By Correspondent in Ilorin
The Minister of state for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN),
has hinted that the Federal Government was tinkering with the idea of amending all the labour laws in the country.
Minister of State, Labour, Keysmo.
Keyamo disclosed this in Ilorin, Kwara state during his two-day working visit to Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) on Friday.
The Minister, who said that the law establishing MINILS and others in the country had become achaic, said his visit to the institute was “to
motivate and boost staff morale.”
“All the labour centres are not represented in the governing
council of the institute. We are trying to amend all the labour laws in the country. We are going to amend that of this institute so that all the labour centres will be represented.
“The MNILS law is an old one. It was a decree adopted later as an Act of Parliament. At that point, Trade Union Congress (TUC) was not in existence. We are not unmindful of the lack of balance in the Constitution of the governing council,”he said.
The minister agreed that “high-wire politics” in the appointment of head
of the institute had brought it to its very kneels.
“I agree with the notion of building strong institutions, but I want
to say that personalities also make institutions. The best decision I
made is recommending Comrade Issa Aremu to head this place.
“From now on, I want to set a standard for other ministers that will come after me. Whoever wants to head this institute must be somebody with requisite experience with the institute; who has gone through the ranks or somebody with very good and passionate trade union background.
“Either way, we should not play politics with the head of the institute. Playing politics with who should head it has killed this place till now. You don’t play politics with strategic institution like this”, he said.
In his speech, MINILS Director General, Comrade Issa Aremu, noted that the Minister was the first to visit the institute, describing it as a mark of good governance.
Aremu said that since he assumed duty, he had revived corporate governance in the institute, adding that there was now “Vibrant cooperate, ambience environment conducive for learning.”
While soliciting for more government support for the construction of attractive entrance road and installation of solar light, Aremu said that the institute was ready to train more workers, yearly, as stated in the four years strategic plan.
