Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has approved a minimum wage of N75,000 for workers in the state.

According to his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, the governor announced this on Monday at the State Secretariat after a meeting with representatives of organised labour.

He also stated that the remaining three months of the five-month backlog of arrears promised to the union will be paid as budgeted in the 2024 budget, along with the minimum wage, effective November 2024.

Alia said: “We are implementing a new national minimum wage of N75,000. We decided to set the wage at N75,000, fully aware of the other concerns raised by organised labour during the negotiations.

“These concerns included a minimum wage of N30,000, wage awards, transportation allowances, tax relief, and work-off days, among others.

“Recall that the President had approved the sum of N70,000, which we have decided to exceed, considering the concerns raised by organised labour regarding our ability to pay.”

He emphasised that his government is committed to serving the common man, stressing that he will do everything legitimately possible to ensure that the workers of Benue State are properly taken care of.

He further stated that his motivation to ensure the arrears are paid is to alleviate the effects of hardship on workers.

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has challenged the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, to stop trying to destabilise the Southwest if he loves President Bola Tinubu.

Adeleke was reacting to Ganduje’s remarks about the Southwest after the Ondo State governorship election.

Ganduje had said Osun and Oyo states are APC’s next target after the party emerged victorious in the Ondo State governorship election.

Reacting, the governor argued that Ganduje’s statement was intended to destabilise the southwest region and incite conflict.

A statement by Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, reads partly: “As a well-read politician, one would have expected Dr Ganduje to know that electoral contests depend mostly on local indexes and factors and what was obtained in Edo and Ondo is surely different from political facts on the ground in Osun State.

“If Dr Ganduje truly loves Mr President, why is he pushing to destabilise the president’s home zone through open threats to violate electoral law and deny the electorate their rights to vote and be voted for?

“By threatening to hijack opposition states, the APC leader is undermining the general consensus among Yoruba people, which accepts Mr President as their own irrespective of political differences.

“If however the statement of the APC leader is borne out of ignorance, he is invited to study Osun politics to get better informed of the dynamics of this state’s politics and to appreciate that what works in Edo and Ondo cannot play out here for several reasons.”

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has vowed to put a stop to the trend of tertiary institutions producing graduates who lack technical skills.

The minister, who recently got appointed into the cabinet of President Bola Tinubu to man the Ministry of Education, said he plans to shift to a model where education will be 20 percent the­oretical and 80 percent practical.

He made the disclosure at the 2024 TETFund National Re­search Fair and Exhibition in Abuja, which officially opened on Monday.

While emphasising the need to promote technical and vocational education, across board, he de­cried a situation where tertiary institutions continue to churn out graduates who lack the requisite skills to function effectively in society.

“We are going to realign our ed­ucational system to meet the needs of Nigerians. We have a unique demographic profile—over 220 million people, with 70 percent of them below the age of 30.

“These young men and wom­en are energetic, eager to learn, and ready to contribute to this country. We need to equip them with the right skills.

“We will shift to a model where education is 20 percent theoretical and 80 percent practical. That’s how we are going to move for­ward. Enough of producing grad­uates who lack technical skills.

“We need to create jobs and provide life skills for young Nigerians. For our TVET pro­grammes, we will incentivise peo­ple to enroll in technical schools. We will cover their tuition and build capacity in these schools.

“During their training, 20 percent will involve classroom learning, while 80 percent will be hands-on apprenticeship. This is how we will ensure they are ready to contribute meaningfully to the workforce,” he stated.

The minister equally revealed that President Tinubu has ap­proved N5 billion for investment in research activities for 2024 through the National Research Fund, managed by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TET­Fund).

Alausa noted that the fund is aimed at ensuring that appropri­ate research is conducted in pub­lic tertiary institutions to develop solutions to many of Nigeria’s national development challenges.

According to the minister, “At this time in our democratic development, Nigeria is facing several challenges, including youth underemployment, the effects of poverty, insecurity, and infrastructure decay.

“However, we believe that the contributions of professionals, as showcased in this National Re­search Fair, will play a critical role in addressing these challenges.

“Our President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has already emphasised that his Renewed Hope Agenda will be implemented primarily based on local research and in­novation outputs.

“As seen in other countries, economic growth cannot be achieved without leveraging the outcomes of research and tech­nological efforts.”

Alausa noted that the Re­search Fair would also foster the desired synergy among relevant research and innovation agencies to accelerate the application of their efforts and results toward nation building.

According to him, this synergy would ensure that the dividends of democracy are delivered effi­ciently and that research and in­novation institutions, which are currently scattered across various ministries, are better coordinated for greater effectiveness.