By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal
The Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), llorin, says it has prepared its maiden strategic plan for unveiling by President Muhammadu Buhari in the last quarter of 2022.
Mr Issa Aremu, the Director-General of the institute, stated this on Saturday in Ilorin during a news conference organised to kick-start programmes for the institute’s 40th anniversary.
According to him, the presidential unveiling will precede public presentation of the institute’s roadmap aimed at repositioning it for efficient and effective service delivery.
Aremu noted that though the institute would clock 40 years in 2023, the management deemed it fit to earmark activities for the next one year to be able to showcase its success stories on industrial union matters.
He said the institute’s anthem was also to be designed and unveiled in commemoration of the anniversary, adding that it is incredible that there was no such in the last four decades of its existence.
The director-general also disclosed that the MINILS would remodel the gallery of Imoudu and institute annual lecture in his honour to bring to fore the contributions of the labour leader to national development and in deepening democracy in Africa.
Besides, he said the institute would endow Imoudu scholarship for unionists that would be studying industrial relations at the MINILS.
Aremu noted that the institute was conceived in accordance with national development plan, but lamented the attitude of some citizens to the country’s development.
He, however, promised that his administration planned to have more projects, such as administrative block and hostels for trainees at the institute.
The MINILS chief executive officer thanked Buhari for appointing him as the fifth director-general of the institute, promising to improve its fortunes.
“Our institute was established in 1983 during the administration of President Shehu Shagari but took effect in September 1984 and named after Pa Michael Imoudu in 1992 by the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
“As part of the 40th anniversary, MINILS will remodel the gallery of Imoudu and institute annual lecture in his honour to bring to front burner the contribution of the labour leader to national development and in deepening democracy in Africa.
“We intend to endow Imoudu scholarship for unionists that study industrial relations in the institute. We are also using the medium to announce one-year programme to celebrate the institute’s 40th anniversary,” he said.
Aremu added that the institute would document remarkable achievements in the last four decades and identify challenges.
“We will present to the public the first strategic plan of the institute. President Muhammadu Buhari is to unveil it possibly last quarter of this year (2022).
“For nation building, it is remarkable that Nigeria is still what it is today because so many African countries that secured independence almost same period like us had been broken while some are in tatters,” Aremu said.
He therefore appealed to the media to celebrate the nation’s success stories while reporting issues on the challenges in the land.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)