The management and staff of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) Ilorin, Kwara State North Central Nigeria, have reaffirmed commitment to mass training of workers and employers on harmonious labour- management relations for sustainable development in 2024.
This was the resolution at the 2024 first quarter staff/management meeting of the Institute held in Ilorin.
Addressing the meeting, the Director-General/Chief Executive of the Institute, Comrade Issa Aremu disclosed that MINILS is set to meet and surpass the targets of training minimum of 1.250 workers annually within the framework of Presidential Priorities and Ministerial Deliverables set by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Comrade Aremu said the Institute which has been promoting labour education in Nigeria and Africa since 1983 is better positioned to help in further enhancing the 8 point agenda of President Tinubu’s administration through quantitative and quality education on labour management relations for industrial harmony and national development.
He advised the staff of the Institute to rededicate themselves through diligence, smart and hard work as contained in the Public service rules adding that in line with vision of the President and Minister of labour, failure “was not an option in ensuring industrial harmony for development in the country”.
Earlier in his Introductory speech, the Director of Human Resources Management, Mr. Danjuma Lawan, lauded the giant strides of the Aremu-led administration for providing alternative source of power to mitigate the challenges arising from irregular supply experienced in the Institute and charged members of staff to complement those efforts by committing to their official duties and responsibilities.
Other members of the management who spoke at the briefing reiterated the importance of synergy between the management and staff in achieving the mandate of the Institute and called for a concerted effort in ensuring it maintains its status as a world class labour institute.
Stiffer Penalties for drug traffickers
In a related development, Comrade Issa Aremu called on the National Assembly to strengthen legislations on drug trafficking to include stiffer sanctions for offenders.
Comrade Aremu made this call in his keynote address at the launch of two books on drug abuse written by the Kwara State Commandant of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), CN Mohammed Bashir Ibrahim in Ilorin.
He identified drug abuse as not only a major cause of most criminal activities in the country such as kidnapping, but also a major challenge that slows down the country’s development and called on parents, teachers, employers of labour and other relevant stakeholders to collaborate with the NDLEA in curbing the menace of drug trafficking and drug abuse in the country.
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“Drugs are killing. It is time to open the debate whether we should return to capital punishment for drug peddlers or treat them with kid gloves.
“We should make our laws on drugs to be draconian or make stiffer penalties for those who peddle drugs, earn blood money and endanger the lives of Nigerians. If there is no capital punishment, there should be maximum sentence for offenders,” he added.
While noting that young people within the ages of 18 to 35, who constitute a critical part of the nation’s population indulge in drug abuse due to unemployment, the Director-General tasked government at all levels to embark on massive job creation and encourage entrepreneurship as means of addressing unemployment in the country.
Aremu, who called for more funding for the NDLEA, said that the Institute will partner with the agency in eradicating the abuse of drugs and other harmful substances, through expanded labour education that includes awareness about the dangers of drug abuse among the nation’s workforce.
