According to a statement issued on Tuesday by Willie Bassey, director of information at the office of secretary to the government of the federation, President Muhammadu Buhari carried out a minor reshuffle of his cabinet.

Tayo Alasoadura, who was the junior minister in the ministry of labour and employment, is now the minister of state for Niger Delta affairs.

The relationship between Keyamo and Godswill Akpabio, the minister of Niger Delta affairs, had been less than cordial.

It had been thought that Keyamo would be moved to ministry of justice as minister of state to assist Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation.

Malami had made efforts two weeks ago to have him redeployed to resolve the “civil war” between the duo but he was advised against it.

It is still unclear what the source of friction was between Akpabio and Keyamo.

Keyamo will now work under Chris Ngige, the minister of labour and employment.

The post Buhari redeploys Keyamo after ‘civil war’ with Akpabio appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The suspect, who was responsible for supervising numerous programmes such as the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), allegedly awarded fictitious contracts to himself, using his personal company and friends.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Clement Illoh, a.k.a Clement & Bob Associate, on or about 28th January, 2015 at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court whilst still a Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, dishonestly converted to your own use the sum of N14,176,000.00(Fourteen Million, One Hundred and Seventy- six Thousand Naira ) from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency(NIMASA), and you hereby committed an offense contrary to Section 279(1)(b) & 285(6) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State No,11,2011.”

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him, in view of which the prosecution counsel, Nnaemeka Omewa, asked the court for a trial date and to remand the accused in prison.

However, counsel to the accused, Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN, told the court about a pending application for bail on behalf of the defendant.

Ayorinde also pleaded with the court to remand his client in the EFCC custody pending the hearing of the bail application.

Consequently, Justice Taiwo adjourned the case to October 19, 2017 for hearing of the bail application and commencement of trial.

The accused was ordered to be remanded in the EFCC custody pending the determination of his application for bail.

The post EFCC arraigns ex-Perm Sec, Clement Onubuogo, for N14.1m fraud appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The meeting slated for 3:00 p.m. at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Federal Government, according to sources, will be coming to the parley with the proposal for a new minimum wage that is fixed at N45, 000, with some provisos including reduction in the number of civil servants and merging ministries and agencies.

A source in the Presidency told our correspondent Sunday night that ministers had been told to lead the initiative on the downsizing.Also, the Efficiency Unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance, which is saddled with coming up with cost reduction strategies is working on the template for the reduction.

The Federal Government would also be relying on the report of the Steve Oronsaiye’s panel on the rationalisation of the civil service in the streamlining process.

It was also learnt that though government said it would not devalue the naira, it would indeed embark on what it termed ‘appropriate’ value of the national currency, which may be in the region of N283 to the dollar.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba who confirmed he got a text message inviting him and other labour leaders to the meeting, however berated the government that promised to create jobs but was now tinkering with the idea of embarking on one of the most massive job losses Nigeria has every witnessed.

“We cannot be talking about creating jobs and at the same time be talking about mass sacking of workers. This is a government that promised jobs and now, it wants to embark on mass sacking of workers. It is difficult to reconcile the two extreme ends. We will not accept any proposal for job cuts if put across to us.”

Wabba pointed out that the challenge of retrenching workers has always been that government at all levels has failed to make provision for payment of entitlements.

“Well, every employment has terms of agreement. Nobody can force any worker on an employer and no employer can insist a worker works for him. But very importantly is the fact that exit strategies must be in place for painless exit.

“The problem over the years has been that government disengages people without preparing for the payment of their gratuities and pension. I believe there are many employees that will be happy to leave today if all their entitlements are ready.”

While hinting that while the labour centre and their civil society allies are ready to come to the negotiation table, he explained that the issue at stake is far more germane than price increase.

“I must say that the issues are beyond the price increase and dollar exchange rate. The issues are about the totality of the corruption that has characterised the downstream sector for many decades.

“Simply pegging the exchange at some N285 or so will not address the problem. It is a simple matter that if the demand outstrips the supply end, the price of the dollar will increase and Nigerians will continually pay for petrol. So, there would be no to price increments if the fundamentals are not discussed.”

Wabba said while labour is open-minded about all the issues, it will push for solving the challenges with timelines that would be respected.

“Just increasing the price is taking the easy way out. This is because, as the President and Dr. Kachikwu have observed in the past, what has held the downstream sector down is corruption especially as it concerns the landing costs.

“What government is trying to do now is transferring the burden to the Nigerian people. What government needs to do is to find the right mix to put an end to the quagmire.”

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