News
Minimum Wage: FG, States Owing Workers Two Months, Says NLC
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, on Thursday, said both federal and states were owing workers two months since the last minimum wage expired.
Ajaero who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said the last minimum wage elapsed by April 18.
“The last minimum wage expired by April 18th. They started owing by April, then May, June. We don’t have the luxury of time,” he said.
“We equally have to be meticulous, patient which is what we are doing now to make sure that we pass through the whole process. We believe that this is the last level where we are now in consulting with Mr President as the father of the nation.”
N250,000 Demand
When asked if the labour unions will give President Bola Tinubu till the end of July to meet the union’s demand of N250,000, Ajaero didn’t stipulate a timeframe.
He said the unions will meet next week and present their discussions to their respective organs before knowing the next step.
On June 3, the NLC and TUC embarked on a nationwide strike over the failure of the Federal Government to agree to their demand for the minimum wage.
The labour bodies proposed N494,000 as the new minimum wage, citing inflation and the prevailing economic hardship in the country while rejecting the federal government’s N60,000 offer.
On June 7, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) said a N60,000 minimum wage would prove unsustainable.
At the last meeting of the tripartite committee set up to negotiate the minimum wage, labour rejected the N62,000 proposed by the government and lowered its demand to N250,000.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
US President-elect, Donald Trump’s incoming administration plans to immediately order a series of deportation raids targeting illegal immigrants after his inauguration.
Chicago is expected to be the first major city targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as part of Operation Safeguard, the New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with planning the undertaking.
The massive deportation operation is expected to target criminals and gang members in the United States illegally and run for one week.
Trump has promised to conduct the largest deportation program in U.S. history.
Up to 200 ICE agents are being sent to Chicago to help kick off the operation on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The agency has already asked agents to volunteer for the post-inauguration raids.
“There’s gonna be a big raid across the country,” Tom Homan, who will be in charge of U.S. borders once Trump takes office, told Fox News in an interview.
Homan has previously said he will instruct ICE agents to carry out raids on illegal immigrants at their workplaces.
In addition to Chicago, the sweeping crackdown will also target other major U.S. cities with large immigrant populations.
Trump is set to take the oath of office on Monday, January 20, in an inauguration that will take place indoors.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A faith-based civil society organization, CSO that monitors and reports on Hajj and Umrah activities, the Independent Hajj Reporters, IHR, has commended the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, for selecting a different Saudi-based Hajj service provider for the 2025 Hajj season.
It said the decision would create healthy competition among service providers interested in efficiently, qualitatively, and satisfactorily serving Nigerian pilgrims.
The CSO, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Malam Ibrahim Muhammed, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, and made available to our correspondent on Sunday in Abuja, said the quest for improved Hajj services has been a major challenge for Nigerian pilgrims owing to the repeated failure of providing satisfactory services.
”We applauded the decision to pick another service provider that will cater for the needs of pilgrims within the Masha’ir areas during the five days of Hajj,” he said
The national coordinator, who is currently in Saudi Arabia to monitor the pre-Hajj arrangements, said available information shows that the new company, Mashariq Al Dhahabia, is an experienced provider that has served top-rated Hajj countries, like Indonesia and Malaysia, and ranked among the top five Hajj service providers by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
“The company served 249 706 which is the largest number of Hajj pilgrims during the 2023 hajj. They were awarded as the Best Hajj Service Providers during the 2022 Hajj by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah,” he stated.
IHR said it further understood that NAHCON is planning to recruit another service provider to provide services for very important personalities, VIP pilgrims so as not to repeat the experience of previous years, which is also a desired step forward.
It, however, urged NAHCON to set a parameter of performance for the newly selected service providers to serve as a baseline for determining continuous patronage, advising that such criteria should be based on pilgrims’ satisfaction and adherence to contractual terms.
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