In the two years leading up to the 113rd International Labour Conference of the ILO in Geneva in 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has received praise for his administration’s job-led and job-retention economic policies. The praise was delivered in Geneva on Wednesday during the 2025 International Labour Conference by Comrade Issa Aremu mni, Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS).
The Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, stated that this year’s theme of the ILO DG’s report is in line with the goals and mandates of the priority areas of the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led administration with regard to employment, economic growth, inclusivity, and poverty eradication. Aremu, a Government Delegate at the 2025 Confab, agreed with this statement.
The Director General noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rightly and commendably eliminated the “prohibitive fuel subsidy” to free resources for public sector job retention, departing from the post-1999 reform marked by “unacceptable public sector down sizing and job losses,” in accordance with the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) principle that “labour is not a commodity” and “cost item to be cut” indiscriminately. Nigeria’s overall labour force was estimated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to be 118.72 million, with 720,000 federal governmental officials.
While recalling that ILO emphasizes that work is fundamental to human dignity and national development, Aremu hailed President Tinubu for prioritize retention and creation of new decent work, where Nigerians work in freedom, safety, and dignity citing the Presidential approval of 774 National Health Fellows, from LGAs, to foster sustained improvements within Nigeria’s healthcare system.
Comrade Aremu observed that while many manifestations of social injustices and inequalities exist , it was commendable that within the context of the Renewed Hope Agenda, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had signed new 2024 minimum wage and 2024 Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) aimed at income equity at work place and equitable sustainable higher education and functional skill development for students regardless of status
He added that six national minimum wages since 1981 have ranked Nigeria as “high and great” in the ILO’s tripartite best practices ranking, and that the challenge is how to improve the new minimum wage that is scheduled for review in 2027 due to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reduction of the five-year cycle to a three-year cycle. In order to supplement the Renewed Hope Agenda with regard to labour education, productivity improvement, and industrial harmony, AREMU recommended that the Federal government fortify labour market institutions such as the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), the National Productivity Centre, and the prestigious National Institute for Labour Studies. They also added that “low and late funding fuels underperformance.”
