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Minimum wage will be resolved within one week – FG promises workers
The Federal Government is optimistic that the impasse over the new minimum wage will be resolved by next week.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Malagi and his Labour and Employment (state) counterpart Nkeiruka Onyejeocha said this after a closed-door session between President Bola Tinubu and the leaders of organised labour at the State House in Abuja on Thursday.
The meeting, which lasted about an hour, had in attendance the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero; his counterpart at the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, and other members of their delegation.
According to the TUC boss, the labour delegation informed the President of the economic difficulties Nigerians are going through.
In the meeting, we tried to put the issues on the table, issues that are bothering and biting Nigerians today. The economic difficulties and the value of the naira, how it has also eroded, and how these have affected the prices of commodities and goods in the market.
“So, we tried to put these before Mr President because he is the president of the country and the bulk stops at his table,” the TUC boss said.
“We have had all the conversations with all his agents, but today we said let us meet with the father of the country and have this conversation and make the argument that labour always makes. We made all the arguments, the economic analysis, macro, micro, fiscal and monetary issues.
“So, we put everything forward and at the end, the President made his remark as the president and we all agreed let’s go back, we internalize it, we have some conversation, and by one week time, we will come back and we will continue the meeting.”
The NLC President said the meeting was not a negotiation and the two figures remain on the table.
“In the real sense, it wasn’t a negotiation but a discussion and we have had that discussion. We agreed to look at the real terms probably and reconvene in the next week. So, that’s where we are because we didn’t go down there to talk naira and kobo,” Ajaero said.
“At least there were some basic issues that we agreed on. The status quo in terms of the amount N250,000 and N62,000 remains until we finish this conversation.”
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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