Workers
Comrade Kokori accuses JNI scribe of inciting religious war
Elder statesman and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Frank Ovie Kokori, has accused Secretary of the Jama’atul Nasril Islam, JNI, Dr. Khalid Aliyu of allegedly inciting religious war in the country. Comrade Kokori made his position known on Wednesday while reacting to Dr. Aliyu’s outburst in response to the Christmas homily of the archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah. Recall that Bishop Kukah in his 2020 Christmas day message, accused President Buhari of nepotism and other misdemeanours which have attracted several reactions across the country. The elder statesman who is a former general secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, also urged President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto ...
Joe Biden receives second dose of coronavirus vaccine on camera
Joe Biden on Monday received the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on camera, as part of an effort by the President-elect’s incoming administration to reassure the country of the safety of the vaccines. Biden was administered the shot in his left arm by Ric Cuming, chief nurse executive at ChristianaCare’s Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, according to Biden’s transition team. The President-elect said he would be announcing his plan to “get the entire Covid operation up and running,” including the necessary costs, on Thursday. Biden said he had a meeting with members of his team later Monday afternoon. Biden said he was “not afraid of taking the oath outside,” and that his team has been getting briefed, when asked if he had any fears about taking the oath of office...
Minister: Over 60 workers contracted coronavirus during Lagos-Ibadan rail project
Over 60 workers, who were working on the Lagos-Ibadan rail, tested positive for coronavirus while trying to complete the project, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said. Mr Ameachi disclosed this, on Monday, on a Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) programme, Good Morning Nigeria. The rail project, which was delivered recently, and had since been in use, is the second rail project completed in 2020. The Itakpe-Warri was the first and was commissioned on September 29, 2020. The minister had disclosed at the inauguration of elected members of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA) that the Lagos-Ibadan rail will be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, in January 2021. He, however, said the commissioning will be put on hold, due to the u...
Kano government reaffirms commitment to minimum wage, says deductions temporary
Kano state government has reaffirmed its commitment to the continuous implementation of the N30,600.00 minimum wage for civil servants. It however said, that deduction in November/December workers’ salary was a temporary measure informed by the drop in federal allocation and dwindling internally generated revenue occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba who stated this in a statement, Thursday, indicated that the deduction was necessary to keep the government going in the face of the prevailing economic recession facing the country. “The state government took the measure instead of contemplating on paying half salary or in batches as obtained in other states or layoffs. “Similar temporary measure was taken, including cut in the allow...
TUC: Electricity tariff hike another betrayal of trust
File Photo The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has expressed disappointment over the latest hike in electricity tariff, describing is as a betrayal of trust. TUC, in a statement by its President and Secretary-General, Quadri Olaleye, and Musa-Lawal Ozigi, respectively, said: “We are disappointed by the recent hike in electricity tariff, while negotiations were ongoing with the Organised Labour on the last hike because of the untold hardship it has brought on the workers and Nigerians as a whole. “Sometimes we wonder why this government espouses unfriendly policies that are capable of crippling the economy. “There are many companies that have either closed shops or relocated to neighbouring countries because they cannot afford to pay the last tariff hike, yet this government has done ...
Coronavirus: FCT threatens to shut markets, malls
The FCT Administration has told shop owners to choose between complying with COVID-19 guidelines or having their business premises shut as part of measures to contain the pandemic. Head, Media and Public Enlightenment of the FCT Ministerial Enforcement Task team on COVID-19 Regulations, Ikharo Attah, issued the warning while monitoring the level of compliance in some shopping malls and business premises across the city. He said the administration will “not hesitate to shut down shopping malls, Maitama farmers’ market and business premises in the city that fail to comply with the COVID-19 protocols and guidelines. “From what we observed, there is high compliance by costumers and visitors to these malls and business premises, sadly, same cannot be said of the workers and operators of shops a...
Ondo tertiary institution workers suspend strike
Workers of Ondo State-owned tertiary institutions, on Monday, suspended their 14-day warning strike. The workers under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee of the Ondo State Tertiary Institutions had embarked on the strike following non-payment of their salaries and allowances by the state government. The members of the JAC include the Joint Action Committee of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, the Non-Academic Staff Union, the Nigeria Association of Academic Technologists, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics. The workers announced their decision in a statement issued by the Chairman of JAC, ODSTI, Peter Akindehinde on Monday evening. The statement was titled ‘Suspension of 14-day warning strike’. According to the statement, the suspension of th...
Official: One million Americans vaccinated against coronavirus
More than a million people have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Robert Redfield said Wednesday. “The United States achieved an early but important milestone today — jurisdictions have now reported that more than one million people have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine since administration began 10 days ago,” said Redfield. In a call with reporters, Moncef Slaoui, chief advisor of the government’s Operation Warp Speed, said that the objective of immunizing 20 million people this month was “unlikely to be met.” But he said the US was still aiming for 100 million people immunized by the end of the first quarter of 2021, and another 100 million by the second quarter. Three million doses...
Imo governor orders workers to stay home over spike in coronavirus
Imo state governor, Hope Uzodimma, yesterday ordered the workers in the state, to stay home from Monday next week till further notice, ahead of the festive period. The governor in his state-wide broadcast to Imo people in Owerri, said that the reason was that due to the expected influx of people coming home for Christmas that there could be a surge in the cases of covid -19. Uzodimma while wishing his people fruitful Christmas celebration noted that the wearing of facemask would be compulsory and that mobile courts would be deployed to within the state, to enforce the order. He continued: “My dear good people of Imo State, it is with a great sense responsibility that I address you on this auspicious season of Christmas.In normal times, with just a few days to Christmas, I should be saying ...
Wuhan’s coronavirus survivors share lessons one year on
In late 2019, Wuhan businesswoman Duan Ling and her surgeon husband Fang Yushun began to hear snippets in hospital chat groups about a disease emerging in the city’s respiratory wards. Duan didn’t pay much attention at first. Fang had that year returned from a stint studying in the United States, and the pair, both 36-years-old, were planning a family, starting a costly round of fertility treatments. “But as more and more news came, we began to realise this was something different from previous infectious diseases,” said Duan. In just over a month, Fang would become one of the first people in the world to contract what came to be known as COVID-19, which has since infected over 74 million worldwide and killed more than 1.5 million. During the early days of the outbreak, the city’s hospital...
Nigerian government says 300,000 mass housing scheme strictly for low income earners
The Federal Government says its Social Housing Programme, one of the components of the National Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), is targeted at low income earners. Imeh Okon, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Infrastructure, who made this clarification on Tuesday in Abuja, said the scheme was not meant for politicians or highly placed persons. The 300,000 social housing programme is a component of the NESP designed by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led committee constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigerians. She explained that one of the objectives of the administration was to provide houses for citizens across the country. Okon said that the houses would be durable and of high quality not minding the low prices. “It is a social ...
First Americans vaccinated as U.S. death toll passes 300,000
An intensive care unit nurse became the first person in the United States to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, calling it a sign that “healing is coming,” as the U.S. coronavirus death toll crossed a staggering 300,000 lives lost. Sandra Lindsay, who has treated some of the sickest COVID-19 patients for months, was given the vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in the New York City borough of Queens, an early epicenter of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, receiving applause on a livestream with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. “It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine,” Lindsay said. “I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. “I want to instil...
