Why Buhari Is Yet To Sign New Minimum Wage Bill

 

  The Senate had on March 19 passed the bill, approving N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

By its action, the Senate concurred the earlier decision of the House of Representatives, which passed the bill before the National Assembly shut down its operations to enable lawmakers to participate in the 2019 general elections, beginning from February 16.




Last week, there were social media reports, claiming that Buhari had assented to the bill.
But speaking in an interview with The Punch on Wednesday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, dismissed the reports.


He said that signing of bills was not done in secrecy, as the President would normally communicate his decision to Nigerians publicly.

Enang clarified that Buhari had yet to sign the bill on the grounds that there were operational procedures to be followed.

However, he confirmed that the bill, which captured N30,000 as the new national minimum wage, had been transmitted to Buhari by the National Assembly.
Enang said, “The bill has been transmitted to Mr President; that I can confirm.

“Right now, the bill is undergoing standard presidential, operational procedures in respect of bills.

“We are within time. At the appropriate time, Mr President will take a decision and make it public.
“Therefore, the report that Mr President has already signed the bill is not correct.”


The passage of the bill by the Senate coincided with the submission of the report on the new national minimum wage by the Presidential Technical Advisory Committee Buhari set up to advise the Federal Government on how to pay a wage increase above the current N18,000.

The panel, which was chaired by renowned economist and businessman, Mr Bismarck Rewane, submitted its report to Buhari on March 25.

The committee had the primary task of advising the government “on how best to fund, in a sustained manner, the additional costs of implementing the imminent increase (N30,000) in the national minimum wage.”

The terms of reference also covered advising the government “on the consequential increases in salaries and allowances for other employees, without worsening our already difficult fiscal condition, and without adversely impacting the nation’s development goals as set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.”

The President had assured the nation upon receiving the report, that he would “review” it expeditiously and take a final stance.

Military investigates personnel for assaulting suspects in Zamfara

The Nigerian Air Force said on Sunday that it had set up a board of inquiry to investigate its personnel culpable in the assault of some suspected bandits in the Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

The Air Force noted that the personnel arrested the bandits at Sububu Forest hideout whilst the suspects were about to attack civilians in Shinkafi.

The personnel, however, allegedly flogged and physically assaulted the suspects, which was secretly filmed and went viral on the internet. 

Our correspondent learnt that the Air Force men and soldiers after recovering one AK-47 rifle and three dane guns from the bandits, beat them almost to unconsciousness in the viral video.

The NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, said on Sunday that the board of inquiry would determine “the remote and immediate causes of the incident with a view to ensuring that appropriate disciplinary action is taken against all NAF personnel found culpable.”

 The attention has been drawn to some military personnel flogging suspected bandits at the Shinkafi LGA in Zamfara. The NAF has discovered that some of its personnel were part of the joint team stationed at the Galadi Sub-Sector at the time.

“The troops’ actions of flogging and physically assaulting the disarmed suspects were totally unacceptable and not in consonance with the Standing Operating Procedures guiding the conduct of the operation.

“The NAF has zero tolerance for such human rights violations and has since initiated appropriate action to address the anomaly. In this regard, a Board of Inquiry has been set up by the Headquarters, Special Operations Command to determine the remote and immediate causes of the incident with a view to ensuring that appropriate disciplinary action is taken against all NAF personnel found culpable.              

 

Ohanaeze youths warn that arresting Kanu again may cause instability

The youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, has warned the Federal Government that arresting the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu again might destabilize the peace in Southeast.

 

The youth gave the warning following a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the re-arrest of Kanuon Thursday, March 28, 2019. 

The presiding judge, Binta Nyako revoked the bail granted Kanu in 2017 and also issued an arrest warrant against the IPOB leader.

 

However, in a statement jointly signed by Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Okwu Nnabuike, its president-general and secretary general respectively, the youth council pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and grant “presidential pardon” to Kanu, the Cable reports. 

 

The statement reads: “The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide received the pronouncement and re-arrest order of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, by a Federal High Court in Abuja with rude shock and disbelief,” the statement read.

“Weighing the implications of such action, it may destabilize the fragile peace that has returned to the southern part of Nigeria, especially the South-East and South-South after the sad experiences witnessed during his first arrest and subsequently the untimely death of innocent Igbo youths and women that characterised his first arrest and detention.

“And there is no need to escalate the tension already established in the South-East over the menace of herdsmen ravaging parts of Igboland. There is no need to compound our loss by allowing Nnamdi Kanu to return now until Igbo Christians and Traditional leaders intervene in the process.

“We are pleading with President Buhari as the father of the nation to grant a presidential pardon to Nnamdi Kanu, as a way of showing compassion to Ndigbo.’’

NANS Rejects NNPC recruitment Procedure, Threatens to Shut Down the Corporation

The National Association of Nigeria Students has rejected the requirement for the NNPC recruitment describing it as ‘’anti-poor and anti-masses”.

 

NANS National Public Relations Officer, Mr. Adeyemi Azeez, made the position of the student body known in a statement on Sunday,March 31, 2019, in Abuja.

NANS alleged that it was a deliberate and well-structured resolve to play out many graduates, especially those from a poor background.

According to him, it is no longer news that regular occurrences of incessant strikes have long marred the nation’s education sector. “Therefore, ordinarily, an undergraduate that applies for a four- or five-year programme may end up staying nine or 10 years on campus pursuing a bachelor degree.

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“NANS will not fall cheap to this deliberate attempt at disenfranchising majorly the real and qualified Nigerian graduates.

“These graduates who have gone through rigorous stages within the Nigerian universities and polytechnics should not be disenfranchised of this opportunity.”

Azeez added that the association also makes bold to say that unbiased research has shown that most graduates of government-owned universities perform far better than graduates of expensive private universities.

He, however, called on NNPC to, within 72 hours, withdraw all “anti-poor and anti-masses conditions.”

“Failure to comply with this ultimatum, NANS will move out en-mass to protest or shut down the activities of NNPC.

“The association will also not hesitate to expose many of the ongoing and recent past frauds being perpetrated by this Corporation,” he added.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the criteria for Graduate Trainee, among others, require applicants to have graduated from an accredited university/polytechnic/monotechnic not earlier than 2014.

The criteria also required that applicants must not be more than 28 years of age as at December 31, 2018.