Tag: Chris Ngige

  • ICPC Denies Arresting Chris Ngige, Confirms Invitation for Questioning

    ICPC Denies Arresting Chris Ngige, Confirms Invitation for Questioning

    By   Milcah   Tanimu

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has denied reports circulating on social media that former Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, was arrested. ICPC spokesperson Demola Bakare clarified in an interview with AIT on Thursday that Ngige was merely invited for questioning regarding activities during his time in office.

    Bakare emphasized that Ngige was not detained and was allowed to leave after the questioning. He further noted that Ngige has been asked to return on a specified date for further inquiries. “The former Labour minister, Chris Ngige, was not arrested. He was invited for questioning related to his previous ministry’s activities,” Bakare explained.

    The ICPC urged the public to disregard the false reports and advised journalists to verify their information before publishing to prevent the spread of misinformation. This clarification comes amidst widespread social media speculation linking Ngige’s invitation to ongoing corruption investigations.

    For accurate updates, stay tuned to verified sources and avoid being misled by unverified social media claims.

  • My Salary is Only N942,000 Monthly, With No Allowance – Ngige

    My Salary is Only N942,000 Monthly, With No Allowance – Ngige

    The Nigeria Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has stated that his monthly salary after tax deduction is N942,000.

    Ngige made this disclosure on Monday during an interview tagged ‘Politics Today’ on Channels television.

    Speaking on the administration’s commitment to workers’ welfare in the last eight years, he said even political officeholders were not left out in the excruciating economic situation in the country.

    When asked about paying workers’ salaries from June and beyond, the minister said, ” I’m not the Central Bank governor, neither am I the finance minister. These two manage the Nigerian economy, the fiscal and micro. Even if it means printing money, I cannot print, and I don’t know how it’s done.

    ”My salary is N942,000 a month. That’s my salary with my Personal Assistant, that is the gross total after taxation. Every minister you see, that’s what it is. Special Adviser too, is around that amount at the federal level.”

  • The Incoming Govt Should Review Minimum Wage — Ngige

    The Incoming Govt Should Review Minimum Wage — Ngige

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige says the incoming administration of the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu should start discussions on a review of the minimum wage currently obtainable in Nigeria immediately after its inauguration in May.

    The minister, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday, said the next government should come up with a new minimum wage higher than the current N30,000 by May 2024.

    He also said the outgoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari approved pay raise for “hardcore civil servants”, effective January 1, 2023, adding that there is a provision for it in the 2023 budget.

    According to the minister who was a member of a committee that negotiated a new minimum wage in 2018 which ended it in 2019, more than one year, the minimum wage in the West African country should be reviewed every five years to fit current standard of living.

    “It is a tripartite negotiation involving public sector, private sector and state governments,” he said, adding that the minimum wage that went to the National Assembly then saw an increase from N18,000 to N30,000 though many states are yet to implement it.

    Ngige said, “We entrenched in that bill or law that minimum wage will now have an automaticity of review every five years.

    “So, from 2019 when it came into effect to 2024 will be five years but we also made a recommendation in our document which we submitted that the discussion, the negotiation should start one year from May 2024 when it supposed to kick-start.

    “So, I’m envisaging that as from May 2023, the government will empanel the new minimum wage review committee for the nation.

    “In my handover note which I am going to hand over to the transition committee and the next government, I am recommending that the discussions start anytime from May 2023.”

  • FG Gives Registration Certificates To CONUA, NAMDA

    FG Gives Registration Certificates To CONUA, NAMDA

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has presented certificates of registration to the Congress Of University Academics (CONUA) and the National Association Of Medical And Dental Academics (NAMDA), two breakaway labour unions from the Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU).

    Speaking at the official presentation of certificates to the two unions in Abuja, the labour minister warned the unions against incessant industrial action and urged them to embrace dialogue whenever they have a misunderstanding with their employers.

    Ngige maintained that the Federal Government will continue to enforce the “no work, no pay” policy on any union that embarks on industrial action.

    The presentation of these certificates of registration to the leaders of CONUA and NAMDA by the labour minister signified the birth of two labour unions in Nigeria’s academic system.

    The two unions came into the limelight in October 2022 in the heat of an eight-month strike by ASUU.

    The minister urged the new unions to operate within the provisions of the labour laws.

    In their respective comments, the unions appealed to the government to pay their withheld salaries, saying their members were not on strike with ASUU last year.

    The Nigerian university system has suffered serious setbacks in recent times, owing to incessant industrial actions by academic and non-academic staff, a development that has severally disrupted the academic calendar.

  • 2023: I Won’t Work For Any Candidate – Ngige

    2023: I Won’t Work For Any Candidate – Ngige

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has said he will not work for the emergence of any of the presidential candidates, in the February election.

    Ngige who is a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, said the four frontline presidential candidates are his friends, and that he will not campaign for or against any of them.

    The Minister stated this on Wednesday, in his country home in Alor while speaking to journalists.

    He urged Nigerians to rather look at the programmes of the candidates and determine which of them was better than the other, and vote right.

    When prodded further on which of the candidates he thinks may win the election, Ngige said he would not like to predict, insisting Nigerians should be allowed to choose who they want to be their president.

    Giving an account of his personal relationship with each of the frontline presidential candidates, Ngige said: “Malam Kwankwaso, is my friend, I know him too as deputy speaker when he was deputizing Agunwa Anekwe, one of our party’s strong men.

    “Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Vice President (former) the Federal Republic of Nigeria was the man who was in the helm of affairs when I was ‘kidnapped’- when I was shoved out of office.

    “He was standing in for Mr President (Obasanjo), who was in Maputo, and he ordered the Inspector General of Police then, to reinstate me to office.

    “I also worked with him in the economic team- National Economic Council as the Vice President. So, I know him, and he is a friend of mine, and we also formed AC together.

    “Peter Obi, my brother, my successor and my everything, I know him too and he is a friend. So, how do I campaign against any of them?

    “Bola Ahmed Tinubu, my friend again – supportive. During trying times; we formed AC together. I became the known opposition Senator in the Eastern Region under the auspices and platform of the ACN. So, he is not somebody I don’t know.

  • FG to Review Civil Servants’ Allowances Not Salaries – Ngige

    FG to Review Civil Servants’ Allowances Not Salaries – Ngige

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has denied saying that the federal government was reviewing the salaries of public and civil servants.

    Ngige said the increase he alluded to with State House Correspondents in Abuja was on the remunerations and emoluments of the affected workers, especially the civil servants.

    The minister’s denial was contained in a statement signed by Head, Public Relations at the Ministry, Mr. Olajide Oshundun.

    The statement read, “The attention of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has been drawn to the news item that the FG is reviewing salaries of public and civil servants which was a fall out of his interaction with State House Correspondents after his recent audience with Mr. President.

    “The minister wishes to clarify that the increase he talked about was on the remunerations and emoluments of the affected workers, especially the civil servants.”

    The statement said the Presidential Committee on Salaries through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation had received recommendations for review of allowances of many Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.

    “Because salary component is not being reviewed for now by the committee, it addressed the allowances component of the requests including the peculiar allowance for Federal Civil Servants amongst others.”

    According to the ministry, in labour parlance, remuneration or emolument is made up of salary component and earned allowance component.

    “Therefore, the FG through the PCS could not have engaged on the review of salaries without involving the workers through their unions, represented by these two labour federation of workers in Nigeria – The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria salary review or renegotiation is part of social dialogue and the product is usually a Collective Bargaining Agreement usually agreed to by both parties – employers and employees.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the minister made it clear to the press corps that it was still work in progress and that the end-product of this review of allowances would be submitted to Mr. President for consideration and final approval and that this was one of the Labour issues he briefed him on, that day. It’s hoped that this rightful step which the FG had embarked upon on compassionate grounds without any prodding or threat to strike will help to cushion the debilitating effects of spiraling inflation especially that which affects food and energy prices (electricity and petroleum products).

    “The minister wishes to reassure that the committee is optimistic that Mr. President will receive and consider the recommendations before the end of the first quarter in 2023,” it said.

  • We Will Increase Salary of Civil Servants in 2023 – FG

    We Will Increase Salary of Civil Servants in 2023 – FG

    The federal government has raised the hope of public and civil servants as it has promised to make a pronouncement soon on salary increase to cushion the effect of the high inflation rate in the country.

    It said already, a Presidential Committee on Salaries is doing a review of the existing salary structures and is expected to come up with salary adjustment early in 2023.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who made this known to newsmen after meeting behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja

    said he was at the seat of government to discuss issues concerning his ministry, including employment and productivity, describing 2022 as a year of industrial dispute.

    The minister had recently hinted that government was considering adjusting workers’ salaries to meet up with the economic realities in the country occasioned by inflation.

    Asked if he discussed the issue of salary increase with the president, especially with the rising inflation in the country, Ngige said: “Yes, that’s what I am saying that the Presidential Committee on Salaries is working hand-in-hand with the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission. The commission is mandated by the Act establishing them to fix salaries, wages and emoluments in not only the public service.

    “If you want their assistance and you are in the private sector, they will also assist you. They have what is called the template for remuneration, for compensation. So if you work, you get compensated, if you don’t work, you will not be compensated.

    “So they have the matrix to do the evaluation, so they are working with the Presidential Committee on Salaries Chaired by the finance ministry and I’m the co-chair to look at the demands of the workers. Outside this, I said discussions on that evaluation are going.”

    On whether a time frame has been fixed for the implementation of new salary increase, he said: “As we enter the new year, government will make some pronouncements in that direction.”

    On the purpose of his visit to the State House, Ngige said he came to brief the president on the activities of his ministry as the year comes to an end.

    His words: “Well, majorly, I came to brief Mr. President, you know the year is coming to an end and we have to look at our 2022 exhaustively.

    “Part of my ministry, we are to discuss labour issues and what we are able to do. First and foremost, we look at the employment situation in the country and what we have achieved and what we have not achieved.

    “Employment is high and various policies and I have to tell him the successful ones in them. We also had a briefing on productivity viz-a-viz the various industrial disputes we had in 2022.

    “It’s a year we can call a year of industrial dispute starting from the February Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) strike which was joined by other sister unions in the university system and even the people in the research institutes.

    “And thereafter, threats from various unions including the medical doctors association and its youth wing, the National Association of Resident Doctors, JOHESU which is also the Joint Health Sector Union all were asking for a wage increase.

    “And asking for wage increase can also be understandable because of what inflation had done in the economy and the attendant cost of living for people who have to be workers in the public sector.

    “In the private sector, the private sector employers have managed their affairs better, maybe, because their finances and its management is within their very audit and they could control it, they could do collective bargaining very easily with their workers.

    “The banking sector, food and beverages and finance insurance everywhere. So there is calm there. We didn’t have the desired calmness on the government’s side because of the government’s finances.

    “However, I’ve briefed him, we are doing some review within the Presidential Committee on Salaries, and discussions are ongoing. The doctors are discussing with the Ministry of Health, insurance people in the public sector discussing and there is a general calmness.

    “Hopefully, within available resources, the government can do something in the coming year.”

    Prodded about the position of government on the eight months outstanding salaries ASUU is requesting for, the minister said for now the matter is in court for proper interpretation of the Trade Dispute Act as it concerns no-work-no-pay policy invoked by the government during the strike period.

    According to him, “ASUU has not pronounced anything on their salaries anymore because it’s one of the issues that was referred to the National Industrial Court for determination, whether a worker who is on strike should be paid in violation of section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act, which says when you go on strike the consequences are these: number one, you will not be paid, you will not be compensated for not going to work to enable your employer keep the industry or enterprise afloat.

    “That money should not be given to you, and that compensation should not be given. It’s there in Section 43 (1). There is a second leg to Section 43, it also said that that period you were on strike will not count for you as part of your pensionable period of work in your service.

    “That leg, government has not touched it, but the leg of no-work-no-pay has been triggered off by that strike.

    “So, we are asking the court to look at it. So the matter is out of the hand of the executive (that’s us) and on the hand of the judiciary. ASUU has also put up a defence in court. Asking the court, yes we went on strike, but we did that for a reason. So it’s now left for the court to look at it.”

  • Ngige has turned ASUU strike to personal quarrel – Jega

    Ngige has turned ASUU strike to personal quarrel – Jega

    Attahiru Jega, former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has accused Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, of taking the industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) personal and turning it into a private dispute.

    Jega in an interview on Arise TV, alleged that Ngige is having a personal quarrel with the minister of education and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    He also faulted the Minister for registering two breakout factions of ASUU and also trying to proscribe ASUU.

    Jega said;

    “Unfortunately, right now, the minister of labour is not helping matters. He has turned this into a personal quarrel between him and the minister of education on one hand and between himself and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the other.

    “While many other people are trying to find a way of addressing this situation so that students can go back to school and ASUU can go back to work, he is busy creating challenges.

    “He now took the matter to the industrial court, now today, he now registered two unions and he is trying to proscribe ASUU.

    “If this is allowed by this government, I think this is a recipe for disaster and it may really create more problems than it can solve on this matter of strike in the universities.”

  • Strike: FG May Order VCs to Reopen Campuses If ASUU Reneges On Court Directive -Ngige

    Strike: FG May Order VCs to Reopen Campuses If ASUU Reneges On Court Directive -Ngige

    By Marcus Ikechukwu 

    The Federal Government has declared that nobody won or lost in the ruling of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), ordering members of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to work.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, made the declaration today while receiving members of the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) in his office.

    He said the government would order the vice chancellors to reopen the universities in compliance with the order of court.

    Ngige also assured that the court ruling does not preclude further negotiation between the Federal Government and ASUU.

    He said: “The ruling is in the best interest of the nation. It is a win-win situation for all of us- government, students, lecturers- all Nigerians indeed. I have just gotten the order of court asking ASUU to go back to work.It is a sound judgment. It is no victor, no vanquished. You doctors in academics are for now members of ASUU, but, you are here, even though you have dissociated yourself and you are working. We want to thank you for working and teaching your students.

    “The court ruling does not preclude us from going on with further negotiation and consultations. The pro-chancellors met Mr. President and made some demands, such as topping up government offer and seeing whether there could be some bailout. Mr. President said in considering it, he will consult stakeholders. So, he is going to consult everybody.”

    Ngige welcomed the intervention of the House of Representatives in the ASUU imbroglio, saying he was happy that the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila said they were going to meet the President.

    He said the intervention was timely considering that the President must have also consulted some stakeholders, adding that whatever money to be put in would go into the 2023 appropriation where the National Assembly comes in.

    “If they have shown interest now, it is good and wonderful. When they bring that proposal, the Executive will not have any problem. ASUU should also know that this is a step in the right direction. And all these things have been promised them by the Minister of Education at their last meeting with him. For me, they should do the needful and get back to classroom.”

  • ASUU Strike: FG Is Not Opposed To Renegotiations – Ngige

    ASUU Strike: FG Is Not Opposed To Renegotiations – Ngige

    The Federal Government has said that it is not opposed to renegotiations of the conditions of service of all workers in the public universities across the country.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige stated this on Monday while receiving members of the government side of the 2009 Federal Government/University-based unions agreement re-negotiation committee led by the Chairman, Prof. Nimi Briggs.

    Speaking against the backdrop of the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), Ngige said as the conciliator, he has been pushing to see that everything contained in the 2020 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the government and the union was done, including the implementation of the renegotiated positions.

    The minister recalled that the renegotiation commenced in 2017 when the Federal Government was inaugurated. a committee headed by Wale Babalakin SAN who was later replaced by Professor Manzali, but COVID-19 struck in 2020.

    He explained that in the December 2020 agreement, he gave the government side a timeline to return to the university unions who are their employees to sort everything out.

    “I started pushing to see that things were done. What the Manzali committee came up with is a proposal. Both Manzali and ASUU did not sign. At our last meeting in February before ASUU proceeded on strike, we said everyone should go back to his principal,” Ngige stated during the meeting.

    “I asked the Education ministry several times what they had done with the document. We later got information on areas of disagreement. There is nothing wrong with that. It is bound to happen. I told ASUU to put up a committee, they said Manzali committee had expired.”

    “So, I am a parent. I feel it. I didn’t send my children to Igbinedion or Afe Babalola or Cambridge.”

    Ngige said his daughter as American citizenship could have accessed American education but he refused.

    According to him, the Nigerian university system produced him and he remains proud of it.

    “When we went to universities here, I knew the course content and as a medical doctor, the doctors we trained here are better than the ones trained abroad. That is one of the counsels I gave to my children. You can do your first degree. One got admission in Ghana, I said no. Others got in Canada and UK, but I refused. If anybody will be interested in the welfare of workers in Nigerian universities, I am number one. I told my colleagues that what university professors showed us here as their salaries is unacceptable.”

    The minister said he had commissioned studies on productivity with regards to emoluments and based on the results he got, it was clear that payments done ten years ago when the exchange rate was better, amounted to nothing now with 100 percent depreciation of Naira compared to the Dollar.

    “Why won’t I support if ASUU and their unions now want a renegotiation of their conditions of service, which is the main thing in the proposal by previous Manzali?”

    Meanwhile, Prof. Briggs who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndifu Alike, Ebonyi State, said the renegotiation committee was consulting all stakeholders with a view to finding a lasting solution to issues in dispute.

    The academics are seeking improved welfare, revitalisation of public universities and academic autonomy among other demands.

    One bone of contention for the academics is the non-payment of university revitalisation funds, which amounts to about N1.1 trillion.

    But the Federal Government has said it doesn’t have the money to pay such an amount, citing low oil prices during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    The agreement was reportedly struck in 2009.

    Another is the issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

    The academics have proposed an alternative payroll system, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).