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Ogun Inaugurates Contributory Pension Review and Pensions Adjustment Committee
Ogun Inaugurates Contributory Pension Review and Pensions Adjustment Committee
By Olorunfemi Adejuyigbe
The Ogun State Government has inaugurated a contributory pensions’ scheme review committee and another committee to oversee consequential adjustments in pensions paid to retirees in the State.
The State Government also reiterated its commitment to solve all lingering issues related to deductions within the next few months.
Inaugurating a committee set up by Governor Dapo Abiodun, at the Governor’s office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta on Tuesday, the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tokunbo Talabi said the two committees should be dispassionate and allow reason to prevail in their deliberations and submissions on the way forward for Labour-Government relationship.
While noting that the welfare of the workforce, whether retired or serving, is on top burner for the Administration, Mr Talabi, said nothing other than the welfare and wellbeing of the people informed the inauguration of the committees.
“The government is fully committed to its promises to put a stop to deduction of workers’ salaries as from the end of July. From the end of this month, our workforce will be paid gross and our Administration would not renege on its promise to settle all outstanding deductions by the end of this year”.
“The amount of money that is outstanding on the deduction part is humongous and the government is committing that between now and the end of the year, we will find the way to cover the N10bn so that we can erase issues relating to deductions from our table,” the SSG said.
Talabi while noting that part of the plan of government was to raise a bond to settle part of issues relating to pensions, added that since labour kicked against the idea, the state government had had to look for other ways to settle the issues.
Speaking on the issue of minimum pension and its workability in the state, Talabi said that it is the belief of the Prince Dapo Abiodun led administration in the state that the Consequential Pensions Adjustment Committee would come up with a plan that is acceptable and implementable.
On the issue of leave allowance, Talabi noted that the allowance would by payment of leave allowances alongside staff salaries.
“We also have the commitment of what we will do with some of the gratuities, the payment of the leave allowance. We’ve agreed, it is the same strategy we have adopted, the strategy is stop bleeding, start filling the hole; we are going to put the leave allowance as part of the salaries,” he said
The state government, he assured, had been able to solve issues relating to the promotion of its workers for the year 2018, 2019 and 2020, adding that the promotion for year 2021 and 2022 which are legitimately due would be also be passionately looked into by the government.
The Secretary to the State Government re-echoed the Governor’s commitment “to do all he had promised and not promise what he would not do”.
It should be recalled that the Ogun State Government and the organized labor in the state signed a Memorandum of Action on the 1st of July, 2022 to put an end to the strike and also settle the bottleneck around issues related to workers and pensioners welfare in the state.
Earlier, the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the state, Comrade Emmanuel Bankole assured Government of the commitment of labour in the state to all actions that would put smiles on the face of the workforce in the state.
Bankole while commending the sincerity of purpose of Governor Dapo Abiodun, said that “Labour in the state is coming to the table with an open mind.”
Also, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners in the state, Comrade Waheed Oloyede commended the Ogun State Governor for the prompt payment of monthly pensions to pensioners in the state and saying the decision to look into the Consequential Pensions Adjustment of pensioners in the state was a welcome development.
He said that it is the belief of the union that the committee would look into the adjustment of pensions and come up with an acceptable report that would in turn be approved and implemented by the state government.
The Government team for the Contributory Pensions Scheme Review Committee includes the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Hassan Adekunle as chairman, while the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics (State Pension Board), Mr.Babajide Macjob as Secretary. Other members are the Permanent Secretaries in the ministries of Budget and Planning, Bureau of Establishment and Training, Bureau of State Pensions, Bureau of Service Matters, Bureau of Local Government Pensions, the State’s Accountant General, Solicitor General and Directors, among others.
The Organized Labour’s team is headed by the Chairman of Trade Union Congress; Comrade Lasisi Akeem, while other Labour leaders in the team are Adebiyi Olusegun, Isa Olude, Hameed Ademola, Modupe Steve, Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, Emmanuel Bankole and Akeem Balogun.
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Ex-APC Deputy Guber flag bearer, Joshua MacIver backs Tinubu, express fears over implosion in Bayelsa APC
….congratulates new State Party Chairman, Warman Ogoriba
APC Deputy Governorship Candidate in the 2023 general elections in Bayelsa State, Great Joshua MacIver has declared his total commitment to the re-election of President Bola Tinubu come 2027, declaring that the Tinubu re-election project is non-negotiable.
Great Joshua MacIver, in his statement titled ” BAYELSA APC CONGRESSES: GOING FORWARD, A CALL TO LOOK INWARDS” and made available to newsmen in Yenagoa, warned APC leaders in the state to look Inward and take note of certain factors which may hinder or cut short our victory.
According to Great Joshua MacIver, such noticeable pitfalls include the imbalance in the united front being put up by the State Governor,Senator Douye Diri among various political blocs in the state.
In the statement issued at the weekend. Great Joshua MacIver stated that “First, before His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri, joined the APC in the state, there were clearly two political blocs that made up the party, with the approximate population ratios of the blocs standing at 95% to 5%.”
“After the entrance of His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri, ONLY THE SMALLER BLOC IS BEING CARRIED ALONG IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE PARTY, leaving the greater percentage to their fate, and this situation has the potential to build anger and dissatisfaction in our dear party.”
” The consequence of this has been the high level defection we have witnessed in the party recently and we believe more may likely follow, if we do not put our house in order.”
” If we do not pull together as a party, we may witness a situation where we will lose key stakeholders, especially after the State and National Assembly Primaries as well the Gubernatorial Primaries.”
“Finally, while it is very clear that we are the party to beat in the 2027 elections and that our loyalty to Mr. President IS NON-NEGOTIABLE, we must make haste to say that we cannot afford to create situations or loopholes in our unity which will be exploited by other political interests in the state. We cannot afford to under-rate anyone.”
“Our core interest remains the re-election of Mr. President, a project to which we have committed our all. We also pledge our total loyalty to the party as we have no alternative to the APC. However, our concern is that we must, as a party, look inwards and ensure that we do not create loopholes that can impede our common goal.”
Great Joshua MacIver, however congratulated the newly elected State Executives of the APC in Bayelsà State led by Hon. Warman Ogoriba, saying their emergence is welcomed at this critical time in our national history.
At least 23 people were killed in a series of suspected suicide bombings, police in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri said on Tuesday.
https://www.stanbicibtcbank.com/nigeriabank/personal/products-and-services/all-loans/stanbic-ibtc-mreif-home-loans
More than 100 other people were injured in the blasts that took place on Monday evening in the capital of Nigeria’s restive Borno state.
No group has claimed responsibility for the suspected attacks.
The deadly blasts come after a military post was attacked overnight Sunday to Monday, which authorities blamed on suspected Islamist militants.
This sad incident is coming barely two weeks after Primate Elijah Ayodele, the Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church specifically warned against attacks in some states. He mentioned these states while calling on security operatives to pay close attention to them.
These were his words:
“Another attack is coming up in these following states where the military must watch carefully and intelligently; Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger, Borno, Kwara and Kogi state. They want to do a deadly attack, it’s preventable but it depends on how they will handle it. I have told you about the danger coming up.”
@primateayodele
Unfortunately, some of our military agencies don’t believe spiritual intelligence can save the country from so much danger hence, their neglect of this prophetic warning but now, it has been fulfilled with the miliary losing credibility by the day while Primate Ayodele continues to gain momentum.
Likewise, At least 26 passengers and crew sustained varying degrees of injuries on Monday following an accident involving the Kaduna–Abuja train, according to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
Opeifa explained that the train departed Rigasa in Kaduna at 7:15 a.m. and was approaching Asham station around 9:16 a.m. when a loud bang was heard after the power car and trailing locomotive collided with one of the passenger coaches.
In July 2025, Primate Ayodele asked nigerians to pray not to see train mishap on the Kaduna-Abuja route.
@primateayodele #nigeriantiktok🇳🇬 #fulfillment #train #abuja #primateayodele
“Let’s pray not to see train mishap in Abuja-Kaduna, Kaduna-Abuja route.”
This has also been fulfilled.
The project ends decades search for investors, boosts Nigeria’s blue economy
By Prince Adeyemi Shonibare
Nigeria’s maritime sector is set for a major transformation following a landmark agreement involving the world’s largest container shipping company, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which has secured a 45-year concession to build, manage and operate a modern container terminal at Snake Island Port in Lagos.
The project, to be developed in partnership with Nigerdock, marks one of the most significant private sector investments in Nigeria’s port infrastructure in recent decades and is expected to strengthen the country’s role as a major maritime gateway in West and Central Africa.
For Nigeria, the agreement brings to close decades of efforts to attract large-scale investors to develop Snake Island Port, a strategically located maritime asset in Lagos.
Long-standing concession history
Snake Island’s maritime facilities date back several decades. In 1992, the Federal Government granted a 99-year concession for the island’s port and industrial facilities to Nigerdock, a major maritime engineering and logistics company.
Nigerdock was later privatised and is currently operated by the Jagal Group owned by Nigerian industrialist Maher Jarmakani.
Over the years, the Island Container Terminal fell into disrepair, requiring major rehabilitation and modernization to meet modern global shipping standards.
The new partnership with MSC is expected to transform the port into a state-of-the-art container handling facility capable of attracting larger vessels and increasing Nigeria’s cargo throughput capacity.
Buhari administration approved the project.
The investment framework for the Snake Island development was approved in May 2023 by the Federal Executive Council under then President Muhammadu Buhari.
The approval authorised total private investment of approximately $974.1 million for the project under a Public-Private Partnership structure, including the 45-year concession period.
At the same time, the Federal Government also approved two other major maritime infrastructure projects:
• Development of the Ondo Multipurpose Port in Ilaje, Ondo State, with $1.48 billion in private investment and a 50-year concession.
• Expansion and development of the Burutu Sea Port in Delta State, involving $1.2 billion in private investment and a 40-year concession.
These projects form part of Nigeria’s broader effort to develop its blue economy and expand maritime trade capacity.
Construction partners
Engineering and construction of the Snake Island container terminal will be handled by:
• ITB Nigeria Limited
• DEME Group
ITB Nigeria Limited is part of the Chagoury Group and owned by the Chagoury family, while DEME Group is a globally recognised Belgian marine engineering and dredging company with extensive experience in port construction.
MSC profile
Founded in 1970 by Italian shipping entrepreneur Gianluigi Aponte and his wife Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, MSC has grown from a single cargo vessel into the largest container shipping company in the world.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the company operates in more than 155 countries and serves over 500 ports worldwide, with a fleet of roughly 900 container ships and over 200,000 employees globally.
The MSC Group also operates major logistics and maritime businesses including inland logistics through Medlog, cruise tourism through MSC Cruises, and port terminal operations across several continents.
According to Forbes, the estimated net worth of MSC founder Gianluigi Aponte is about $43.9 billion as of February 2026, placing him among the world’s richest shipping magnates. The company remains privately owned by the Aponte family, with both founders holding equal ownership stakes.
Management comments
Speaking on the development, MSC Group President Diego Aponte said the company is committed to strengthening its operations in Nigeria and across Africa.
“We are proud to expand our presence in Nigeria through this important infrastructure project. The Snake Island terminal will enhance service delivery and improve port efficiency for our customers and partners in the region,”
Chief Executive Officer of Nigerdock, Maher Jarmakani, described the agreement as a major milestone for the Nigerian maritime sector.
“We are delighted to partner with MSC in developing a world-class container terminal that will enhance Nigeria’s logistics capabilities and support economic growth,” he said.
Economic impact
Industry analysts say the project could significantly strengthen Nigeria’s maritime economy by expanding cargo handling capacity, reducing congestion at Lagos ports and attracting additional international shipping traffic.
The development is also expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs across maritime operations, logistics, transport services and port-related commercial activities.
Infrastructure expansion
Beyond the port development, plans are also underway for Nigeria’s first underwater tunnel, linking Ahmadu Bello Way in Victoria Island through Snake Island and connecting the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway with the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway corridor through Badagry.
The tunnel project is expected to significantly improve freight movement and road connectivity between Lagos ports and national transport networks.
Strategic milestone
With the entry of MSC into the Snake Island development, industry observers say Nigeria is taking a significant step toward modernizing its maritime infrastructure and positioning itself as a regional hub for global shipping and trade.
For a project that has waited for decades for major international investors, the Snake Island concession represents a turning point in Nigeria’s port development strategy and a strong signal of global confidence in the country’s maritime future.
By Prince Adeyemi Shonibare
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