The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adebayo has stated that the federal government is committed towards its goal of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years.
Adebayo disclosed this during a meeting with Leadership of the four union bodies of the Ministry who resolved their differences and came together as a team to support him to achieve the mandate of the Ministry.
The delegation was led by the newly posted Permanent Secretary to the Ministry, Dr Nasir Sani-Gwarzo in his Office in Abuja.
Adebayo said that President Muhammadu Buhari gave them a matching order to drive growth, diversify the economy, create jobs, boost export and ultimately contribute to the promise of lifting 100 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years.
He said the “ministry is working assiduously towards that direction in achieving that mandate and nothing can be achieved if the Unions refused to resolve their differences and come together as a team to move the Ministry forward.”
The Minister also assured the union bodies of his support and urged them to continue to work together with the New Permanent Secretary more especially in area of Staff Welfare as well as general wellbeing of the staff working in the Ministry.
He further assured the unions that the ministry will take on board their suggestions on the need to have a Resident Labour Desk Officer from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to assist the Management on Labour matters.
The Minister of State, Mariam Yalwaji Katagum in her remarks, said: “coming together by the unions is inevitable because I believed it is the comrades that said united we stand and divided we fall.”
“Now that you have a brand new Permanent Secretary, you should be able to extract whatever you need to help him get motivated to make you happy so that you can contribute your quarter to the national development” she added.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Sani-Gwarzo who led the union bodies pledged to put in his best to support the Ministers to achieve their agenda which they took an oath with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Gwarzo added, “that by the grace of God you will come out to be the best Honourable Ministers Mr President ever brought on board”.
He promised to create an enabling working environment by investing in the welfare and general wellbeing of all staff of the Ministry.
The Permanent Secretary said, “I was told that one of the issues that we are going to face is the union but when I came here I realised that all of them have one thing in common, they have a sincere mindset to move the Ministry forward.”
The Chairman of the Senior Civil Servant Association of Nigeria (SCSAN), Comrade Onwuyai Okonkwo, on behalf of the four union bodies said, today the union is a new rebirth of unionism in the Ministry “we are beginning with this Year on a fruitful note of reconciliation shown in Dr Nasir Sani- Gwarzo” he added.
“We assure you that we will provide you with the right solutions to any issues concerning the unions in the Ministry,” he said.
