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Liberian ex-president, Johnson to keynote 2018 WISCAR leadership & mentoring conference
The immediate past President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will deliver a keynote speech at the 2018 Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR) Annual Leadership and Mentoring Conference, November 24 at The MUSON Center, Lagos.
The conference will have in attendance high profiled women from the United Nations and Central Bank of Nigeria while featuring a wide range of speakers and panelists including international diplomats, corporate relations specialist, public administrators, managing directors, chief executive officers, governance consultants; corporate executives and business mentors.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, Amina Oyagbola, founder and business mentor at WISCAR said the conference which is themed: “Enriching Lives by Telling Our Own Stories” is aimed at inspiring and empowering younger women in career to help unleash their potentials by navigating careers pathways and nurture dreams.
“This year, we have carefully selected a theme that builds on our core focus on mentorship. The mentor is a storyteller, one who draws on her own life experience as tools and signposts to provide guidance on what to do, what to avoid doing, and ways to do it successfully.
‘We have invited her to share her wealth of experience in governance, mentorship, empowerment and nation building. In many parts of West Africa, the “Griot” is an oral historian, a repository of oral traditions and communal achievements. Ellen Johnson’s role as Keynote Speaker is to be the “Griot” of our political advancement, she added
Oyagbola gave an insightful account of how Elen was able to become the first African female President after undergoing a difficult time in life. “She never even had a degree before getting married. It was later that she went to the university, built a career in accounting and subsequently became a politician,” Oyagbola said.
In addition, Bayo Oyagbola, director at WISCAR opined that there are a few Nigerian women leaders with powerful resume who have occupied political and leadership positions but the Liberian ex-president Elen is found as the best fit and the most qualified to tell Nigerian career women an inspiring story of transcending from nothing to something in the African climate.
He said Ellen was Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Global Icon, and one of only 5 Mo Ibrahim Prize Winners will deliver the keynote speech at Women in Successful Careers, WISCAR’s 2018 Annual Leadership and Mentoring.
He recalled the leadership of Ellen improved in every single category and sub-category of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. Since leaving office in 2017, “she has become a highly acclaimed motivator and advocate for peace and justice, and continues to be a force for meaningful change and progress in Africa,” Oyagbola said.
“During this pivotal moment in our nation’s history, and in keeping with this year’s theme, we seek to have our lives enriched by actively listening to her stories and wisdom. All Nigerians have a lot to learn from her as an African leader, a successful politician, and as a stateswoman,” he said.
WISCAR was established with the sole purpose of building capacity through leadership training, mentorship, and advocacy for the empowerment of women for nation-building. The NGO believes that educating, mentoring and empowering women in Nigeria is the catalyst required to match the rapid socio-economic growth witnessed by other nations across the world.
According to Oyagbola, WISCAR is a non-profit 12-month structured mentoring Programme focused on empowering and developing professional women in diverse careers in the formal & informal economy to contribute to nation-building in Nigeria.
In her remarks, Fabia Ogunmekan, WISCAR’s executive secretary said the conference is expected to spur change in women and for women and improve the level of participation and contribution of 50% of Nigeria’s population to the extent required for Nigeria to become a first world country.
“We expect the stories our mentees hear to enrich them enough for them to become changemakers for their families, their communities and the nation at large. The positive changes we sow will surely be reaped in a brighter, more peaceful and more progressive future for Nigeria and Africa at large,” Ogunmekan said.
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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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