The Director General, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Comrade Issa Aremu, has pledged to make the institute a world class training center.
Aremu disclosed this while addressing journalists shortly affter his official maiden meeting with the staff of the MINILS in Ilorin, the kwara state capital.
Aremu who is a former Vice President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) promised to leave no stone unturned to turnaround the institute and make it a center of attraction for all training related matters for the workforce.
Comrade Aremu disclosed that he would use his vast experience as a front line labour man in the country to transform the agency to becone a training hub in African and beyond by a way of organising trainings on labour issues globally and by extension building capacity of the workers.
He however, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing him as the Director General of the labour institute, jus as he attributed his choice to the President’s love and affection to advancement of labour related issues.
“I thank President Muhammadu Buhari for deeming it fit to make me the first trade unionist to head Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, and this confirms the labour friendliness orientation of President Buhari when you add it to other pro-labour measures he has taken.
“My vision is not different from the mission and the vision at the institute, which had been well captured by the enabling law that established this Institute in 1986. My mission is to make sure that the labour Institute builds the necessary competencies through capacity building for all stakeholders in the labour market; namely the workers, who are well represented by Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and then the employers represented by Nigeria Employers Consultative Association and the government.
“This institute must be made the Africa hub for Labour market training and for building capacity for the workforce in the entire continent of Africa. So, we want to make it one of the key players in training on labour issues worldwide but in particular to become the hub and the training destination not just in West Africa but in Africa as a whole.
“And my vision is to ensure that workers are not just factors of production. Of course, workers need to be punctual at work, productive and know their rights. But we are not just workers, we must ensure inter-citizenship of the workforce”, Aremu said.
He also spoke on the readiness of the institute under his watch to work together with development partners and in turn get requisite resources to grow the agency.
“We will think outside the box to do more partnership with development partners. That is the way to go. Sustainable Development Goal 17 talks about partnership. There is nothing you can do alone.
“So, we are going to partner with the federal government, employers, organized labour and development partners and get resources so that we can turn this place (Institute) round as much as possible.
“Don’t also forget that this institute supposed to be a fund generating agency. There are courses that are being run through which we can attract more money into our coffers” he added.
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