ABUJA – The National Chairman, Progressives People Alliance (PPA), Mr Peter Ameh, on Monday faulted the National Conference delegates rejection of increase in minimum wage of civil servants.
He made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Delegates last week, rejected a proposal by a delegate, Sergeant Awuse, that minimum wage for public servants be raised from N18, 000 to N40, 000.
Ameh said that rather than rejecting the proposal, the delegates should have commended the Federal Government for implementing the current minimum wage and suggested ways of enhancing it.
The national chairman said the welfare of Nigerian workers should be protected by all because it was the workers that had kept Nigeria moving ahead.
“Proper housing and transportation schemes should be put in place to better the welfare of workers,” he said.
Ameh, however, lauded the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and called on the Federal Government to enhance the scheme.
“A healthy workforce is a better nation,” he said.
Also speaking , the National Secretary, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Mr Gilbert Agbo, said the rejection of the increase in minimum wage by some of the delegates was “a setback”.
“It is a setback for people who are supposed to be discussing the future of this country to go uprightly to reject such decision that will be in the interest of the ordinary people,” he said
He said that the interest of Nigerians who were members of the workforce should be part of the paramount issues to be discussed at the conference.
“Nigeria has the resources to take care of the needs of her workers,” he said.
Agbo said there was the need for government to enhance the standard of living of its workers with salary scheme in tune with the economic situation in the country.
“Government should provide a more realistic wage level that will alleviate the difficulties experienced by Nigerian workers,” he said. (NAN) ———————————————————————————————— FG, investors to sign MOU on re-opening of Ajaokuta steel company (biz and feature on homepage)
LOKOJA – The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Musa Sada, says the completed facilities at the Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi State will soon commence operation.
The minister, who made the disclosure on Monday in Lokoja, said the Federal Government would soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with some private investors.
Sada said at the beginning of a three-day working tour of the company with his counterpart in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, that the investors were trade partners and not core investors.
He said the investors would be engaged on a short-term basis to operate the completed facilities, adding that the approach was to avoid past mistakes.
Sada said that the move would save machines at the company from further deterioration, adding that the steel company workers were among the best trained.
The minister also said that the steel sector was very crucial to the attainment of industrial revolution, hence, the attention being paid to it.
He said the team would also visit the mining sites in Koton Large and other communities, saying that government planned to use the sector as an alternative to oil in terms of revenue and job creation.
Speaking also, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, described the state as a confluence of opportunities.
He said the state was rich in solid mineral deposits and arable land for agriculture which had remained undeveloped for years.
Aganga advised the state to key into the Federal Government’s industrial revolution plan for its potential and posterity of the citizens.
He recalled the state’s contribution to the country’s achievement of sufficiency in cement production, saying the Federal Government was banking on it to achieve the same feat in ceramic products production.
The minister, who highlighted the country’s achievement in automobile assembly plants, said also that local manufacturing of some vital motor parts would commence soon.
Gov. Idris Wada of Kogi in his remarks expressed delight over the decision to reopen the completed parts of the steel company.
He also applauded the gradual approach to the completion of the project and commended President Goodluck Jonathan for fulfilling his 2011 electioneering campaign promise on the project. (NAN) ——————————————————————————————— FCT records zero polio since Jan. 2013 – Minister (metro)
