The summit of the Developing 8 (D-8), a new national minimum wage for workers and Nigeria’s last-minute escape from FIFA sanctions were the top stories this past week in Nigeria.
While ThisDay newspaper headlined its story “Jonathan Calls on D-8 Nations to Promote Partnership, Development”, with the rider “Group signs three multilateral agreements”, the Sun wrote “Nigeria to use private sector to drive D8,”
According to ThisDay, President Goodluck Jonathan, who assumed leadership of the group, had called on members to reaffirm their commitment to the promotion of partnership and development within the framework of the group.
The D-8 Group, which was established in 1997 to enhance economic cooperation among member nations, comprises Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Egypt and Iran.
The Sun said Jonathan also welcomed the establishment of the Joint Investment Fund as a vehicle for expanding the scope, volume and value of trade, hoping to use the private sector to drive it.
The president also said Nigeria would fast-track the ratification of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and other agreements reached at the sixth summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Jonathan said for the D8 countries to achieve the intra-trade target of US$ 1.7 trillion by 2012, the development of the maritime sector was vital to support the growing trade volumes and targets member states had set for themselves.
Reporting the same story, Tribune’s headline read, “Jonathan assumes chairmanship of D-8, calls on members to invest in Nigeria” while the Guardian saw it as “Developing nations want closer trade ties”, with the rider “Nigeria emerges leader, unfolds agenda”.
“Nigeria Escapes FIFA Hammer, Reverses Self”, the Daily Independent reported on Tuesday, saying that Nigeria reversed itself on Monday, returned to the pitch, and escaped the hammer of FIFA, 24 hours after the sack of Sani Lulu and two others from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for “ruining football”.
In Abuja, President Jonathan said he had slammed a two-year ban on 30 June in the interest of youths who should excel rather than play second fiddle in all human endeavours, including football.
Late on Wednesday, FIFA withdrew its threat to ban Nigeria indefinitely after receiving a letter from Abuja that it had revoked the ban.
The Punch wrote “Nigeria bows to FIFA …NFF apologises to Jonathan, other Nigerians”. ThisDay, Sun and Vanguard newspapers also ran stories on the Nigeria Vs FIFA saga.
On the new national minimum wage for workers, the Punch headlined its story “Minimum wage now N17,000 monthly”, saying that effective from this month, the least paid worker in the Nigerian federal civil service will earn a minimum of 17,000 naira (equivalent to US$ 134) as monthly salary.
The new wage is 63.7 per cent more than the current minimum wage of 11,000 naira (US$ 74) which came into effect in 2007.
Also confirming the new wage, the Secretary-General of the Senior Civil Servants Association of Nigeria, Mr. Solomon Onaghinon, said, ”I can tell you that since 1975 – and that is about 35 years ago – what we have now is one of the best negotiations.”