…As NLC tells committee to perish offer below N615,000

The Federal Government and the Organised Labour have been scheduled to meet today to resume negotiations on the new minimum wage.

Recall that the Organised Labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) pulled out of the negotiation meeting last week Wednesday when the government offered N48,000 as the new minimum wage.

However, Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum wage, Alhaji Bukar Goni in a letter to the organised labour for a meeting tomorrow indicated interest that the government will shift ground and asked the organised labour to also shift ground.

The letter appealed to the labour leaders to speak to their members and attend the reconvened meeting next Tuesday.

The organised labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have proposed a new minimum wage of N615,000, which is way higher than the N48,000 proposal by the government.

The organised private sector, on the other hand, proposed an initial offer of N54,000. After dumping the talks, the labour leaders addressed a press conference where they expressed their anger over the Federal Government’s offer.

They blamed the government and the private sector for the breakdown in negotiation.

The Federal Government had failed to present a nationally acceptable minimum wage to Nigerians before the May 1 Labour Day.

The situation has forced labour to be at loggerheads with the government. In the wake of the tussle, the NLC President Joe Ajaero insisted on the N615,000 minimum wage, arguing that the amount was arrived at after an analysis of the economic situation worsened by the hike in the cost of living and the needs of an average Nigerian family of six.

Ajaero and labour leaders have given the Federal Government a May 31 deadline to meet their demands.

Reacting, the Nigeria Labour Congress has told the committee to perish making an offer below N615,000.

Defending the proposed wage, the NLC Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah, said, “Well, it will not be fair and these are the reasons. The first reason is that when we demanded for N615,000, we broke that down. In fact, we used the barest minimum.”

“For instance we put accommodation for N40,000, we also use for feeding N500, tell me where you are going to get food for N500 with a family of six. As I said, we used barest estimate but beyond that, government hiked electricity tariff by two hundred and fifty percent after we made our demand and that has introduced new cost and expenses. So if government is serious, it should not be thinking about a hundred thousand naira.”

The NLC spokesman further added that the NLC will honour the invitation but he advised the government to be serious.

He said, “Our expectations are that the government should be serious this time around. We expect them to take more seriously the issue of wages of workers.”

On January 30, Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the 37-member tripartite committee to come up with a new minimum wage.

With its membership cutting across federal, and state governments, the private sector, and organised labour, the panel is to recommend a new national minimum wage for the country.

During the committee’s inauguration, the Vice President urged the members to “speedily” arrive at a resolution and submit their reports early.

“This timely submission is crucial to ensure the emergence of a new minimum wage,” Shettima said.

The 37-man committee is chaired by the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Goni Aji.

Galaxy Backbone Limited has unveiled a 24hr Service desk to address consumer complaints.

This initiative was announced last week and is set to revolutionise the customer service experience of Galaxy Backbone clients.

This new development will significantly enhance customer service experience with Stakeholders, Customers and Prospectivecustomers’ across the public and private sector.

According to the company, “This development is a direct response to the’ evolving needs of our growing customer base and our ongoing commitment to constantly improve our services and ensure that our customers have access to support whenever they need it.”

Galaxy Backbone Limited is an Information and Communications Technology Services provider, wholly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Galaxy Backbone continues to operate, improve and upgrade its common services platform to meet international standards. The agency offers cloud services, telepresence services, Internet connectivity services, data hosting in its Tier IV data centre, amongst a host of others.

Nigeria has indeed begun to take digitalisation as a priority having made giant strides and bold steps to enhance digital transformation with Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited leading the forefront as the Backbone of Nigeria’s digital transformation.

As an organisation that prides itself in the delivery of world class services, GBB consistently presents itself to the principles and scrutiny of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) as a way to ensure Customer service is paramount in its entire operations. The organisation recertifies itself every year as an ISO 20000 organisation ensuring its Service Management System (SMS) is always up to date.

The company has dedicated customer care lines for Federal Ministries, Departments Government-wide IP & Agencies (83070, 83072, 83046). The customer service team can also be reached via the following mediums: WhatsApp/GSM Call: 08073990518; Email: [email protected]; Galaxy Backbone service Desk: 02094605333, 02094621500.

By Sodiq Adelakun

In a bid to protect consumers from potential harm, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has shut down three cosmetics shops and raided others in Lagos State for selling unregistered “Dr. Teal’s” brand cosmetics.

This was contained in a post on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on Saturday.

The agency took this action following a complaint from the trademark holder, who alleged that the products being sold were potential counterfeits.

The agency’s raid on the shops resulted in the seizure of large quantities of unregistered cosmetics, which are suspected to be counterfeit. The owners of the shops have been warned and may face further sanctions if they continue to sell unregistered products.

The statement partly read, “NAFDAC has shut down three cosmetics shops and raided others, targeting the sale of unregistered ‘Dr. Teal’s’ brand cosmetics. This action follows a complaint from the trademark holder regarding potential counterfeit products.

“The enforcement operation took place at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Egbeda, and Ikeja areas.

“Two suspected shops along the Excellent Line at the Trade Fair Complex were targeted, resulting in sealed shops and invitation letters issued to attendants.”

Also, there was a raid on Okas Global Link Limited yielding over 200 cartons of various Dr. Teal’s products and other unregistered cosmetics.

The agency suspects these products to be the source of distribution for the counterfeit items. Additionally, Cubana Stores at Phil Hallmark Plaza was sealed for selling unregistered Dr. Teal’s brand moisturising body and bath products.

According to NAFDAC regulations, shop owners found guilty of selling unregistered products face fines of up to N5 million. As part of ongoing investigations, shop owners are being questioned to determine their involvement in the sale of counterfeit cosmetics.

The agency emphasised the significant health risks associated with using fake cosmetics, which can contain harmful substances that can cause serious harm to consumers.