New Labour Minister Assumes Office, Advocates Industrial Peace

• New Labour Minister Assumes Office, Advocates Industrial Peace

The newly appointed Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Prof. Stephen Ocheni, has assumed office and advocated for industry peace and harmony.

In a statement by the ministry’s Deputy Director (Press), Mr. Samuel Olowookere, Ocheni pledged to achieve a peaceful industrial environment within the country.

According to him, this will ensure improved productivity and boost the Gross Domestic Product of the country in line with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Federal Government.

“I am not a unionist but as much as possible am an advocate of peace and harmony because it is important to achieve a peaceful industrial climate without which the goal of the Ministry and that of the present administration cannot be achieved,” he said.

Ocheni emphasised that the ministry was critical to peace in the country’s workforce, saying there was a need for all hands to be on deck to achieve the ministry’s mandate.

Ocheni stressed, “Improved productivity is pivotal to the change agenda of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, if we are able to achieve this desired goal then we will be able to contribute and enhance the GDP of this country, by so doing we are also contributing to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Federal Government.

“If we can put in our best and generate what we need to take care of our total consumption then we do not need to import, we can then start promoting export and thereby improving on our foreign exchange earnings. I call on each and every one of us to do our best and realise this goal, on my part I am ready and happy to identify with this labour-friendly family.”

While welcoming Ochena, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, charged him to utilise his credibility as a renowned professional accountant to improve on the 2018 budget system of the ministry.

He said, “I am particularly pleased by the fact that you are an accounting professional with various degrees in accounting and that will remove the load from me in budgeting. You will take charge of the 2018 budgeting which we are about to start so that our budgeting system will improve. I made it better when I came, you can push it to become best.’’

Ngige added, “It is our pleasure to welcome the new Minister of State into our fold. The Ministry of Labour and Employment is one of the oldest ministries in Nigeria dated back to 1927 as a colonial department, it is a challenging ministry that has been manned by prominent Nigerians in the past. Your deployment as the Minister of State Labour and Employment gives credence to your credibility as a renowned academia and astute bureaucrat.”