Unions protest alleged reappointment of MINILS DG, Issa Aremu

The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), the Senior Staff Association and the Non Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU) Chapters of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) Ilorin , Kwara state on Monday in Abuja protested the purported re-appointment of the Director General of the Institute.

The unions are protesting against Issa Aremu, as they allege that they have seen on social media that Mr. Issa Aremu has been reappointed as the Director-General of MINILS for a second term.

The Workers lamented that Aremu had performed poorly during his first tenure bringing about underdevelopment and redundancy in the labour and employment sector.

The Chairman of ASURI, Comrade Ruth Ejechi said “Aremu spent four years in the institute as the DG which ended on 17th of May, 2025. The Institute did not benefit developmentally from his administration, we suffered misappropriation of funds and maladministration in different dimensions.

“We have made our appeal to the Minister of state and the Minister of Labour, and we have been invited for a conciliation meeting. The conciliation meetings report has been submitted, but then we started seeing certain things on the media claiming that he had been reappointed.

“We know that this is not what we agreed on or the approval of the ministry that supervises our functions, and that is why this morning, we have come to the open, we have come to the Federal capital Territory (FCT), the seat of the government, to reaffirmed that Michael Imoudu Institute will not benefit should Mister Issa Aremu be reappointed”.

She explained that “Issa Aremu is not supporting the mandate of the Institute”.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Senior Staff Association of MINILS, Comrade Idris Dele Abdulmajeed noted that “my colleagues have said it all, the reason why we are here in the Federal Capital Territory is just to come and tell our ministry that we are not in support of Aremu re appointment.

“We don’t want to experience what we experienced in the last four years of his administration. And we also want to appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the ministry of Labour and the National Assembly that we don’t want the reappointment of somebody who don’t understand the mandate of the institute” he stated.

On behalf of NASU, the Chairman, Comrade Joel Afolayan said the purported re-appointment will bring further stagnation in employment and labour market which make the unions protest against Issa Aremu.

He appealed to the Authorities to safe the Institute from further redundancy and underdevelopment.

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