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Strike: Kaduna government, NLC reach agreement
The Kaduna State Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress have reached an agreement on the plan by the state government to lay off workers. The NLC has since Monday led workers to protest against the plan by the Kaduna government to lay off the workers. The late Thursday agreement between the two parties was brokered by the federal government in Abuja. Part of the agreement was that the Kaduna government will follow due process and the “principle of redundancy,” as stipulated in Section 20 of the Labour Act, in its Public Service Revitalization and Renewal Programme, which is expected to lead to the retrenchment and sack of workers. The parties also agreed that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) twill no longer continue with its industrial action while no worker shall be victimized by the...
Senator calls for removal of AGF over remarks on herdsmen
Senator representing Osun Central Senatorial District, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, has called for the immediate removal from office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, SAN, over his argument, equating open grazing with Southerners’ selling spare parts in the North. Dr. Basiru, who spoke in his personal capacity as a patriot and Senator said that, “anyone who cannot rise above primordial sentiments and pursuit of parochial ethnic agenda need not occupy position of trust especially at this time of sectional agitations. It was not dignifying of the status of the nation’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice to make such remarks. The Senator said that equating the activities of nomadic herdsmen, destroying people’s means of livelihood with others, legitimately carryi...
CISLAC raises concerns over Nigeria’s debt profile, coronavirus accountability
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), has expressed concerns over $2.18 billion foreign loan request to the Nigerian Senate to fund the 2021 Appropriations Act, by President Muhammadu Buhari. It has therefore urged the National Assembly to insist on an analysis of debt repayment strategy to be in place as its key priority to approvals. In a statement by Executive Director, CISLAC and Head of Transparency International – Nigeria, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, he said national public finance management regime is meant to save the nation’s economic system from collapse: rescuing jobs, supporting livelihoods and bailing out many businesses on the brink. He warned the government to avoid the catastrophe that the international finance institutions forced on Greece: destroying ...
Nigerian governors to meet Wednesday over financial autonomy for state legislature, judiciary
Governors of the 36 states are scheduled to hold a teleconference on Wednesday to deliberate on the executive order 10 which grants financial autonomy to the state legislature and judiciary. In a statement issued on Monday and signed by Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, head of media and public affairs of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), there will also be discussions on measures to prevent a third wave of COVID-19 infections in the country. Bello-Barkindo said the forum will take updates on the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability And Sustainability (SFTAS), among other issues. “The meeting, which is the 30th of its kind by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, commences at 2pm prompt but Governors are expected to start logging-in from 1pm,” he said. “The meeting will cover lessons for States ...
Kaduna in total blackout as workers begin strike
Kaduna State on Sunday was thrown into total blackout ahead of the five-day warning strike directed by the Nigeria Labour Congress to commence from midnight of Sunday in the state. The total blackout followed a warning by the National Union of Electricity Employees, an affiliate of the NLC, directing its workers to join the strike action in Kaduna beginning on Midnight Sunday. But the state government said it won’t bow to the intimidation of the NLC over its planned ‘rightsizing’ of the state workforce. While speaking at a press conference in Kaduna on Saturday, the Commissioner of Local Government Affairs, Malam Jafaru Sani, said it uncovered a plot by the NLC to recruit hoodlums from other states of the federation to cause mayhem under the pretext of embarking on strike. Sani, therefore,...
Thomas Tuchel reacts as ‘unlucky’ Chelsea suffer back-to-back FA Cup final defeats
Chelsea suffered late VAR heartache as they slipped to back-to-back FA Cup final defeats after a 1-0 loss to Leicester City, Youri Tielemans’ second-half strike proving decisive. In front of a reduced, yet undoubtedly noisy, Wembley crowd, it was Chelsea who made the brighter start, Timo Werner showcasing his electric speed to test the Foxes backline early on. Despite controlling the opening exchanges, the first real chance of the match fell to their opponents, Timothy Castagne getting in down the right and teeing up Jamie Vardy inside the area, the veteran striker’s effort well blocked by Reece James. At the other end of the pitch, Thomas Tuchel’s men almost fashioned a chance of their own, Thiago Silva’s dinked cross agonisingly evading the head of Cesar Azpilicueta at the back post, aft...
Kwara governor: I will continue to embark on people-oriented investment
Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara says his administration will continue to embark on people-oriented investments that will be of benefit and reward to the people of the state. AbdulRazaq made the remarks when the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, visited the Government House on the Annual Bareke, on Friday in Ilorin. Newsmen report that Bareke is a royal practice, where the traditional institution reciprocates an earlier sallah homage by the head of the government institution. The governor said his administration would continue to commit more of the state’s resources to developmental projects that would have direct impact on the lives of the poor and vulnerable persons in the society. He said in the past two years of his administration, there had been deliberate activities to...
Delta: Man apprehended for stabbing 15-year old girl
A middle-aged man has been arrested by the Police in Asaba, the Delta State capital for allegedly stabbing a 15-year old girl, Omelagu Chidinma at the neck region, below her lower jaw for reportedly refusing his love advances. The middle-aged man who was simply identified as Asika, according to a source is a neighbour of the victim’s parents at Infant Jesus area of Asaba. Revealing that the victim’s family are living in a batcha (bamboo house), the source who pleaded anonymity, said “trouble started when Asika woke up in the morning and accused the victim whom he had been asking out, of littering the compound. “So he called Chidinma but she did not answer because she was on the phone. When Chidinma now came out to wash her clothes, he slapped her. That was how they started fighting. “He hi...
Boss Mustapha: Nationwide curfew not re-introduced
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee, (PSC) on COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha, has clarified misrepresentation in the briefing of the PSC on Monday. Mustapha, who spoke to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, said it was erroneously reported that the federal government had re-introduced nationwide curfew between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m. as part of the COVID-19 safety protocols. He, however, said the announcement by the National Incident Manager, Dr. Mukhtar Mohammed, during the PSC press briefing was taken out of context because the federal government did not relax the curfew imposed earlier under Phase Three of the eased lockdown. Rather, he explained that what Mohammed said was that the federal government was maintaining the curfew und...
President Buhari presides over FEC meeting — in pictures
President Muhammadu Buhari is presiding over the 44th virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The weekly meeting holding at the First Lady’s Conference Hall at the State House, Abuja, is being attended by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari. The ministers who are also physically attending the meeting include those of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Justice, Abubakar Malami; Industry, Trade and Investment; Adeniyi Adebayo; and Power, Mamman Saleh. Other ministers, as well as the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, are participating in the weekly cabinet meeting from their various of...
Whistleblower petitions EFCC, justice minister over corruption in maritime academy
Pool Photo A whistleblower in the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron in Akwa Ibom State, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate and prosecute the management of the institution over multiple fraud, as well as systemic and perennial corruption. In a two-page petition to EFCC by Mr. Adamu Jibrin, a staffer of the Academy dated 6th April 2021 through his Attorney, Michael Edet and Associates, and made available to newsmen in Uyo titled, “Petition of Fraud, Embezzlement, Misappropriation and Criminal Conversion of Public Funds to Personal Use by the Rector of Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron,” the petitioner alleged that millions of naira have been siphoned from the treasury of the academy. Copies of the petition to the EFCC Chairman, the Attorne...
Police: Man nabbed with human head, hands in Kwara
The Kwara State Police Command has announced the arrest of one Kehinde Moses, 24, who was allegedly caught with a fresh human head and hands on Monday. The spokesperson of the command, Ajayi Okasanmi, said a team of operatives, on a stop and search duty along Ajase-Ipo road, stopped a commercial bus and in the process of searching a bag, one boy took to his heels while his partner was held. He said the bag was searched and a freshly severed head and hands of a boy was discovered. According to him, in the course of interrogation, Mr Moses confessed to have killed the victim named Mohammed in Ajase Ipo with his fleeing partner for ritual purposes. “On the strength of the discovery, the Commissioner of Police, CP Mohammed Lawal Bagega psc, directed the homicide section of the state criminal i...
