.To reconvene June 19.

Speaking after a tour of the new office of the national security adviser and facilities at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), in Abuja on Monday, Tinubu said there would not be prosperity if security challenges were not addressed.
The president said information sharing must be a priority in the country’s intelligence community.

“Terrorism is not unique to Nigeria alone. It is across the world and we have to fight it. We have to eliminate it completely,” Abiodun Oladunjoye, the villa’s director of information, quoted the president as saying.

“If we as Nigerians are looking for economic revival, prosperity and development, then we have to give priority to security. What I have seen here is a demonstration of intelligence efforts to counter terrorism. This must be backed by knowledge.

“Counter terrorism that is not backed by knowledge and intelligence is not going to be of any service to any nation. We are going to work on that together.“The effort of the entire armed forces of this country must be put together in a way that there will be one single focus on securing the country.

“You can’t have disharmony in an orchestra. We must focus on one tunnel; coordinate, share information, share intelligence and work harder.“You cannot hoard information. You cannot hoard intelligence. I am glad that Nigeria is on the path to succeed. We will, I assure you.”

On his part, Babagana Monguno, NSA, thanked Tinubu for visiting his office.

“It reinforces his commitment, dedication and inflexible rigidity to ensure that the security misfortunes of the federal republic of Nigeria and by extension the sub-region are overcome within the shortest possible time,” Monguno said.

 

Court stops NLC, TUC planned nationwide strike.

The National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja has granted an interim order restraining the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, from going on strike from Wednesday as planned, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The order was issued by Justice O. Y. Anuwe on Monday in a suit marked NICN/ABJ/158/2023 dated June 5th, in which the Federal Government is listed as the applicant and the NLC and the TUC as the defendants.

Appearing before the court on behalf of the applicant, Maimuna Lami Shiru (Mrs), DCL, Federal Ministry of Justice, with Feyisara Titiloye (PSC) and Ekene Elodinuo B. (PSC), sought for “an order of interim injunction restraining the Defendants/Respondents, their members, their agents, employees, workmen, servants, proxies or affiliates from embarking on the planned Industrial Action and/or strike of any nature pending the hearing and determination of the Claimants/Applicants’ motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

Relying on Sections 16 and 19(a) of the NIC Act 2006, Justice Anuwe said they empowered the court to make orders or grant urgent interim reliefs.

The Judge stated that “the urgency enumerated in the affidavit of urgency and in counsel’s submission reveals a scenario that may gravely affect the larger society and indeed the well-being of the nation at large.”

He maintained that “the counsel has pointed out that students of Secondary Schools nationwide, especially those writing WAEC exams will be affected; the Tertiary institutions who have only just resumed after a long ASUU strike will also be affected, not leaving the health sector, amongst other sectors; and above all, the economy of the nation.”
Having considered the totality of the application, the Judge ordered that “the defendants/Respondents are hereby restrained from embarking on the planned Industrial Action/or strike of any nature, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice dated 5th June 2023”.

He also ordered that “the defendant/ Respondents be immediately served with the originating processes in the suit, the motion on notice and the order of the court.”

After ruling on the application, the Judge put the motion on notice for hearing for 19th June 2023, when hearing notices to that effect shall be served on the defendants/Respondents along with the other processes.

 

TUC Demands N200,000 Workers’ Minimum Wage, Other Reforms from FG.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria has firmly called on the Federal Government to raise the national minimum wage from its current rate of N30,000 to N200,000.

This demand comes as part of the conditions presented by the labour union to avert an impending strike following the sudden removal of fuel subsidy by the government.

In a joint statement released on Monday and signed by TUC President Comrade Festus Osifo and Secretary General Comrade Nuhu Abba Toro, the labour union outlined a list of additional demands.

Among the demands, TUC is urging the government to revert fuel pump prices back to the previous rate of N195 while negotiations continue.

The TUC’s proposal coincides with ongoing discussions between the Federal Government and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the country’s primary labour body, regarding plans to suspend the impending strike action.
The demands read as follows:

“Minimum wage should be increased from the current N30,000 to N200,000 before the end of June 2023 with consequential adjustment on Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), like feeding, transport, housing,” TUC stated.

” We want PMS Allowance to be introduced for those earning between N200,000 to N500,000 or 500USD to 1,200USD whichever is higher.

“The Exchange rate for retailing PMS in the country must be kept within a limit of +- 2% for the next ten (10) years where the fluctuation is more that 2%, the minimum wage will automatically increase at the same rate.

“Setting up of intervention fund where government will be paying N10 per liter on all locally consumed PMS. The primary purpose of this fund is to solve perennial and protracted national issues in education, health and housing.

A governance structure that will include labour, civil society and government will be put in place to manage the implementation.“Federal government should provide mass transit vehicles for all categories of the populace.

“State Governments should immediately set up a subsidized transportation system to reduce the pressure on workers and students. The framework around this will be worked out.

“Immediate review of the National Health Insurance Scheme to cover more Nigerians and prevent out of stock of drugs.
“Visitation of the refineries that are currently undergoing rehabilitation to ascertain state of work and Setting up timeline for its completion.

“The president should direct who ever will be labour minister to immediately constitute the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC). This platform will be used by government, Labour and employer to discuss issues and policies of government that may affect workers and all other mandate as specified in the law.

“Provision of subsidy directly for food items, the 800million dollars could be a first step.“The existing National Housing Fund (NHF) should be made accessible to genuine workers; the framework on this must be discussed and agreed.

“Medium Term, Deployment of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) across the country in line with the earlier promise made by government. The framework and timeline will be developed and agreed by both parties.

“Labour and government to design a framework that will be geared towards the reduction of cost of governance by 15% in 2024 and 30% by 2025.

“A framework should be immediately put in place to maintain the road and expand the rail networks across the country. Government must design a framework for social housing policy for workers through Rent to Own System.

“The state of electricity in the country must be appraised and an action plan should be defined with time lines on how to get this fixed. A strong monitoring team comprising of all parties will be constituted,” the statement added.

The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has declared industrial action

The pump price of fuel tripled after President Bola Tinubu declared that fuel subsidy was gone.The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) had instructed its retail stations to suddenly increase the cost of gasoline from N197 to between N488 and N570 per litre.

Following this, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) announced a statewide strike that would begin on Wednesday.

JUSUN General Secretary M.J. Akwashiki issued a statement ordering all branches and chapters to start mobilising nationally and withdrawing from duty as of Wednesday.

The hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the Federal Government through the NNPCL, he said, “following a decision of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) at her meeting on June 2, 2023.

“All zonal vice presidents are to coordinate their zones by ensuring that branch and chapter chairmen mobilise their members for a total compliance,” the statement reads.

“If Dangote can build one, why can’t FG fix refineries?” – NLC.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has opined that if one person in Aliko Dangote could put a refinery in place within a space of few years, the federal government can do more than four refineries of that size in the country.

Following President Bola Tinubu’s “fuel subsidy is gone” statement, Nigerians are witnessing fuel price hikes and shortages.
A former NLC Deputy President and Labour consultant, Amaechi Asugwuni, who spoke on the ChannelsTV’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, stated that anything above the current price without a concrete plan for refineries to kickstart would make the country ‘unwise’ before the world.

According to him, although Nigerians are aware of the inevitability of the subsidy removal, they expect a functional refinery in the country before starting the process.
“Strike is inevitable because people know that the Nigerian government was paying subsidies because it is not refining itself. So, doing away with subsidy without you refining after 30 years or more suggests incompetence,” Aaugwuni said.

Asugwuni faulted the government’s dependency on the recently commissioned Dangote Petrochemical Refinery, saying upon launch, the facility won’t bring down the cost of petrol as being touted.
“Using Dangote as a yardstick or determinant factor for subsidy removal is laughable. Dangote is Dangote, Dangote is not the Federal Government and let us not suggest that Dangote is now richer than Nigeria. It is not true.

If Dangote can put a refinery in place within a space of years, the Federal Government can do more than four refineries of that size in Nigeria. If we subject Nigeria’s market to the Dangote Refinery alone, it means that we have transferred the corruption we are running away from to one man,” he said.

The consultant stated that the introduction of the fuel subsidy removal towards the exit of the President Muhammadu Buhari government was political to the budget allocation and to the kickstart of the Dangote Refinery.

“The awareness of Buhari’s action, even though subsidy ends in his tenure does not end the government of Nigeria. Therefore, the action that they took reflected that after June no more subsidy. That was done politically because it was not announced politically, it was hidden under the budget plan,” he said.

According to the ex-NLC deputy president, it is illegal for the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to increase the price of its product, adding that there are forces beyond the control of the company.

“The lawyers have said it is illegal, and therefore NNPC, even though it was legal to do so, I think forces in the market are beyond NNPC.

“Because when you allow market force to determine market price you therefore cannot have a permanent price template otherwise it would look as if the subsidy is still working with some people, especially the NNPC,” he stated.

The Labour consultant lamented that the subsidy removal impact on minimum wage is an economic challenge to the living standard of Nigerians, adding that the effects are yet to permeate through the market evenly.