Headlines
Minimum Wage: Labour, FG Meeting Deadlocked Again
Meeting of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) and the Federal Government deadlocked again yesterday, as they failed to agree over relativity and consequential adjustment for the implementation of the new minimum wage.
JNPSNC general secretary of the Trade Union Side, Mr. Alade Lawal, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that the organised labour would decide on the next line of action on the issue of the minimum wage.
“The meeting is deadlocked. We found out that the Federal Government officials are not serious about it at all. We are suspecting foul play or a hidden agenda somewhere.
“We have decided to report the development to our principals, including the Labour unions. Nigerians will be adequately briefed of our next line of action very shortly, he said.
Chairman of the Labour team, Mr. Simon Anchaver, said labour negotiating team had also resolved to write to the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on their advise to consider industrial action.
He said government’s foot-dragging was an invitation for industrial action since workers were already engulfed in fear of whether their accumulated arrears would be paid after the talks.
NAN reports that the Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, chaired the meeting, and the acting chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, was the secretary of the negotiating council.
The new minimum wage bill was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in April.
However, deliberations continued as the issue of relativity/consequential adjustment of salaries persisted.
The Federal Government had on May 14 inaugurated the Relativity/Consequential Adjustment Committee, which in turn set up a technical sub-committee to work out the template for the adjustment of salaries of public service employees.
In a meeting between the government and labour last month, the former proposed a 10 per cent increment for Level seven to 14 and a 5.5 per cent increment for level 15 to 17.
The immediate past chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Richard Egbule, had attributed the delay in the implementation of the “consequential adjustment” of the N30,000 new minimum wage to the unrealistic demands of labour unions.
Egbule explained that the current demand of the labour unions would raise the total wage bill too high, hence the government could not accept their proposed salary adjustments.
But labour turned down government’s offer, proposing a 30 per cent increase for levels seven to 14 and 25 per cent for levels 15 to 17.
The JNPSNC declined the offer, saying that since the increase in wage from N18,000 to N30, 000 was 66 per cent, they wanted 66 per cent increment across the board for all workers.
The Guardian
Commissioner of Police, CP Olajide Rufus Ibitoye, acting on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, through the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Force Intelligence Department (FID) Abuja, has extended an invitation to the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, for an “investigative meeting with regards to an incident that occurred during the Sallah celebration within your domain”.
The said incident is in connection with the violence that broke out during the recent Eid-el-Fitr procession in Kano, which resulted in the death of a local vigilante member.
The incident happened as the Emir’s entourage moved from the Eid prayer ground to the palace in a traditional procession. The clash, which marred the otherwise peaceful celebration, led to the tragic loss of life of a vigilante member, Surajo Rabiu, and left one other injured.
The invitation was conveyed in an official letter dated April 4, 2025, and signed by Commissioner of Police, CP Olajide Rufus Ibitoye, on behalf of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Force Intelligence Department (FID) Abuja.
The letter reads: “I have the directives of the Inspector General of Police, through the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Intelligence Department (FID), to invite you for an investigative meeting with regards to an incident that occurred during the Sallah celebration within your domain.”
The Emir has been requested to appear before the Force Intelligence Department in Abuja, opposite the Police Headquarters, Area 11, by 10:00am on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
This development comes amid heightened tensions in Kano State following the earlier decision by the State Police Command to ban the annual Durbar festival due to security concerns. The ban, announced days before the Eid-el-Fitr celebration, was intended to prevent any possible breakdown of law and order during the festive period.
However, despite the suspension of the Durbar, a motorcade procession of Emir Sanusi II still took place on the third day of the Eid-el-Fitr celebrations.
The Kano State Police Commissioner, CP Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, had also inaugurated an eight-member Special Investigation Panel (SIP) to investigate the violence.
As at the time of this report, there has been no official response from the Emir Sanusi II’s palace regarding the Police invitation.
Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has resigned his appointment.
Reports say the former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) tendered his resignation about two weeks ago.
Further reports quoting presidency sources did not, however, provide details of the reasons for his decision, but only stated that it was on personal grounds.
Baba-Ahmed was appointed in September 2023 as Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Over the past 17 months, he had represented the presidency at several public fora, including a recent national conference themed: “Strengthening Nigeria’s Democracy: Pathway to Good Governance and Political Integrity”, which held from January 28 and 29, 2025 in Abuja.
The Supreme Court has set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognising Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP).
In a unanimous judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have pronounced Abure National Chairman of the Labour Party, after finding out earlier that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.
The apex court held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party, over which courts lacks jurisdiction.
The court further allowed the appeal filed by Senator Nenadi Usman and one other, and held that it is meritorious.
It also proceeded to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the Abure group of the Labour Party for being unmeritorious.
In January, the Court of Appeal in Abuja reiterated that Abure remained the chairman of the LP.
A three-member panel of the appellate court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, held that its judgment of November 13, 2024, which recognises Abure as national chairman, subsists and has not been set aside by any court.
Justice Barka made the declaration while delivering judgment in two separate appeals filed by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman and the caretaker committee and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The appellate court in the two separate appeals held that it did not delve into the issue of the leadership of the Labour Party because such issues are not justiciable.
It said that anything done outside jurisdiction amounts to a nullity. Hence, the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on October 8, 2024, by Justice Emeka Nwite is of no effect because it was delivered without jurisdiction.
