country is in dire need of quality data for planning and decision making to make healthcare and social services work effectively.
Kirkland said “The fact that data have been captured and recorded on every child and family being served provides a sound basis for more effective planning and delivery of future services. The Electronic based platform of the database itself makes this data far more accessible than allowed by the current paper based system being used”.
He therefore expressed optimism that the electronic database system would contribute to better programming in the future and lead to significant improvement in the services provided to Nigerians Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Alh. Idris Kuta observed that poor or non-availability of credible data poses great challenges to accessing reliable information for policy making or quality decision taking.
“This situation, no doubt, has left a vacuum in the coordination of our actions as policy makers and implementers”, Kuta noted.