The report that the new minimum wage talks between the Federal Government and the Organised Labour are expected to end on Monday (today) as the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress leaders await President Bola Tinubu’s decision on their N250,000 offer dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch reports that the new minimum wage talks between the Federal Government and Organised Labour are expected to end on Monday (today) as the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress leaders await President Bola Tinubu’s decision on their N250,000 offer.
The labour leaders had given a Monday deadline for the conclusion of talks on the new minimum wage.
Last Friday, the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage concluded its meetings where the Federal Government and the Organized Private Sector agreed on N62,000 while Labour demanded N250,000.
However, the Nigeria Governors Forum in a statement said any minimum wage higher than N60,000 was not sustainable.
Speaking with our correspondents on Sunday, labour leaders noted that the parties were waiting for the President to decide on the proposals presented by the tripartite committee.
The labour leaders, who did not want to be quoted for security reasons, said the NLC President, Joe Ajaero and other top union officials had left the country to participate in a labour conference organised by the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland.
The PUNCH was informed that the labour leaders would hold their National Executive Council meeting where a decision on the strike would be taken on their return from Geneva, based on the feedback from the president.
The newspaper says that as Nigerians expect premium motor spirit from the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery this month, petroleum marketers have started registering with the company ahead of loading the product, The PUNCH has learnt.
The marketers are registering as individual business owners applying to get direct fuel supply from the oil refinery.
This is even as the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria said it would continue talks with the company to get bulk supply for its members who may not be able to buy a large volume of petrol from the refinery.
The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, last month disclosed that it would begin the sale of PMS in June, saying his refinery would end the importation of petrol into Nigeria.
Speaking at the recent Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, Dangote expressed optimism about transforming Africa’s energy landscape.
“Right now, Nigeria has no cause to import anything apart from gasoline and by sometime in June, within the next four or five weeks, Nigeria shouldn’t import anything like gasoline; not one drop of a litre,” he declared
“We have enough gasoline to give to at least the entire West Africa, diesel to give to West Africa and Central Africa. We have enough aviation fuel to give to the entire continent and also export some to Brazil and Mexico.”
The Vanguard newspaper reports that Chief Executive Officers in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector have listed foreign exchange (FX) volatility, inadequate power supply and high inflation as some of the topmost challenges they encountered in their operations in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1’24).
This, according to them, led to a further surge in production and distribution costs by 20.7 percent in the period.
The list was based on the Q1’24 Manufacturers CEO Confidence Index (MCCI) survey conducted by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) which ranked the challenges facing their operations in order of severity.
The report stated: “Top ten on the list of manufacturers’ challenges include unstable and high exchange rate/scarcity of FX; inadequate power supply/frequent power outages; high inflation/high operating cost (of raw materials, labour, equipment and maintenance); high cost of energy (petrol, diesel, gas); high and multiple taxes, charges and levies.
“Others include insecurity; over-regulation and policy inconsistency; high interest rate/inadequate access to credit; poor infrastructure and distribution channels/multiple checkpoints/gridlock at the national ports; and high cost of transportation/logistics costs.”
The other binding constraints identified by the survey are high inventory of unsold manufactured goods/low patronage/poor sales; high and unstable import duty; unavailability of raw materials/delay in receiving imported raw materials; frequent change in customer demand/inaccurate demand forecasting; influx of sub-standard goods/smuggling; shortage of skilled labour; scarcity of genuine machine parts; corruption/lack of moral value; and poor business plan/inventory & supply chain management.
“The challenges led to a further surge in production and distribution costs by 20.7 percent in Q1’24 from the 21.73 percent increase witnessed in the preceding quarter.
“Capacity utilisation also declined further by 9.76 percent from 3.81 percent, while the volume of production slid further by 10.14 percent in Q1’24 from a contraction of 4.6 percent recorded in the previous quarter,” the survey report added.
The newspaper says that the government of the United Kingdom (UK) has helped to attract $85 million investment into Nigeria’s manufacturing sector through its Manufacturing Africa programme since 2020.
Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jonny Baxter, disclosed this at a ceremony to announce the funding of three Nigerian-based clean energy companies to expand renewable energy access in the country.
Manufacturing Africa is an initiative of the UK government through its Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) aimed at supporting the sustainable growth of the manufacturing sector in Africa by attracting £1.2 billion of foreign direct investment into the sector between 2019 and 2026.
According to a statement by Ndidiamaka Eze, Senior Press & Public Affairs Officer at the British High Commission, Baxter said that the Manufacturing Africa programme has so far supported 31 Nigerian companies to raise investment in sectors including agro-processing, industrial parks, pharmaceuticals, vehicle manufacturing, e-mobility, and renewable energy.
“The programme has helped to attract $85 millions into Nigeria’s manufacturing sector since 2020,” he stated.
Baxter said that the fund would enhance Nigeria’s commitments toward boosting private-sector led economic growth.
“We’re funding the Manufacturing Africa programme to provide free advisory services to companies raising finance to expand their capabilities and create new jobs in Nigeria. It’s great to see these companies realise their goals with UK support,” he added.
According to him, the advisory services that the programme has provided to the companies included financial analysis, modelling, commercial diligence analysis and strategic business planning.
GIK/APA