The senate has recalled Abdul Ningi, senator representing Bauchi central, from suspension.

The upper legislative chamber recalled Ningi following a motion sponsored by Abba Moro, minority leader; Olalere Oyewumi, senator representing Osun south; and Osita Ngwu, senator representing Enugu west.

Ningi was suspended for three months in March for alleging that the 2024 budget was padded by N3 trillion.

Moving the motion, Moro said the Bauchi senator has already spent two months away from the national assembly, and that there is a need for him to return to his legislative duties.

“Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi was asked to address his allegation of budget padding against the national assembly, following a motion of urgent national importance moved by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, the chairman, senate committee on appropriations,” he said.

“Failing to address the allegation, the senate resolved to suspend Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi for three months for violating legislative rules, misconduct and unethical behaviour for the interview he granted on BBC media on the 2024 Appropriation Act, a legislation which he was part of.

“Senator Abdul Ahmed Ninigi, being under suspension, has spent over two months outside the precincts of the National Assembly Complex and needs to return to continue with his legislative activities as the senator representing Bauchi central senatorial district.

“Flowing from the above, the senate minority leadership takes full responsibility for the actions of our colleague Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi and apologises on his behalf.”

The motion was adopted after it was put to a voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The Organised Labour has again rejected a fresh minimum wage proposal by the Federal Government.

This time, the Organised Labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), rejected the offer of the Federal Government to pay ₦60,000 as new minimum wage for workers.

The Organised Labour also shifted ground from its ₦497,000 stance last week to ₦494,000.

A prominent member of the Tripartite Committee for the negotiation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers told Channels Television labour correspondent that the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) side of the talks proposed a ₦60,000 monthly minimum wage on Tuesday (today) as against the ₦57,000 they proposed last week when the committee last met.

The government and the OPS had initially proposed ₦48,000 and ₦54,000 last week, which were also rejected by the Organised Labour.

Deadlocked
The Organised Labour had also presented ₦615,000 as the new minimum wage but saw reasons to drop their demand to ₦497,000 last week and then to ₦494,000 on Tuesday (today).

Today’s meeting was, however, deadlocked as talks ended without an agreement on what to pay as a new minimum wage.

The Tripartite Committee for the negotiation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers is yet to agree on a new minimum wage just about three days before the May 31 deadline the labour unions gave to the government to conclude the negotiations.

The labour unions said the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 can no longer cater for the wellbeing of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award which expired in April 2024, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Act should be reviewed every five years to meet up with contemporary economic demands of workers.

‘Unsubstantial’
NLC President Joe Ajaero had described as “unsubstantial”, the fresh proposals by the government. “It is still not substantial compared to what we need to make a family moving,” the labour leader had said of the current ₦30,000 wage paid to workers in the country.

“The economy of the workers is totally destroyed. In fact, the workers don’t have any economy. I think there are two economies in the country; the economy of the bourgeoisie and the economy of the workers. I think we have to harmonise this so that we can have a meeting point,” Ajaero had said.

The Federal Government has added a sum of N3,000 to its initially proposed N57,000 minimum wage, making it the sum of N60,000 proposed on Tuesday during a meeting of the tripartite committee on minimum wage in Abuja.

Organised labour, comprising the Trade Union Congress and the Nigeria Labour Congress, also went down by N3,000 from its last proposal of N497,000 during the last minimum wage meeting.

According to a source who gave the breakdown at the Tuesday meeting, the amount proposed by the government did not go down well with labour leaders.

A member of the union who spoke to our correspondent before the meeting started noted that organised labour would only go lower if the government went higher on its demands.

“This is simply a case of if they go higher, we will go lower. They need to propose something reasonable for us to propose something lower too. There is no two-way about it.

“Also, we have a way of meeting as members of the Labour before each committee meeting. This will help us to take a uniform stand by the time we get to the meeting front.

“So as long as the government is ready to present something reasonable, we will meet them in the middle,” the labour leader said.

Details later