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APC’s Goodwill Nosediving— Tinubu
Senator Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Wednesday expressed concern that the party was losing the goodwill that heralded it to victory in 2015.
Speaking at a meeting with the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and members of the National Working Committee (NWC), Tinubu said the reason for some of the challenges the party might have faced was due to its inexperience in governance.
According to him, “We worked hard for victory. We have never governed before, but we won the confidence of Nigerians to govern. We have a creed to really serve the country; change and reform the country.
“It is not easy to have those changes implemented like instant coffee. We have to grow it and face challenges. I sympathise with us and we should equally look at ourselves. Since we won the election, the expectations were very high and the goodwill was extremely high. But where are we today?”
Apparently referring to criticisms and concerns shown by Nigerians over the performance of the APC-led administration, Tinubu said there were a lot of things that the party met on assumption of office, which ordinarily were enough to overwhelm any government.
He, however, said that the party and its administration would remain undaunted in their determination to confront challenges as they come and try to do something to improve the lives of Nigerians.
“It is only because people are not paying attention to the various statistics that are available and we had to push out. But I won’t touch those areas yet. The challenges of security, the challenges of reforms and re-engineering the finances of this country, stopping corruption and challenging the status quo to change and reform ourselves are there. It doesn’t go away overnight. You should work on it and work hard at it,” he said.
Tinubu, who arrived the National Secretariat of the APC at 2.pm, spoke on how he would execute the assignment given to him by President Muhammadu Buhari to reconcile aggrieved party men.
He gave insight on how he hopes to approach the assignment, saying that he would seek advice and try to build confidence amongst the stakeholders of the party.
He said: “The solution is to seek opinion and advice on the various complex issues around some states or if there is any national one, to reconcile; move the party in a cohesive manner, and reposition if any, and build the confidence among ourselves.”
While speaking on the outcome of the meeting, which lasted for over two hours, the National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, said it was an exploratory meeting meant to spell out the rules of engagement.
He said that the leadership of the party made it clear that it was ready to work with him to actualise his mandate.
“In whatever way we need to assist Asiwaju in this assignment we will be ready to do so,” he said.
On Tinubu’s term of reference, Abdullahi said that it was to identify areas of conflict within the party and to find ways of resolving them.
Earlier, while welcoming Tinubu to the party headquarters, Oyegun expressed the hope that Tinubu’s intervention would help “to heal wounds, where the party has wounds, and bring everybody together behind one single objective”.
Oyegun, who described Tinubu as a peace ambassador, also expressed the hope that the effort would succeed in putting the APC in a good condition to be a fighting political force such that in 2019, the election would become virtually a runaway victory for the party.
“There is no question at all that we have major issues with the National Assembly, major issues in Kano, Kogi, and Benue States. So, we truly welcome your appointment and I want to say that we will give you all the assistance that you will possibly need to make your assignment a most successful one,” he said.
News
Badaru on Operational Tour of 82 Division, other Military Installations in Enugu and Imo States
The Honourable Minister of Defence H.E Mohammed Badaru Abubakar CON mni is currently in Enugu on operational tour of 82 Division of Nigerian Army and other military platforms in Enugu.
He was received on arrival by the General officer Commanding 82 Division of the Nigerian Army / Commander JTF SE of operation Udoka Major-General H.T Dada and other senior military officers.
The Minister is expected to meet with South East stakeholders on the way forward.
Details later…
Tinubu has granted full oversight responsibilities to Ministers of State over agencies under them amongst whom are Minister of State for Defence Dr. Bello Matawalle, Water Resources and Sanitation, Minister of State for Agriculture and others will henceforth enjoy full oversight responsibilities over such agencies.
President Bola Tinubu at FEC Meeting has approved that ministers of state be given full powers to supervise the agencies under them, the cable reported.
Until now, files pertaining to departments and agencies under their supervision were sent by their permanent secretaries to the senior ministers.
With the new dispensation, ministers of state can now grant all necessary administrative approvals on the governance process of these agencies and departments.
According to a source in the office of the head of service of the federation, “the president was not pleased with the prevailing governing framework in which ministers of states were just ministers in name”.
This, Tinubu reportedly said, led to the “underutilisation of the expertise and capabilities” of most ministers of state.
“The president believes ministers of state should have the right to make decisions and direct action within their areas of responsibility,” the official added.
According to the Cable report, the source said the idea, first mooted by Hadiza Bala Usman, special adviser to the President on policy coordination and head, central delivery coordination unit got an instant buy-in from the President.
With the new directive, the administration hopes “to unleash” the potential of all the ministers, the source added.
…It’s unprecedented to earn above minimum wage in Enugu- Labour
… We’ll commence implementation immediately- ALGON
Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has approved N80,000 minimum wage for the state’s work force, including local government workers, effective October 2024, noting a direct link between a motivated workforce and his administration’s vision of growing the state’s economy from $4.4bn to $30bn.
The new minimum wage covers all state employees, primary school teachers, and local government workers.
Organised labour has described the wage as unprecedented, as it was the first time that Enugu workers would be earning above the national minimum wage.
Mbah announced the new minimum wage on Thursday after a meeting with the Enugu State Minimum Wage Implementation Committee headed by the Head of Service, Kenneth Ugwu and labour leaders, including the state’s labour leaders.
Mbah said, “Few weeks ago, I inaugurated a committee with the responsibility to oversee the implementation of the New National Minimum Wage in Enugu State. Today, I’m happy to announce a new minimum wage for workers in Enugu State, reflecting our fidelity to their welfare, in regard of which we have been resolutely committed.
“We have approved the sum of N80,000 as the new minimum wage in Enugu State. This underscores our commitment to bequeathing lasting legacies of improved living conditions.
“Our commitment to improved workers’ welfare runs deep, and is rooted in the firm understanding of the inextricable link between an inspired workforce and the audacious economic targets we had set our sights on.
“We clearly understood that reducing poverty to the barest minimum and achieving an unprecedented economic growth target were contingent on the output of the workforce. Therefore, for us, the best way to acknowledge that labour creates wealth is by ensuring that the workforce, which creates the wealth that oils the wheel of government, is sufficiently motivated.
“We have similarly demonstrated our commitment to workers welfare through the consistent payment of the wage awards, a gesture we had pledged to sustain until a new wage structure took effect.”
Speaking, the Chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Fabian Nwigbo, thanked governor Mbah for always prioritising the welfare of workers, describing the new minimum wage as “a great one for Enugu workers.”
“In the past, when minimum wage is announced, it takes up to one or two years for anything to happen; and when it did, we took anything they gave us as we saw it. But today, you have even given us something much higher than national minimum wage.
“But I am not totally surprised because when other governors were paying N12,000 wage award, you were paying us N25,000. When others paid for some months and stopped, you continued paying it until the new minium wage as you promised. So, we have enjoyed wage award for 11 months and today you announced the minimum wage which is the first of its kind since my 32 years in service,” said.
Speaking to Government House correspondents, the Chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, Comrade Ben Asogwa, said, “We are so happy. The governor did not just announce ₦80,000 minium wage, but said that it cascades down to even local government workers. He said that he does not want disparity in salary implementation in Enugu State anymore because we all go to the same market.
“This is the first time in history we are seeing the implementation of minimum wage above the approved amount by the federal government. Actually, when we entered into the negotiation, we were afraid because we know quite well that we are not among the states that share in dividends of oil money. We know quite well that we are at the back when it comes to federal allocation, but His Excellency actually surprised us.
“One thing we have seen is that he understands the impact of motivation on productivity. The governor has set a pace and we know that any other person coming after him will have the challenge to meet up with the target set by His Excellency, Governor Peter Mbah.”
On his part, Chairman of the Association of Local Government Workers, ALGON, Enugu State, Hon. Okechukwu Edeh, pledged the commitment of council chairmen to implementing the new minimum wage.
“When you motivate workers, they become more productive. What I am promising on behalf of the Enugu ALGON family is that we are going to cascade the new minimum wage to the local government level. Implementation begins immediately,” he said.
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