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Nigeria: President Tinubu orders Finance Minister to submit cost implications for new minimum wage

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Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, has ordered the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to prepare and submit the cost implications for a new minimum wage being demanded by organized labour, as well present an affordable, sustainable and realistic figure on Wednesday.

Tinubu gave marching orders to the Minister on Tuesday when he summoned the government’s representatives in a tripartite committee on new minimum wage to a meeting in his office.

The wage increase has been a bone of contention between labour and government which has led to several strike actions that has crippled Nigeria’s economy, with the latest which commenced on Monday shutting down key government infrastructures.

In several meetings between labour leaders and the tripartite committee, the Federal Government had proposed N48,000, N57,000 and N60,000, which labour rejected and embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike on Monday but suspended it yesterday to give room for further negotiations.

While giving the order, Tinubu said the government’s new offer must be ready today as the basis of negotiation with organised labour, and also directed those involved in the negotiation to expedite action, so that everything on the new minimum wage could be concluded as soon as possible.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who briefed journalists after the meeting, said President Tinubu had to summon the meeting to look at the contentious issues and find amicable solutions to them.

Idris stated that the Federal Government’s team had been negotiating with the organized labour and expressed hopes that the issue could be resolved within the next seven days.

“It has been quite challenging but we thank God that we are at this point. We thank labour that its leaders have suspended the strike early yesterday.

“On government’s side, the President has just summoned a meeting of all those negotiating on behalf of the Federal Government, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and the Minister of Finance was there, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning. Myself, the Minister of State for Labour, the GMD of the NNPC were all there to look at those issues.

“The President has directed the Minister of Finance to do the numbers and get back to him between today (yesterday) and tomorrow (today), so we can have some figures ready for negotiation with labour.

“Let me say that Mr. President is determined to go with what the committee has said. He is also looking at the welfare of Nigerians. Like I have said earlier, government is not an opponent of labour discussions. It is not an opponent of wage increase.

“But what is there is that government is always desirous of ensuring that there is a balance between what government pronouncement is and what realities are on ground and, therefore, will work assiduously to ensure that whatever we do, whatever promises government makes will be kept. That is the idea of this meeting.

“The President has given a marching order to all those who negotiate on behalf of the government and all those also who are representatives of other sectors, the Organized Private Sector, OPS, the sub-nationals come together, so we can have a new wage award that is acceptable, sustainable and also realistic for Nigeria.

“A wage award is not just that of the federal government, like I mentioned earlier. The subnationals are involved, the OPS is involved, and organised labour is involved. It was a labour that stepped out during those proceedings.

‘’Now that we have come back to the negotiating table, all of us will work together again, seriously within the next one week, to ensure that we have a new wage for Nigeria that is acceptable, sustainable and realistic for all Nigerians.”

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Zambia: APP leader lampoons PF over pledge to reverse forfeited properties

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Leader of one of Zambia’s opposition parties, Advocates for People’s Prosperity (APP), Mwenye Musenge, has criticised the Patriotic Front (PF) over its promise to reverse forfeited properties if the party won the 2026 presidential election.

Musenge, who was reacting to a statement credited to the PF Member of Parliament (MP) for Lukashya Province, George Chisanga, described the PF’s promise as a betrayal, saying the declaration had exposed the party’s disregard for accountability and justice.

The APP leader, who spoke to Zambia Monitor in a telephone interview from Kitwe, expressed shock that Chisanga, a former Law Association of Zambia president, would endorse what he termed a “regressive agenda,” accusing the PF of prioritising the protection of corrupt individuals over the welfare of citizens.

“This declaration reveals the PF’s true intentions, returning to power not to serve Zambians, but to shield their corrupt network and restore stolen assets,” Musenge said.

He alleged that former President Edgar Lungu’s consistent calls to protect his family, who he claimed cannot explain their amassed wealth, further demonstrate the party’s self-serving mission.

Musenge further described the PF as “a political carcass animated by greed and nostalgia for its days of unchecked looting,” and accused its leaders of leaving Zambia impoverished while enriching themselves.

“Allowing them near power again would be akin to handing a butcher’s knife to a thief already drenched in the blood of the nation’s resources.

“The PF represents everything wrong with Zambian politics—a relic of the past clinging to survival through recycled lies and corrupt agendas,” he added.

Musenge went on to call for the party to be permanently eradicated, saying it had no vision, morality, or credibility to serve Zambians.

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Nigerian Senate confirms influx of terrorists from Mali, Burkina Faso into the country 

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The Nigerian Senate has raised the alarm over the influx of terrorists from Mali and Burkina Faso who operate in the name of Lakurawa, into Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna and Niger States in the northern parts of the country.

The Upper Chamber, which raised the alarm during plenary on Wednesday, called on the military to set up early warning mechanisms to forestall further incursions by terrorist groups as well as maintain presence and vigilance in the affected communities to halt the activities of the terror group from spreading further across the region.

The resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a motion titled, “Urgent need for the federal government to take stringent measures to stop the infiltration of a group of violent terrorists, known as Lakurawa, from entrenching themselves in some northwest states of Sokoto and Kebbi,” and was sponsored by the senator representing Kebbi North, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, and co- sponsored by Senators Adamu Aliero, from Kebbi Central, and Garba Musa Maidoki, representing Kebbi South.

While presenting the motion, Senator Abdullahi said:

“The Senate is aware that a group of terrorists from neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, known as Lakurawa, has infiltrated the country through the Nigeria-Niger border, at Illela, Tangaza and Silame Local Government Areas of Sokoto and are from there, attacking communities in Augie and Arewa LGAs in Kebbi State.

“Recall that this violent gang of terrorists had raided and dispossessed these communities, prior to the large-scale invasion of Mera, a village in Augie Local Government, on November 8, 2024, killing more than 20 people and fleeing with their livestock, amounting to hundreds of millions of naira.

“Senate is aware that Kebbi State government promptly responded by sending a delegation with relief materials to the affected villages and assistance to the families of the deceased.

“Aware that Senator Yahaya A. Abdullahi (Kebbi North) and Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi North Central) and Senator Garba Musa Maidoki (Kebbi South), along with some members of the House of Representatives from Kebbi State, have been to those areas, to commiserate with victims of the attacks on behalf of the National Assembly.

“Aware that if timely, adequate and decisive measures are not taken, this group can spread its reign of terror to other northern parts of the country and beyond.

“Notes the prompt response of the ministry of defence and the armed forces who despatched a well-armed military response squad that was able to dislodge the terrorists and secured the release of herds of cattle and other livestock stolen by the terrorists. These foreigners have invaded the country.

“We need to nip the situation in the bud, they have international connections, heavily armed with very dangerous weapons, the federal government should take the matter very seriously.

‘These terrorists are well armed with highly sophisticated weapons, this is a very serious matter on national security, they control the whole of Northern Mali and now attacking Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger, and others. The time to act is now, we have to take action on how to tame terrorism.”

He said the Senate should revisit past resolutions on terrorism and send them to the Presidency for immediate action.

”I want us to recall what happened in the 8th and 9th Senates. We discussed extensively how we can stem the tide of banditry and terrorism. We made far-reaching recommendations, and we asked the Executive arm of government to implement those resolutions.

“It is still relevant for us to insist that those resolutions should be implemented, if we do so, it will reduce the incidences of banditry and insurgency in the country. We can reduce it to the barest minimum.”

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