…..As DG marks one year in Office in grand style
The Director General of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Comrade Issa Aremu mni, has disclosed that the International Labour Organization (ILO) is to partner with MINILS to jointly work on four years global standard strategic planning for the institute.
Comrade Aremu disclosed this in Ilorin on Saturday (May 21, 2022) at the 2022 May edition of Physical Fitness/Sporting activities and celebration of his one year in office as the institute’s Director General.
The Nigerian frontline labour leader also hinted that ILO, which is an international labour organization, had designated MINILS as the Hub for West African Subregion on labour issues.
The MINILS boss explained that the institute, within one year under review, had witnessed a lot of transformation in the areas of physical facilities and review of curriculum to be able to meet up with ever changing society.
He explained that rather than agonizing over the past rot but strive to organize o enable the institute deliver on its core mandate training stakeholders in the labour market.
Speaking on the achiement recorded within one year office in the area of facilities, Aremu disclosed that 20 rooms hostel with a clinic had been renovated and commissioned for the benefit of trainees and participants at the institute, who hitherto secured accommodation off campus owing to the decrepit of the edifice.
Comrade Aremu, who said the event was themed “MINILS’ One Year of Transformation”, disclosed further that Enterprise and Skills Centre was also commissioned at the institute to improve the capacity of the participants, adding that the institute’s curriculum was also reviewed to include security studies.
According to him, “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” he said.
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for giving him the opportunity to serve in this capacity, and appreciated the Minister of Labour for giving him the necessary support at all times.
“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 (State) Minister of Labour, Festus Keyamo. Now, we started working.
“We have reclaimed the environment. Today, we have turned the decay to serenity and neatness. We have already renovated the existing hostels, and more than ever before now, participants rather than stay outside the institute now stay within the institute, which is also a good source of revenue for the institute.
“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 remodeled 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).
“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” he added.
Aremu who was the Chairman, Youth and Sports, sub-committee of the 2014 National Conferb, underscored the importance of Youth and Sports in nation building and appealed to the Federal Government to as a matter of priority implement the 2014 national Conferb.
He said the institute had introduced aerobics into its academic calendar, saying that the event marked the 9th edition of the institute’s monthly exercise which started September, 2021.
He explained that procurement of sporting activities in the institute was a calculated attempt to boost the morale of the staff and particulally keep them fit to enhance productivity.
Highlights of the event included physical fitness exercise, playing of table tennis, lawn tennis, soccer etc as well as presentation of souvenirs (T-shirt and cap) to all participants, presentation of gifts items to the institute’s Creche by the serving corps members, health talks by selected personalities in attendance among others.
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