Federal Government to announce new minimum wage

The Federal Government yesterday said that a new wage regime for workers in the country will be unfolded next year, just as Nigerians await the full deregulation of the oil sector.

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode, said this in Akure while speaking with newsmen at the laying of the Foundation of the N25million National Skill Acquisition Centre in Oba Ile area, Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Kayode, who had earlier paid a courtesy visit to the state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, said the new minimum wage will put smiles on the faces of Nigerian workers.

According to him "The issue of Minimum wage is under process. The FG approved theJustice Alfa Belgore Panel which has Labour, employers and government as members.

"We have been divided into sub committees and have been working and it is for the committees to round off their assignments. I asked them to round off early next year so that we can move on.

The Minister said that "we want to change from minimum wage to living wage, that is a salary that can allow people to live a purposeful life. We also want to institutionalize it so that we do not need to be going round it every time.

Speaking on deregulation, the Minister said that "I do not think the fear of deregulation so to speak, is the cause of the current fuel scarcity.

"I think some people are playing games with the citizens of this country. The usual games they play at the end of every year and certain bottlenecks like the tanker drivers issue and distribution which had all been resolved.

"There is enough fuel to go round. That is why the Federal Government wants to implement a reform of the downstream sector in the first place. For the past 25 years, government has been trying to do this but for these bottlenecks. Now, Mr. President has said that he will do it.

"He will do it, not that he is not aware of some temporary hardship, but in the long run, it will be in the best interest of this country.

"The fuel shortage will actually end the moment we tidy up the conflict in the distribution process. There are lots of fuel on the high sea, depots and so on. Fuel is available, so why don't they distribute it properly.

"What we have decided at the Federal level is to implement the very urgent, massive programme for skill development and acquisition throughout Nigeria. This type of skill acquisition centre will be established all over the country.. It is a new programme to build on old ones.

"The essence is to make our people acquire additional skills, new skills that will make them employable. We have many people who are unemployed even graduates. Other than government work, what do you want somebody with a Ph.D to do? You have to additional skills

"We want to emphasize technical issues like mechatronics, technical training, welding technology, building technology and so on. Whatever you study in school or level of education, you have to key-in and acquire some skills which will enable you to be employable. ICT is also top on the agenda.

"We are doing this not only as ministry of labour, we have established synergies and partnership with other ministries. Our ICT programme for instance is being powered and funded through the NCC.

"The level of activities going on in Ondo State now also called for a proactive measure because the state has been producing too many graduates. The governor said his volunteer scheme was introduced to mop up the excess jobless youths in the state.

"We will also partner with the state government to ensure that this is done very quickly.

The Minister said that the Skill Acquisition project will cost about N25m and that seven of them exist in the country.

Earlier, at the Courtesy visit the Minister said that next year the Ministry and the state government would organize the first Ondo state Diplomatic Forum and that over fifty Ambassadors are expected to grace the occasion.

He promised to work with the governor despite belonging to different political parties for the development of the state and the people.

The Governor Dr Mimiko said that the state government would in the next four year employ over 5000 person under its Social Security Scheme launched few days ago in which 1000 Volunteers were engaged.

Dr Mimiko pointed out that the Social Security Scheme would be a model in the country.

Vanguard

Related stories: Nigeria getting social security next year

Video - Government failing to provide pension for the elderly

Policeman kills colleague and two others

A police constable on patrol in Abuja yesterday shot dead a police corporal and two other people after a quarrel.

A witness said the police constable collected a gun from the corporal to threaten a passenger who refused to obey his instruction in Dobi motor park, Gwagwalada, Abuja.

He accidently pulled the trigger, killing the corporal, the passenger and a motor park official. The witness said all the three died.

He said the passenger was carrying a gallon of palm oil and was about to board a commercial vehicle to his village before the quarrelling with the policeman.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Abuja DSP Moshood Jimoh confirmed the story and said the Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police John Haruna has ordered the arrest of the killer police constable and directed investigation into the matter.

Jimoh said two people including the corporal were confirmed dead from a shot fired by the constable.

He said argument ensued between the deceased over an unknown issue and the police constable carrying a gun went to settle them and accidentally fired the gun.

He said there was no established intention for the shooting at the initial stage of the investigation, regarding it as "accidental discharge".

Daily Trust

Related stories: Nigerian police out of control according to amnesty international

Police officer murders two children in hospital

FIFA congratulates Nigerian police on security

Federal Government declares Shell can't sell oil fields

The Federal Government has said Royal Dutch Shell Plc has no powers to sell the assets it owns jointly with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The Shell/NNPC Joint Venture covers 90 oil fields, spanning 30,000 square kilometres, 72 oil-pumping stations, 10 gas plants and two major oil export terminals at Bonny and Forcados, according to a company fact-sheet. Sunday Times of London had reported that Shell planned to sell fields valued at up to $5 billion as Nigeria prepares to impose harsher terms on foreign operators and hand greater control to domestic oil firms, through the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), currently before the National Assembly.

Potential buyers may include China's Sinopec and Nigeria's Oando Plc, the newspaper said. But the Minister of Petroleum, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, said yesterday that the company would need government's approval to sell the oilfields. "It's not theirs to sell," Bloomberg news agency quoted Lukman as saying by phone from Abuja yesterday.

"They're holding concessions given them by the government," Lukman added. The minister insisted that Shell would require government's approval before pressing ahead with a sale, adding that no such request had been made, as far as he is aware. Wendel Broere, a spokesman at The Hague-based Shell, declined to comment, according to Bloomberg. Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Odein Ajuomogobia, also told journalists in Lagos yesterday that government was not concerned over plans by other oil companies to sell their assets in the country owing to the harsh terms contained in the PIB. He argued that the world is a big place; as one company is leaving the country, another one is coming into the country.

"You know we are a sovereign country; we make our laws for ourselves and for those foreigners, who wish to do business with us. We will take account of international norms and practices to ensure that our laws are favourable for investment. It is in our own interest to have laws that attract investment. So, we will do everything we can to make sure that the PIB, when it is passed into law, is a law that makes Nigeria destination for foreign investment. Now, if there is any group of investors, who feel that the laws we make do not serve their interests - the world is a very big place and as one goes, another comes. So, I am not really concerned about that," he said. Ajumogobia also told Reuters yesterday that Shell, Europe's largest oil company, had not informed the government of any such plans.

"It is indeed curious, if the reports making the rounds in this regard are true, that Shell seem so keen on renewing their expired shallow water leases. We certainly intend to make a formal inquiry," he said. Shell's operations were the worst hit by the activities of militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta that started in 2006. The reform bill presented by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to the National Assembly seeks to give the government greater powers over oil concessions while raising taxes paid by energy companies. Licences for 16 fields operated by Shell, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Total and Chevron Corporation in the past four decades are currently up for renewal.

Only ExxonMobil, world's largest publicly-traded oil company, has so far obtained a renewal for three licences while Shell and Chevron are continuing negotiations with the government.

THISDAY reported that worried by uncertainty in the PIB, more International Oil Companies (IOCs) had suspended new investments, especially in deep offshore, where the controversial PIB imposes stiffer conditions on the operators. It was gathered that the unresolved issues in the bill and the uncertainty over its passage have forced the IOCs to adopt a "wait - and - see" attitude on new projects, with some of the companies making moves to relinquish some of their assets.

Uncertainty over the content of the PIB was also a source of worry to both local and foreign operators, who identified the circulation of many versions of the bill, provision for higher royalty payments, multiple taxes on profits and revenue sharing as main areas of dispute. The operators are also opposed to the provisions, which allow the government to renegotiate old contracts, impose higher costs on oil companies and retake oil fields that oil companies are yet to explore. With these provisions, the deep offshore assets of Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total are being threatened.

This Day

Related stories: Shell plans to sell about $5 bln worth of assets it has in Nigeria

Video - Oil War

Chinese in £3 bn battle to buy Shell assets in Nigeria 

Chinese in £3bn battle to buy Shell assets in Nigeria

Two Chinese government-controlled companies are among front-runners in a £3 billion battle for control of oil assets in Nigeria that have been put up for sale by Royal Dutch Shell.

Both Sinopec and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are understood to have expressed interest in the fields, which the Anglo-Dutch group has put up for auction as the violence-prone African nation prepares to impose tougher terms on foreign oil operators next month.

The sale of a string of onshore oilfields by Shell, the biggest foreign oil company in Nigeria, represents a significant shift in strategy by the oil giant since the appointment of its new chief executive, Peter Voser, in July.

Industry insiders said that Shell, which has been struggling for years to maintain production levels in Nigeria amid widespread sabotage, theft and piracy, had commenced discussions about the sale of a number of its smaller producing fields, as well as undeveloped blocks and fields in which production has been curtailed by security troubles.

Shell is not leaving Nigeria and is keen to keep the bulk of its operations in the country. Neither is it selling any of its offshore interests, which are less vulnerable to rebel attacks and piracy.

Insiders said the fields have drawn interest from a variety of international groups, as well as CNOOC and Sinopec. Indian companies are thought to be interested and UK-based independent oil explorers, including First Hydrocarbon Nigeria, part of London-listed Afren, are studying the opportunity.

An insider familiar with the talks said that Shell was likely to sell the fields in individual transactions in the first half of 2010. He said: “We are talking about a few different fields. These are smaller, onshore and more marginal assets that they are not really interested in developing themselves any more.”

Neither CNOOC or Sinopec could be reached for comment yesterday.

Shell is focusing on big developments such as the Pearl gas-to-liquids project in Qatar and the Perdido deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Times Online

Related stories: Federal government declares Shell can't sell oil fields

Shell plans to sell about $5 bln worth of assets it has in Nigeria

Video - U.S. vs China for Nigeria's oil

China invests $6 billion in Nigeria

Top NDLEA official sacked for marrying driver

For finding love with a driver that works with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a top female official of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Mrs. Udeoji Tochukwu Francisca has been sacked from service.

The agency in a sack letter to Mrs. Udeoji said her marriage to a driver Mr. Osondu Enwereuzor was not only embarrassing to NDLEA but a clear violation of paragraph 12.8(ii), schedule 1, part x of NDLEA regulation Act 2001.

But Senate on Thursday ordered its committee on public petitions headed by Senator Omar Hambagda to conduct full scale investigation into the circumstances surrounding the sack of the female officer.

The probe followed a recent petition sent to the Senate by the sacked NDLEA through Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) who told the stunned Senate on Thursday that the woman was specifically sacked by the agency for marring her heartthrob.

Mrs. Udeoji's trouble started in 2004 when she applied to the NDLEA for permission to marry her heartthrob, who was a driver with the NDDC.

Her letter was quickly referred to the NDLEA boss who in a letter signed by Assistant Commander, Mr. Ambrose Umoru ordered for a confidential report on the said driver with the NDDC.

The agency in the letter to the director of NDDC, Abuja liaison office, said the confidential report should be addressed to the commander NDLEA FCT command.

But NDLEA in a letter entitled, "notice of punishment" dated April 2006 asked Mrs. Udeoji to hand "all agency property in her possession to your state commander obtain clearance before you depart.

"Take notice that you have been found guilty of the following offence against discipline, unapproved single parent, contrary to and punishable under paragraph 12.8 of the regulation Act of 2001."

The punishment was sequel to another letter by the agency dated April 2004 in which it disapproved the request by Mrs. Udoji to marry the said driver.

The letter of disapproval was signed by Zirangey, assistant director administration and personnel.

But Abaribe in presenting the petition on the floor of the Senate last Thursday, argued that the decision to sack her was "gender discriminatory" and against her right as enshrined in chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution.

After presenting the petition on behalf of the victim, the Senate President, Senator David Mark promptly asked the committee on public petitions to commence full investigations into the circumstances and ensure that it erases the possibility of miscarriage of justice.

In her petition, Mrs. Udoji said that she was a member of Course 7ASN of the NDLEA, and was employed in the agency in May 2001.

She said she was dismissed from the NDLEA on April 13, 2006 because she got married to a man who works as a driver with the NDDC. She said her husband was investigated by the NDLEA when she gave notice of marriage and found to be clean, but that she was dismissed because she got married to somebody of a junior rank.

In the letter by the NDLEA terminating her appointment, the agency accused her of committing "unapproved single parentage," which it said is contrary to paragraphh12.8(i)schedule1, part X of NDLEA regulations 2001(as amended).

But the woman further stated in her petition that she was aware of the rule in the NDLEA which forbids senior officers from getting married to their juniors but that her husband does not work with the NDLEA.

She stated in the petition: "I did not get married to somebody in the same organisation, my husband works with NDDC while I work with NDLEA."

Daily Champion

Related stories: CNN's Walter Rogers writes women are the future of Nigeria

CNN covers Nigeria's drug war