The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) insists workers across the country will embark on strike if state governors make good their threat to stop the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage. “Governors should prepare for the mother of all battles. They should not underestimate the resolve of the NLC to protect the interest of workers. We will shut government in any state where the governors stop payment of N18,000 minimum wage,” NLC President Ayuba Wabba vowed. “What is N18,000 that these governors say they can’t pay. Some of them spend more than N100,000 to feed their dogs, lions and other pets…
Author: Wale Adebayo
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as a waste of time, scarce national resources and ridiculous shadow-chasing, the action of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in declaring Yahaya Bello, the purported candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who did not participate in the overall governorship election in Kogi state, Governor-elect. The PDP said INEC, in the bid to satisfy the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC Federal Government, succeeded only in making a mockery of itself and the entire electoral process, by trying to illegally install an individual who, apart from not being a valid candidate, scored, under his…
Ahead of the public presentation of the instruments of office to the 51st Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II by the Osun State Government tomorrow, Monday, the State House of Assembly has congratulated the monarch on his coronation. The Assembly, which felicitated with Oba Ogunwusi Ojaja II through its Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy, Oyintiloye Olatunbosun, noted that the towering confidence in his ascendancy would serve as a catalyst for the advancement of Ile-Ife, the Yoruba nation and the country at large. The legislators said they are convinced that the credentials of the monarch is…
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce representing Bayelsa East, founder of SilverBird, on Saturday redeemed his pledge to donate half of his wardrobe allowance to widows in his community at Akasa, Bayelsa State. According to the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), each senator of the Federal Republic is entitled to a wardrobe allowance of N506,600 per annum; which means the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator donated N253,300 to the widows in his community. I fulfilled my vow to give half my wardrobe allowance to widows of my Constituency today. #BenBrucekeepspromises! pic.twitter.com/ay4JwDp9NU — Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) December 5, 2015 If my people ride…
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, yesterday, vowed that the December deadline to end terrorism is Sacrosanct. Olonisakin said this when he visited Maiduguri, Borno State, to inspect the ongoing Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency Operations against Boko Haram terrorists. Speaking to journalists after over two hours of being briefed on the activities of Operation Lafiya Dole in the Military Command and Control Centre (MCCC), 7 Division, Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, the CDS declared the war a success so far. However, he acknowledged that there had been losses on the part of the military, which he noted, was inevitable…
The Federal High Court, Abuja Division, has refused the bail application of former Chairman of DAAR Communications Plc, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, who is being held over his alleged complicity in money laundering involving N2.1 billion meant for arms purchase. Instead, the court ordered Dokpesi’s counsel to put the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on notice to avail them the opportunity to appear before it on December 14, this year to show cause why Dokpesi, who has been in its custody for about a week, should not be granted conditional or unconditional bail. Ruling on an exparte bail application argued…
The Presidency has approved the promotion of 907 Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) officers between the ranks of Deputy Corps Commander and Deputy Route Commander. According to a statement signed by Mr Bisi Kazeem, Head, Media Relations and Strategy for FRSC, 90 of the officers were promoted from the rank of Assistant Corps Commander to the rank of Deputy Corps Commander, while 35 Senior Route Commanders were promoted to the rank of Chief Route Commander. The statement also said that 24 Senior Route Commanders were promoted to the rank of Senior Route Commander, just as 758 Deputy Route Commanders were…
The Bayelsa Police Command said on Saturday that normalcy had been restored in Oporoma, headquarters of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state where violence broke out as the people of Bayelsa voted in the governorship election. The Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr Asinim Butswat, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa. According to him, the command had received report of a clash by rival groups which disrupted the electoral process in the area. He said one person was injured during the clash, while the police arrested some suspects in…
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officer in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State has announced cancellation of election in the area. The cancelation became imperative following the incidence on Saturday when INEC officials, who were conveying electoral materials for today’s governorship election at coastal Oporoma, the headquarters of the LGA, were held hostage by armed youths.
Indications that the Executive may not submit the 2016 budget proposal to the National Assembly before the end of the year emerged on Thursday, with the discovery that Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government are still preparing their 2016 budget templates. The seeming slow pace of work on the budget templates was attributed to the zero-based budgeting, which comes with different templates, many of which the MDAs are not familiar with. A statement from the Ministry of Budget and National Planning signed by the Ministry’s Assistant Director of Press, Mr. Salisu Haiba, indicated that the ministry had started bilateral…
Department of State Security (DSS) has again warned that sleeper cells of Boko Haram members are conducting surveillance and may carry out attacks in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The service made this known in a statement signed by its acting spokesperson, Tony Opuiyo on Saturday. The statement went further to say that the warning became necessary following the arrests of the sect’s members, who migrated from various theaters of conflict in the North East to the FCT in order to enable them capitalise on the excitement of the yuletide season to launch attacks in the nation’s capital city. The…
The All Progressive Congress (APC) says it is ready to participate in the Benue South Senatorial District rerun election between former Senate President David Mark of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Daniel Onjeh of APC. It would be recalled that the Federal Court of Appeal, Makurdi Division, had in November set aside the Legislative Elections Petition Tribunal’s judgment, which upheld the election of Sen. Mark. The appellate court agreed with the appeal filed by Onjeh that the election substantially breached the Electoral Act, and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct re-run within 90 days. The Chairman…
Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, says China remains a strategic and dependable ally in his administration’s determination to change the direction and content of governance including the management of national resources with priority on accountability, transparency and result-orientation in governance. The president was quoted as saying this on Saturday in South Africa in his address at the round-table of Chinese and African leaders at the conclusion of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement, quoted Buhari as saying that since he assumed office…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is extending its investigation of arms deals during the Jonathan administration to a N3billion contract said to have been awarded by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) under the Late General Andrew Owoye Azazi. According to The Nation, several arms dealers, a military chief and some other officials who served under Azazi have already been invited by the EFCC for interaction on the matter. The arms dealers are being quizzed over the alleged inflation of N3billion contract for the supply of 20 units of K-38 patrol boats to the Nigerian Army…
Kogi State Governor Idris Wada and the Deputy Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), James Faleke, yesterday, lost their bid to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting today’s supplementary election in the state. They failed to persuade the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to declare the make-up polls as illegal, unconstitutional and ultra vires the powers of the electoral body. In its ruling yesterday, the court declined jurisdiction to determine the merit of both Wada and Faleke’s suits. Noting that the legal actions were precipitated by the governorship election held in Kogi State on…
The inability of the Federal Government to provide the troops fighting the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east with minesweepers is putting them in harm’s way and making them experience serious hardship, reports have said. This is because Boko Haram insurgents have been covering their tracks with mines with major roads and bush paths that lead to them all rigged with mines to impede the movement of the military. With minesweepers unavailable, soldiers have resulted to the use of handheld mine detectors which is very inefficient and dangerous. Vanguard checks revealed that the troops also lacked helicopter gunships needed to…
An Israeli researcher, Dr. Joseph Shevel said low investment in education by Nigerian politicians is attributed to the fact that the sector takes a long time to mature and getting returns requires patience. In a keynote address he delivered at the third international conference organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Shevel, who is the President of Galilee Institute, Israel and a member of Israeli Prime Minister’s committee on Social Policy, described education as the future for any nation because of its ripple effect on all sectors of human endeavour. According to him, to be on…
A Federal High Court sitting in Yola presided by Justice Bilkisu Bello Aliyu, Friday’sentenced a former commissioner in Adamawa State, John Elias to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine. Elias was commissioner for finance and Local government and chieftaincy affairs during Boni Haruna’s administration in the state. “I hereby sentenced the first accused, John Babani Elias to 10 years imprisonment on count 3 and another 10 years imprisonment on count 4 but the two sentences will run concurrently,” Aliyu said. “In addition, the first convict must return/refund the sum of N51.5 million to Adamawa state local Government joint…
President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) on Friday in Johannesburg said that his administration would take actions to correct the mistakes that hindered the implementation of agreements signed with China under past administrations for the development of rail transportation in Nigeria. Speaking at bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping at the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation, President Buhari said that the Federal Government will ensure it fulfils Nigeria’s obligations under the agreements so as to reap the full benefit of the deals. A statement by the Special Adviser Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina quoted Buhari as saying, “I have looked…
The Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has dissociated himself from calls by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum that workers’ salaries be reduced or mass retrenchment done to lighten some burden of the states. Speaking on Thursday in Abuja, Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and governor of Zamfara state Abubakar Yari told newsmen that the current low prices of oil was making the payment of N18, 000 minimum wage impossible for state governments. He said it would either be reviewed downward or workers would face sack. However, Fayose has a better solution. According to the governor, instead of reducing…