The Director General of the International Labour Organization, Mr. Guy Ryder has commended Nigeria for the labour friendly disposition of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Charlse Akpan, Deputy Director Press and Public Relations, ministry of Labour and employment, in a statement said Mr. Ryder in a chat by the sidelines of the 337 session of the Governing Board of the ILO in Geneva, Switzerland over the weekend, told the Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige who is also the President of the Government Group of the Governing Board of the organization, that ILO was impressed Nigeria could afford a New Minimum Wage at a time of teething economic challenges
The remark followed briefing by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) Comrade Ayuba Wabba to the session on the successful completion of negotiation and implementation of the New Minimum Wage and its Consequential adjustment by the Federal Government. He also informed the organization that labour unions are currently negotiating with other federating units using the template provided by the Federal Government.
The
Director General further extoled Nigeria for the successful hosting of the International Youth Forum last August and thanked the President for re-appointing Sen. Ngige, noting the improved labour administration the nation has been witnessing under him.
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Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari tells muslims in his country that "the greatest honour Muslims could accord Prophet Muhammad is to follow his shining examples of non-violence, peaceful disposition and remarkable virtues of patience."
In his goodwill message to the Muslim Ummah on the occasion of the Maulud celebration to commemorate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, President Buhari said:
"Putting into practice the great virtues for which the Holy Prophet Muhammad is historically famous and revered would have a far greater impact on changing our attitudes and behaviours than the best sermons ever will.
"The indiscriminate killing of innocent people, the kidnapping of female students and forcing them into marriage and conversion is contrary to teachings and personal examples of the Prophet Muhammad.
"Violent extremism is the single biggest challenge facing the image of Islam today which has been hijacked by a minority of misguided elements who are using religion to cover-up their criminal agenda.
"There is the urgent need for increased vigilance by Muslims in order to frustrate and stop the spread of violent ideologies that are causing human havocs and tragedies around the world.
"Extremism is like a cancer that needs to be attacked in its early stages before it grows malignantly out of control and harm the society."
The President in a statement by his senior special assistant on media and publicity Garba Shehu, also advised Muslims not to allow their children to be lured and recruited by extremists who will ultimately destroy their lives and future.
While wishing the Muslim Ummah a peaceful celebration, the President urged them to use this occasion to renew their resolve in promoting tolerance, love, harmony and peaceful coexistence in the country.
President Buhari also sent special goodwill messages to the Emirs of Daura, Alhaji Faruk Umar Faruk; Kazaure, Najib Hussaini Adamu; Hadejia, Alhaji Adamu Abubakar Maje Haruna; and that of Gumel, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Sani, whose people celebrate this festival, named Sallar Gani, with greater fervour as well as prayers for the unity, progress, and prosperity of Muslims in Nigeria and around the world.
Abulu Patrick Blog
Development Journalist, Author, Music Promoter, Business Development strategist
The Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) addresses Human Rights issues within employment relations through their 2019 Public Lecture and National Dialogue, on the theme “Casting Human Rights in Employment Relations Mould: From State to Workplace Perspective”, held in Ilorin, on 31st October 2019.
ABUJA (ILO News): The Director of the ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and Liaison Office for ECOWAS, Mr. Dennis Zulu, has pledged ILO’s support to the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS). He made the pledge in response to a presentation made on areas for possible ILO intervention during the MINILS 2019 Annual Public Lecture and National Dialogue, which had as its theme “Casting Human Rights in Employment Relations Mould: From State to Workplace Perspective”. The Public Lecture which was organized in conjunction with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) held on 31st October 2019 at MINILS campus in Ilorin, Kwara State.
While delivering his good will message at the event, Mr. Zulu acknowledged with appreciation the Institute’s contributions to debates on key labour issues that are of interest to the ILO. According to him, the public lecture was of a great relevance to the ILO’s objectives as it celebrates its centenary in 2019. He stated that right from its inception in 1919, the ILO has been using Standards to address workers’ rights globally and at the workplace. He used the opportunity to congratulate Nigeria for being the first African Country to host both the First African Office of the ILO in 1959 and the First ILO African Regional Conference in Lagos from 5-16 December 1960.
He stated that the ILO’s engagement with MINILS since its inception has yielded positive results over the years and has affected labour administration in Nigeria positively. He was optimistic that ILO’s continuous engagement with MINILS, partners and other relevant stakeholders would bring more benefits to Nigerians. He commended MINILS for taking the initiative to share information and good practices on labour issues and pledged the ILO’s support to some of the activities and programmes of the institute to enable the institute impact positively on the beneficiaries of such programmes.
In his goodwill message, the NLC General Secretary, Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja, commended the ILO for adopting a number of conventions and recommendations to moderate industrial relations in the work place. He listed them as the convention of Freedom of Association, Organizing, Collective Bargaining, Full and Productive Employment, Elimination of all Forms of Forced Labour, Abolition of Child Labour and the Elimination of Discrimination in Employment and Occupation. He urged workers and employers to use these standards to demand their rights.
Mr. Saliu Alabi, Director-General of MINILS, in his welcome address gave a detailed overview of the strategic nature of the theme of the lecture. Mr. Saliu Alabi, speaking on the theme of the lecture, said that human rights are key elements in overall strategy for engendering decent jobs as well as transforming employment relationships and work place practices. “There is increasing consensus that the workplace is a critical platform upon which development processes could be fostered, at both strategic and operational levels’’ he said. He further commended the Ministry of Labour and Employment and several other partners including ILO for their support to the institute and implored that the Dialogue would give momentum to the cause of human rights and employment relations in Nigeria.
Remarks were made by a representative of the Executive Governor of Kwara State, His Excellency Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazak. Declaring the lecture open, the State Governor stated that its government had done their best to ensure that everyone was accorded their rights within the confines of the law. Alhaji Abdulrazak assured the gathering of his government’s continuous efforts to ensure that issues relating to human rights are tackled especially that relating to minimum wage. He also maintained that Kwara is “leading the charge” in restoring and protecting basic human rights and working towards UN SDGs especially the rights of women and young girls to fair representation, inclusion and decent empowerment.
From the panel discussions, various recommendations were made on how to promote human rights and workplace practices. The event gathered together renowned professionals from government, labour, academia, civil societies and legal profession. Amongst those who participated at the public lecture and made contributions were the Acting Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan ; Acting President, National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Hon. Justice Benedict Bakwaph Kanyip; and Chief Femi Falana, SAN. Chief Falana lauded judges of the NICN for deciding labour matters in line with the provisions of the ILO conventions and international best practices). Also in attendance were trade union leaders and members, representatives of civil society and human rights organizations, top government functionaries, and representatives of the international community.
The Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) is Nigeria’s foremost institute for labour education aimed at building the capacity of workers and their unions; promoting exchange between Industrial relations parties in the interest of Industrial harmony; developing international linkages to encourage best practices and global solidarity and advancing the frontiers of knowledge on labour matters. It has evolved into a rallying platform for industrial and labour discourse on contemporary national and international issues.
Against the much expressed fear that Nigeria’s skyrocketing youth population would be a detriment to the progress of the country, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone Country Director, Dennis Zulu, has said that the reverse is rather the case.
He added that with the enthusiasm he saw in many Nigerian youths, the country will become a powerful nation in all ramifications if the youths are equipped with the required skills needed for the future of world of work, and enabling environment that would channel the skills to positive production facilitated.
Mr Zulu, went on to say rather than being pessimistic about what he termed ‘Nigeria’s greatest asset’, government at all levels and Nigerians in their different strata should see the country’s growing youth population as an advantage to becoming a reckoning powerful nation in the world.
He then tasked government and giant business owners to get busy with structural planning which its focal point should be training and retraining the youths in the required skills that would usher in growth in every sector of the economy, investment in developmental projects and provision of basic amenities such as electricity that would fast track the desired development and of course, impactful economic growth.
Zulu in an exclusive interview with THE LABOUR, enjoined Nigeria government to take facilitation of business-thriving environment seriously ; as part of its conviction that a drastic action needed taken in order to prevent the country from falling into precarious state, and also as a commitment towards achieving desired goals.
“Government exists to provide an enabling environment, to facilitate a business-thriving environment for people to grow. That is one area Nigeria government need to do more, that is what the government and should be seriously doing.
“People talk about the growing number of young Nigerians in the country, yes it might be a challenge but it is also an opportunity and Nigeria’s greatest asset.
“There are some countries in the world that are facing human resource challenges, they don’t have sufficient men and women to do the work and their population is shrinking.
“If you have a growing youth population what does that mean, it means a growth in demand for certain things that young people need. If you are a business man that is a great opportunity to provide those needs because you have a growing consumer base and when you have an increased aggregate demand for goods and services propelled by a growing youth population, it means that it also propels the economy to grow.
“So if an economy is growing, obviously it is a cyclic of things. It is an ecosystem being established, it is an increase in demand, it is that companies are set up to meet the demand and these companies need employees to work for them and employees will generate income and that income will need goods and services. To cut the long story short about the future of work, we need to prepare, we know what the drivers are, we know what the issues will be, the question is are we preparing sufficiently and are we doing the right thing?”
Furthermore, Zulu praised what he called business oriented and surviving spirit enthusiasm that average Nigeria youth possesses. He then task government to seriously key into that spirit and do more to helping the youth. He also stressed the need to redirect some skills that youths have already acquired but are using on a negative direction , such as for “Yahoo Yahoo”.
“In Nigeria you say hustle. That itself shows the uniqueness that young Nigerians will not sit back and wait for government to make a difference for their lives. I see young Nigerians carrying sewing machines on their shoulder looking for business but in other countries the young person will sit with his sewing machine at the house waiting for customers to come and they won’t come.
“The drive that a young Nigerian has to carry a sewing machine or the stuffs used to fix shoes and walks around looking for business, tells you that there is something distinctively different. You speak to these people and you are amazed by the sort of ambition that they have. They say one day I would be able to drive a car or I will be able to afford housing that is the drive you need.
“Now, how has does government nurture that enthusiasm that is already there, the entrepreneurial spirit that is already there, the drive that is already there in the young Nigerian, by providing an enabling environment for them to be able to grow, there is need to facilitate and it is only when they facilitated that hopefully the opportunities will grow.
“On the “yahoo yahoo” issue, I was in Enugu a week ago speaking to the trade unions and I talked about “yahoo yahoo”. I spoke again about it in another meeting, I said look, let’s nurture that talent, let’s use that skill towards something productive for the country”.
Justice J. K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, has convicted and sentenced two brothers to five years imprisonment for obtaining money under false pretences.
According to @officialEFCC ,The duo are Otojareri Governor Lucky (a.k.a Sam Lewis) and Otojareri President Mayor (a.k.a John Jacob Carison). Their offences run contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
Lucky and Mayor were arraigned by thPort Harcourt Zonal office of the EFCC, on Thursday, October 25, 2019 on one-count charge bordering on obtaining the sum of $788.00(USD) under false pretences.
Over 200 young Nigerians converged in Bauchi to discuss issues hindering them to attain their potentials.
This year’s theme is tagged: “The Nigeria We Want: Voices from Bauchi”.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that 11 of 36 Nigerian States are yet to domesticate the Child Right Act.
UNICEF stated this on Saturday at a joint programme put together with the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board to mark the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) in Bauchi.
UNICEF boss, Bauchi Field Office, Mr. Bhanu Pathak, said that the increasing number of child brides is another major factor contributing to the menace of out-of-school children which Bauchi accounts for over 1 million.
While addressing youth from six northern States: Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa, Jigawa, Plateau and Gombe, Pathak said that an estimated 3 in 5 children have suffered one or more forms of violence before reaching 18, with over 70 per cent experiencing multiple incidents of violence.
Pathak said: “Only 25 States in Nigeria have the Child Right Law in place. Eleven States are yet to enact this law, these States are from the Northern part of Nigeria”.
He said that for Nigeria to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, things must clearly change.
Pathak maintained that Nigerian children and young people need to be able to access the opportunities they need to develop in a safe environment.
However, Wife of Bauchi State Governor, Hajiya Aisha Bala Mohammed, challenged youths in the country to take up the task of rebuilding the nation, while noting that multinational corporations and agencies should not be left alone in fixing Nigeria’s problems.
She said: “We know our problems and we must fix them ourselves, some parents still take education for granted in this part of the country. This, we can say is contributing to the nation’s insecurity”.
She further enjoined parents to ensure that their children enrol and attend school regularly.
Also, Bauchi State Commissioner of Education, Dr. Aliyu Usman Tilde, assured the State’s youth of accessible and quality education.
FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, has assured that the FCT Administration will creates 120 skill acquisition jobs for women and youths in each of the six Area Councils of the territory by December 1, 2019.
In a statement by Austine Elemue, S.A Media To FCT Minister of State on
10th November, 2019, says
The measure according to her will pull out a total of 720 women and youths from joblessness to employers of labour in the first 100 days in office of the present FCT Administration.
Aliyu, who stated this during "An Evening with Friends of NTA Channel 5 Abuja", also assured that plans have reached an advanced stage for the provision of 10 boreholes in each of the six Area Councils to address the challenges of water and sanitation among rural communities in the territory.
The minister who was represented at the occasion by the Director of Information and Communications, Mr. Stella Ojeme, acknowledged that the task of running a mega city is enormous, but not insurmountable, also solicited for the support of NTA Channel 5 and other notable media organisations for the realization of Abuja of our dream.
According to Aliyu, "In the past three weeks, I have embarked on tour of facilities in the six Area Councils to ascertain the level of infrastructural decay in the rural communities with a view to fixing them in line with President Muhammadu Buhari's mandate to complete all abandoned and ongoing projects.
"In all of these inspection tours, I have been able to identity areas of needs and prioritized them for proper execution. To start with, we are carrying out a comprehensive work on our youth centre in Nyanya for skills acquisition of women and youths across the Area Councils.
"It is my pleasure to report to you that by December 1, 2019, as part of activities to mark 100 days in office, we will engage 120 women and youths in different skills in each Area Council of the Territory. Also, plans have been concluded to provide 10 boreholes in each Area Council to address challenges of adequate water supply and sanitation".
She, however, thanked NTA Channel 5 for the support she has received from the station since her assumption of office by broadcasting the activities and events of the Administration, while looking forward for a more rewarding and fruitful relationship.
Hotel cleaner who stole sperm from a used condom won child support battle By Nistrator - November 9, 2019 A 40-year-old Las Vegas hotel cleaner won a child support battle against a 28-year-old millionaire who she never slept with. Jane was 36 when she stole a used condom from a then 24-year-old tech millionaire’s hotel garbage can. She inserted the semen inside her vagina and became pregnant with a baby boy who is now 4-years-old.
During the child support hearing, Jane confessed that she never slept with the young millionaire and that she impregnated herself with his sperm while she was cleaning his room. “He left his bank statement on the nightstand in his hotel room and I saw it when I was cleaning, at the time I wanted a baby so bad and I thought it would be better if I had a baby with a rich man” The paternity test where conducted and the young millionaire is the father. The court ordered him to pay the mother of the child $2 million for the 3 years of his son’s life he missed.
At a school in Malawi, students are enjoying play time at recess. Unfortunately, sometimes recess lasts all day because the teacher doesn’t come to work.
In a classroom in Armenia, students are receiving grades for their ability to repeat memorized text, with textbooks dominating the learning process rather than teacher instruction and innovation, leaving graduates unprepared for a competitive work environment.
In Bangladesh, despite improving enrollment rates, girls are still not learning as much as boys, and dropout rates are high – with lost years in schooling being attributed to child marriage, household responsibilities and other factors.
Measuring ‘Learning Poverty’
Evidence reveals that we are in the midst of a global learning crisis that threatens countries’ efforts to build human capital – the skills and know-how needed for the jobs of the future. Attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is also at risk – including the goal to end extreme poverty.
To highlight the scope of the problem, the World Bank has introduced the new concept of learning poverty, drawing on new data developed in coordination with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Learning poverty is defined as being unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10. This indicator brings together schooling and learning indicators: it starts with the share of children who haven’t achieved minimum reading proficiency (as measured in schools) and adjusts it by the proportion of children who are out of school (and are assumed not to read proficiently).
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The new data show that 53% of all children in low- and middle-income countries suffer from learning poverty. And progress in reducing learning poverty is far too slow to meet the aspirations laid out in SDG4 – to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education. At the current rate of improvement, in 2030 about 43% of children will still be learning-poor. If countries reduce learning poverty at the fastest rates we have seen so far in this century, the global rate of learning poverty would drop to 28%.
This high rate of learning poverty and slow progress in low and middle-income countries is an early warning sign that all of the targets outlined in SDG4 are at risk – including the target to increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship.
Learning Target Launched
To galvanize action towards meeting global education goals and tackling the global learning crisis, World Bank Group President David Malpass announced a new operational global learning target to cut the learning poverty rate by at least half by 2030. Simulations show that this target, while ambitious, is achievable if all countries manage to improve learning as well as the top performers of the 2000-2015 period did—which means on average nearly tripling the global rate of progress.
Reducing learning poverty by half is effectively an intermediate target. Countries should define their own path (and intermediate targets) in terms of financing and implementation of reforms to make sure that all their children have an opportunity in life. In many countries, reaching this development objective might take some time, but the social contract in the country must be designed so that everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic background, race or gender, has access to a good quality education.
Why Focus on Reading?
In literate societies around the world, reading has for centuries been at the core of formal education. Parents and other stakeholders everywhere share an understanding that a school’s first task is to ensure that children can read proficiently.
For example, a country’s reading score on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessment and its math score – measured by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) – are almost perfectly correlated. The cross-subject correlations within other assessments are strong too, as the Bank’s new report explains. Language development, which is enhanced by reading skills, is also nurtured along with the development of a child’s self-regulation, a fundamental socioemotional skill.
What Can Be Done to Ensure Children Learn to Read?
Successful countries invest in shifting the mindsets of all actors of the education system to focus relentlessly on learning. They provide teachers with support materials, like teaching guides, that can facilitate their day-to-day work; provide coaching and feedback to teachers to improve their classroom practices; assure that all children have reading material; and assure a simple and effective curriculum to guide teachers.
To succeed and focus the whole system around student learning, countries will want to take a two-pronged approach, implementing short-term reforms today – as outlined in the Literacy Policy Package – that will improve service delivery for the students going to school now. At the same, they will want to establish systemic changes to improve how the education system functions over the long term. The Education Approach may include reforming the teaching career to attract and retain good professionals, reform preservice training, reform the management structure of the whole system, and expand infrastructure.
The fight against learning poverty will require an approach supported by actions beyond the education sector. Water and sanitation, transportation, cash transfer programs, health and nutrition, and civil service reforms—all are essential to improve learning. The World Bank Group’s Human Capital Project recognizes the need for a whole-of-government approach to improve human capital. Reducing the rate of learning poverty is also going to require renewed attention to the role that families and communities play in building the demand for education, creating the right environment for learning, and creating social demand for the right education reforms.
As a way to engage on what it will take to end the learning crisis, our new global campaign, Literacy Makes Sense, offers ideas to key stakeholders in the education community – such as parents, teachers, principals, education officials, and employers – on what actions they can take to engage on this issue and help end learning poverty.
Join us and be part of the movement to end #LearningPoverty, because literacy makes sense! Everyone has a role to play.
ABUJA (ILO News): The Director of the ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and Liaison Office for ECOWAS, Mr. Dennis Zulu, has pledged ILO’s support to the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS). He made the pledge in response to a presentation made on areas for possible ILO intervention during the MINILS 2019 Annual Public Lecture and National Dialogue, which had as its theme “Casting Human Rights in Employment Relations Mould: From State to Workplace Perspective”. The Public Lecture which was organized in conjunction with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) held on 31st October 2019 at MINILS campus in Ilorin, Kwara State.
