Towards nipping in the bud the threat of industrial action by the organised labour over electricity tariff increase, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has scheduled a conciliatory meeting with the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Electricity Distribution Companies next week.
Ngige gave this hint on Friday while defending the Ministry’s budget before the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity.
This followed the threat by organised labour to embark on a protest on Monday morning and picket Discos all over the country.
According to the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, earlier efforts to resolve the issue had been spurned by both the government and the electricity service providers.
Ngige told the Senate Committee: “We have gotten their letter and have invited them for discussions, including Electricity Distributions Companies and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.”
Justifying the Ministry’s 2016 budget proposal, Ngige stated that the ministry is poised towards tackling the challenges of unemployment, using well thought out programmes, cardinal among which are the Graduate Teachers Conversion, Skills Acquisition Programs and Conditional Cash Transfer.
He said: “The programmes of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari are focused towards employment generation.
“To this end, there is a change in our 2016 budget from what it used to be in the past because this year, we want to tackle unemployment and we will tackle it from all facets using programmes such as Graduate Conversion Scheme and Vocational Skills Acquisition programme among others to ensure that our young ones are empowered for self-sustenance.”
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Employment Labour and Productivity, Senator Suleiman Nazif, assured the Ministry that the committee will take a holistic look at the proposed budget, mindful of the critical responsibilities of the ministry in the fight against unemployment.
According to Nazif: “We will go back and study your budget proposal.
“You can be assured that Nigerians will be proud of the outcome.
“I want to state that with Ngige at the helm of affairs in the ministry, we are sure that there are better days ahead.”
Speaking further, Nazif stated that the Ministry of Labour and Employment requires a lot of money, being one of the major drivers of the cardinal programmes of the present administration, adding that his committee will take oversight functions seriously after the passage of the budget to ensure effective utilization of funds appropriated.
Similarly, a member of the committee, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, affirmed that given the enormous responsibilities before the ministry, it has become imperative to adequately fund its activities.
Tinubu said the present budget proposal appears to be inadequate for employment generation.
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