Aremu Defends Self, Blames ‘Hired Goons’ For Smear Campaign As Unions Protest Against His Reappointment As MINILS DG Over Alleged Harassment, Workers’ Welfare, Infrastructure Decay

THE MICHAEL Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) has been enwrapped in tension as inhouse unions stage series of protests against the reappointment of Comrade Issa Aremu as Director General (DG) for a second term.

The unions – Academic Staff Union of Research Institutes (ASURI), Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, and Allied Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI), and Non-Academic Staff Union of educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) – had in the protests branded Aremu’s first tenure as a “four-year reign of impunity,” marked by alleged financial mismanagement, neglect of staff welfare, infrastructure decay as well as failure to keep to the mandate of MINILS.

The unions also commenced a three-day protest at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja from Monday, June 2-June 4, 2025. They are also billed to hold the protests in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.

A Smear Campaign

But in a phone interview with National Record Monday evening, Comrade Aremu dismissed the allegations as a “smear campaign” sponsored by disgruntled directors.

He said his reappointment is genuine as it was announced by presidential spokesperson, Sunday Dare, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, a response to allegations by the unions that Aremu was not reappointed and that he was only doing propaganda.

“They are grumbling over my reappointment, but I have been reappointed by Mr. President,” Aremu said.

He added: “They are all hired goons by some directors, they have no trade union issues. You know, they had no welfare when I got there; I gave them welfare; I introduced bonus for them, annual bonus; I engaged in promotions; those are the things I did.”

He specifically accused a “clique” he alleged hails from Kogi State of undermining his leadership.

“Let me share this with you. There is also a clique there that have dominated the institute; they are from Kogi;… we have produced two DGs from there [Kogi] who flooded the place with their people and they turned the place to their enclave, but that is not my headache, you can come from anywhere but…do your job!” Aremu told National Record.

He said when he arrived at the institute, it was on its knees. “How can they kill the institute? They murdered it. Labour summit that we used to hold every year they stopped it for 11 years; I brought it back. No annual reports, they were not going to work; ghost workers, they don’t come, some are abroad, they left their jobs and jappa. The facts are verifiable. This is just petty politics,” Aremu asserted.

A Convergence Of Grievances

At a press conference on Monday, May 26, 2025, held at MINILS campus, union leaders laid several accusations against Comrade Aremu, which they said have been supported by petitions they had written to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The press conference held after they conducted journalists round MINILS campus to ascertain the state of facilities, union leaders accused Aremu of “high-handedness,” failure to upgrade dilapidated facilities and diversion of funds meant for staff training and institute programs.

“He turned a training institute into a graveyard of morale,” declared an ASURI official, alleging that facilities in MINILS are crumbling thereby discouraging patronage of the institution by clients.

Accusing Aremu of being “unteachable”, operating “based on his own mind” and “a politician” who “was simply out for himself and not for staff development,” the ASURI union leader also claimed that Aremu put “staff development on hold… he was only giving things as gratis, whatever he felt like doing not what was proper and due – and so you will find that for the period of four years, you can point to very few members of staff that were trained in their lines of duty. And so, it’s been challenging – facilities have not been upgraded, neither have they been maintained.

“You can go around and you can see the rot in our facilities – and this has put a lot of our clients off; people who would normally come here to be trained, people who will come and enjoy our facilities because of what we had, would now come around to town, manage our halls and would lodge outside. Well, the halls, the training halls, they are nothing to write home about.

“We had participants who said they were not here to sit in JS class – it is that bad. What he has been parading there in the media of recent as of international standard, if you see it, you will see there is nothing international about the standard. We don’t have anything that is smart in our halls, yet it is expected that we should convince people to come.”

The MINILS protest, dubbed a “rescue mission,” saw staff brandishing placards and urging President Bola Tinubu to halt Aremu’s reappointment. “Aremu claims his tenure is ‘renewable,’ but we see a sit-tight leader who has run MINILS aground,” said an SSAUTHRIAI union leader.

“He treats MINILS like a personal fiefdom,” a NASU leader alleged, accusing Aremu of lavish spending on “phantom projects” like branded T-shirts and non-functional clinics while staff endured unpaid allowances and zero training opportunities.

The Real Game

Comrade Aremu however dismissed the above allegations, stating that they are false, as he asked National Record to fact-check the allegations.

“I said that is their claim, check what the facts are, it is not about their claims. Are you hearing me? Check the facts; I will send you a slide, you will see the amount of money I spent on that [staff welfare and others]. But even at that…do they think whoever comes will give them [welfare] by protesting? That is not the game; the game is that the fellow sponsoring them is to retire by November! Are you hearing me? And he is desperate to have his shot… [at the position of Director General of MINILS]; it is not about those claims.

“I said when I got there, death benefits, they didn’t pay, I sent them to trainings they never did before; when their delegates conferences came, I sponsored them, you know. So, it is not in the workers interests they are protesting; they are in a game,” Aremu alleged.

Allegations Of Financial Impropriety

In a petition to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, dated March 24, 2025, the unions (ASURI, SSAUTHRIAI and NASU) outlined 18 allegations of financial impropriety and maladministration against Comrade Aremu.

Among these include, non-submission of audited financial statements for three years (2021–2023), diversion of funds, and unaccounted allocations, including N35 million from a N50 million youth training budget; frequent unauthorized travels, neglect of staff welfare, and promotion of casualization in a labour institute; dilapidated training facilities, incomplete building projects, and mismanagement of funds meant for renovations; and, alleged funnelling into personal account of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from award ceremonies.

Bullying and Security Harassment

Also, in an April 2025 letter to the Labour Ministry, ASURI detailed how Aremu enlisted police and Kwara State officials to harass union leaders after they wrote a petition against him.

“A labour veteran resorting to intimidation? It’s hypocrisy,” the letter stated.

Staff also accused Aremu of verbal abuse, citing instances where he labelled directors “deaf, dumb, and stupid” in meetings.

Appeal To Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” Agenda

The staff urged the Tinubu administration to prioritize MINILS’ mandate – training West African workers – by appointing a Director General of MINILS with public service experience.

“We need a leader, not a politician,” stressed the SSAUTHRIAI official, linking the institute’s decline to what he described as Aremu’s “lack of civil service cognate experience.”

Why They Are Grumbling

Asked on these allegations, Comrade Aremu insists that his reappointment by President Tinubu was purely based on his performance metrics at MINILS.

“They [unions] are grumbling over my reappointment, but I have been reappointed by Mr President, so they can’t adjust themselves to the reality…

“Their agenda is to block my reappointment; they have failed in that one, so the rest is just to smear. So, the next thing we need to do is to explain what we have done, verifiable, and what we have done is what made Mr President to reappoint me. So, who are they?” Aremu noted.

On the claim by the unions that he had not been reappointed, Aremu dismissed it stressing that the announcement was made by Sunday Dare, and assured that he will forward the press release to National Record.

“It [press release] was by Sunday Dare. There were about 18 appointments; and I think I am number 8 or so on the press release. Anyway, who is complaining? So, if the people that appointed me did not say they didn’t appoint me, who are you? Is that not simple stupidity. When I was appointed the first time; it was announced by the presidency.

“In any case, as a journalist, go and find out, call Sunday Dare or [Bayo] Onanuga, whether I am appointed or not. They know, you hear what I am saying; it is simple stupidity. You can see the pettiness, all in an attempt to smear, to create doubt. Nobody, a serious journalist like you cannot take them seriously; the list is there, I will send the list to you. Not only that, the Minister [of Labour and Employment] has already congratulated me; so, who is complaining? Governors; I will send to you all the congratulatory messages.

“The bottom-line is that which kind of comrades will campaign against another comrade? It is the pettiness of our people and not about trade union issues. But that is a non-issue, all I wanted to do is to set the records straight.

“The one that pains me is the way the unions have been captured by people, by leaders who exert control over them. They are not fighting over decent work, over decent pay, over welfare issues or anything; it is just about the game of who becomes the DG [of Michael Imoudu] and because they can’t take us on the way we have elevated the place. You know who we are, Onah, and the facts are verifiable. All they wanted is just to smear, create viral scandal,” Aremu said.