The International Labour Organization (ILO) has designated Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) as the Hub for West Africa on labour issues.
The Director General of MINILS, Comrade Issa Aremu, disclosed this in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, North Central Nigeria at the 2022 May edition of physical fitness/sporting activities and celebration of his one year in office as the helmsman of the institute.
The event was themed “MINILS’ One Year of Transformation”.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Aremu as Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the labour institute in May 2021.
“In fact, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has designated us as the Hub for West African Subregion. They have partnered with us to work at the strategic plan. From this development, we have shown that Nigeria is working”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the celebration, Aremu informed that the global labour body had also indicated interest to partner with MINILS to work on its strategic plan for the next four years.
The Director General who reminisced on his 365 days in office, observed that he inherited a system that was decayed but resolved to turn them to opportunities so as to realize the vision of the founding fathers of the institute.
He disclosed that 20 rooms hostel with a clinic had been renovated and commissioned within the period under review for the benefit of trainees and participants at the institute, who hitherto secured accommodation off campus owing to the decrepit of the edifice.
Aremu informed that Enterprise and Skills Centre was also commissioned at the institute to improve the capacity of the participants.
He maintained that rather than agonizing over the past rot, part of the vision for MINILS upon assumption of office was to organize the institute to deliver on its core mandate training stakeholders in the labour market, adding that the institute’s curriculum was also reviewed to include security studies.
The Director General said, “Contrary to general impression, Nigeria can work and Africa can work. When we resumed here (MINILS), a year ago, we inherited a lot of decay; unkempt environment, very resourceful staff but with low morale, no productivity, lack of confidence by all the stakeholders in the capacity of the institute to deliver on its mandate, which is to educate workers, employers and government employers on labour market issues.
“But we have shown that the solution is not to be agonizing, we need to organize ourselves to make a change. President Muhammadu Buhari appointed me to make things possible and we are encouraged by the support given by the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo. Now, we started working.
“We also commissioned two important projects within this record time, because we promised ourselves that we will never encourage abandoned projects,that we will continue where the previous management stopped. We have commissioned 20 rooms hostel with a clinic, which is quite unprecedented.
“For the past 40 years, we have been having an institute training hundreds and thousands of workers without first aid to give them support, and this has come a long way to improve the well being of our participants and staff. We have also commissioned Enterprise and Skills Centre. But above all, the morale of workforce is back.
“We have also looked at our curriculum. We have remodelled and deepened them to introduce new issues, because we strongly believe that workers are not just factors of production, they are citizens. So, they must know what is going on about the economy, polity and security issues. We can’t leave security issues to government alone. It is now clear that organized labour has come to appreciate, through our training, that if we are not secured, we can’t go to work and if we can’t go to work, we can’t even be members of the unions and we can’t demand for our rights.
“In essence, the institute is fully back through our effort. Of course, we have not reached where we are going. That is why I said if an institution has no vision or planned agenda, it is only planning to fail. Again, we have changed the story of the past. We now have strategic plan for four years, which covers my tenure (2021 to 2025).
Ime N
