Workers in Osun State on Monday resumed their strike action following the inability of the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress and state officials to reach agreement on the implementation of the ₦18,000 minimum wage.
Government activities were paralyzed in all ministries and government establishments, as workers stayed off from duties while the gates at the government secretariat, Abere were under lock and key.
But the state chapter of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria in a statement in Osogbo yesterday claimed the government has sought the understanding of the workers on the 100 percent application of the law to staff on grade Levels 01 to 07, while it applies the new salary to other levels from 08 to 17 on pro-rata basis.
Chairman of the party in the state, Adelowo Adebiyi said as stakeholders in the Osun project, workers have a duty to ensure rapid development through cooperation in the most favourable implementation of the new wage law.
"The governor personally called leaders of the workers to explain the position of the state's finances to them. Nothing was hidden and the labour leaders themselves have seen that 100 percent application across the board would mop up the entire resources of the state," he said.
"It is our belief that as stakeholders, labour leaders have the duty to properly convey this state of finance to their members in order to ensure progress in the state."
The party chairman also reminded the workers that the ACN is a pro-worker party, adding that it is the desire of the state government to make Osun workers the best paid in the country when the finances of the state improves.
"Workers in this state would end up discovering the goodies that lay ahead for them should they dedicate themselves to service to the people," he said.
"The issue of minimum wage should not cause any disaffection between the workers and the government in order to ensure development for this state."
The governor's spokesperson, Semiu Okanlawon said the government has fulfilled all the conditions necessary for the implementation of the ₦18,000 Minimum Wage Law.
"After an exhaustive meeting with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, and the Joint Negotiating Councils 1, 2 and 3, Mr Aregbesola agreed to pay the ₦18,000.00 to all workers on Grade Level 01 to 07 with immediate effect. By this concession, workers on salary Grade Level 01 would now be paid ₦18,000.00 as opposed to the ₦9,000 which they were earning before.
"Workers on salary Grade Levels 08 to 17 are being pro-rated in the implementation of the minimum wage in ascending order of magnitude. In essence, all workers are covered in the implementation of the Minimum Wage Law. Mr Aregbesola has given a firm commitment to full implementation of the Minimum Wage Law as soon as the finances of the state government improve. As at the time of negotiation, the governor explained that retirees and pensioners were being owed arrears of ₦2.4 billion of yet-to-be-paid claims."
New commissioners
Meanwhile, the Osun State House of Assembly Monday started the screening of 14 commissioner nominees submitted to it by the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola for approval. Mr Aregbesola had, in a letter dated July 28, 2011 addressed to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Najeem Salam forwarded a list of 14 commissioner nominees to the house for approval. Consequently, Mr Salaam, who is currently on a trip to London, has directed that the screening start without further delay.
The commissioner nominees are Mofolake Adegboyega, Olubukola Oyawoye, Sikiru Ayedun Adetona, Samuel Adewale Afolabi, Richard Adedoyin, Stephen Kola-Balogun and Architech Olumuyiwa Ige. Others are Jayeoba Ismaila Alagbada, Mobalji Akande, Sunday Akere, Temitope Ilori, Wale Bolorunduro, Surajudeen Bashiru and Kolapo Alimi.
Tuesday 9 August 2011
Ekiti students protest suspension of examination
Two security guards sustained head injuries at the weekend when some rampaging part-time students of the University of Ado Ekiti protested the indefinite suspension of their second semester examinations because some students refused to pay the tuition fee. Older part time students of the university pay tuition of N63, 000, while the new students on part time programme pay the sum of N75, 000.
The students went out of control on the university campus immediately the institution's authorities ordered the stoppage of the conduct of the examination that started on Monday, as they hurled stones and pebbles at some of the university security and institution's top officials that were sighted within the vicinity of the ‘war' zone. Several vehicles had their windscreens smashed by the aggrieved students.
The two injured security personnel were later rushed to the university clinic for medical attention.
They were pelted while making efforts to drive the visibly livid students out of the university campus to douse the tension necessitated by the protest.
One of the protesting students who spoke with journalists, lashed out at the university authorities for chasing them out from the examination hall, saying the university could have devised a means where they [students] could pay their fees on installmental basis.
The source accused the university of failure to intimate them in advance and for targeting only a section of the students, noting that part one and two students were harassed, while parts three to five students were left to write their own examination without being molested.
"I wonder why the university authorities have resulted into this type of harsh policy of driving students out of examination hall, when they allow others to write their own examination, without any molestation," one of the students said.
Adequate notice
But the university public relations officer, Ajibade Olubunmi, debunked the claim of the students, saying the university Registrar, Omojola Awosusi, had earlier written a letter to the co-ordinator of part- time programme, stating the position of the university on school fees
"The claims of the students are not true; notice have been given to the students about three months ago," Mr Ajibade said.
He faulted the claim that the university failed to notify the students on the action before execution, saying the part time programmes are being run to assist the working class who may not find it convenient to do JAMB and run full time programmes in universities.
The students went out of control on the university campus immediately the institution's authorities ordered the stoppage of the conduct of the examination that started on Monday, as they hurled stones and pebbles at some of the university security and institution's top officials that were sighted within the vicinity of the ‘war' zone. Several vehicles had their windscreens smashed by the aggrieved students.
The two injured security personnel were later rushed to the university clinic for medical attention.
They were pelted while making efforts to drive the visibly livid students out of the university campus to douse the tension necessitated by the protest.
One of the protesting students who spoke with journalists, lashed out at the university authorities for chasing them out from the examination hall, saying the university could have devised a means where they [students] could pay their fees on installmental basis.
The source accused the university of failure to intimate them in advance and for targeting only a section of the students, noting that part one and two students were harassed, while parts three to five students were left to write their own examination without being molested.
"I wonder why the university authorities have resulted into this type of harsh policy of driving students out of examination hall, when they allow others to write their own examination, without any molestation," one of the students said.
Adequate notice
But the university public relations officer, Ajibade Olubunmi, debunked the claim of the students, saying the university Registrar, Omojola Awosusi, had earlier written a letter to the co-ordinator of part- time programme, stating the position of the university on school fees
"The claims of the students are not true; notice have been given to the students about three months ago," Mr Ajibade said.
He faulted the claim that the university failed to notify the students on the action before execution, saying the part time programmes are being run to assist the working class who may not find it convenient to do JAMB and run full time programmes in universities.
Okonjo-Iweala meets US investors over Nigerian economy
In pursuit of President Goodluck Jonathan’s focus on growing the economy by boosting investment and job creation in the country, the incoming minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has held a meeting with top financiers and key global investors.
Though she is yet to resume, sources close to the minister said the meetings, which held in New York and Washington DC, centred on exploring opportunities in different sectors of the Nigerian economy, especially with regard to financing important projects in the country.
Amongst those she has already met are George Soros as well as the heads of two of the biggest investment banks in the US - Citigroup CEO, Vikram Pandit; and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon.
A source at the meeting said the discussions were both “positive and promising,” adding that the investors are “clearly interested in Nigeria and would invest under the right conditions and environment. But they also expressed concern about some aspects of the country’s financial and economic management.
“In particular, the financiers and investors would like to see a tighter approach to macroeconomic management including a better budgetary process, improvements in the investment climate, and greater transparency and rule of law in the country.”
There will also be follow up meetings in the weeks ahead, to further explore specific ideas and possible projects.
A recent report by Bloomberg said Nigeria’s dollar bond yields are at an all time low in comparison with European stocks because of the country’s low debt stock and “expectations (that) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a managing director at the World Bank, will help spur policy changes to encourage investment when she returns to the Cabinet.”
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Though she is yet to resume, sources close to the minister said the meetings, which held in New York and Washington DC, centred on exploring opportunities in different sectors of the Nigerian economy, especially with regard to financing important projects in the country.
Amongst those she has already met are George Soros as well as the heads of two of the biggest investment banks in the US - Citigroup CEO, Vikram Pandit; and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon.
A source at the meeting said the discussions were both “positive and promising,” adding that the investors are “clearly interested in Nigeria and would invest under the right conditions and environment. But they also expressed concern about some aspects of the country’s financial and economic management.
“In particular, the financiers and investors would like to see a tighter approach to macroeconomic management including a better budgetary process, improvements in the investment climate, and greater transparency and rule of law in the country.”
There will also be follow up meetings in the weeks ahead, to further explore specific ideas and possible projects.
A recent report by Bloomberg said Nigeria’s dollar bond yields are at an all time low in comparison with European stocks because of the country’s low debt stock and “expectations (that) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a managing director at the World Bank, will help spur policy changes to encourage investment when she returns to the Cabinet.”
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Friday 5 August 2011
Al mustapha is a joke,says Ribadu
The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu has refuted the claims of his involvement in a plan to assassinate Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Sani Abacha.
Describing the claim as an invention “to help build a constituency of concern and sympathy for his case,” Mr Ribadu in a statement Thursday claimed that, “I want to strongly refute this claim as false, and perhaps as invented to help build a constituency of concern and sympathy for his case.
“I was never a party to any such plot, and will never be associated in a scheme to perpetrate extra-judicial murder,” he said.
Mr Mustahpha had during a cross examination at the High Court in Lagos during the hearing of the murder charge against him, tendered the statement as part of his defence in his trial over the murder of M.K.O Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, claiming that some people in government were unnecessarily after his life.
Mr Mustapha had claimed that Mr Ribadu, as the escort officer who brought him and others to Lagos, had orders to kill him, stating that, “this was however averted by the then commissioner of police in Lagos State, Mike Okiro, who went into an argument with Mr Ribadu that if there was such an order, there must be a letter from the president.” The suspect noted that Mr Okiro was transferred out of Lagos immediately after the arrival of his group in Lagos.
Mr Ribadu, however, stated that to set the record straight, “I was the lead state prosecutor (not escort officer) in all the cases of the 1998 trialists facing murder charges before they were handed over to the Lagos State government.
“I was also a passenger in the same Nigerian Air force aircraft that conveyed the man (including General Bamaiyi, Col. Bako and others) from Abuja to Lagos to begin trial.
“This would certainly not be a logical setting for assassination! I think at this point, Mr Al-Mustapha’s case is best served by keeping the substance of his murder case on the trials, and by shying away from the distraction of public performance,” Mr Ribadu said.
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Describing the claim as an invention “to help build a constituency of concern and sympathy for his case,” Mr Ribadu in a statement Thursday claimed that, “I want to strongly refute this claim as false, and perhaps as invented to help build a constituency of concern and sympathy for his case.
“I was never a party to any such plot, and will never be associated in a scheme to perpetrate extra-judicial murder,” he said.
Mr Mustahpha had during a cross examination at the High Court in Lagos during the hearing of the murder charge against him, tendered the statement as part of his defence in his trial over the murder of M.K.O Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, claiming that some people in government were unnecessarily after his life.
Mr Mustapha had claimed that Mr Ribadu, as the escort officer who brought him and others to Lagos, had orders to kill him, stating that, “this was however averted by the then commissioner of police in Lagos State, Mike Okiro, who went into an argument with Mr Ribadu that if there was such an order, there must be a letter from the president.” The suspect noted that Mr Okiro was transferred out of Lagos immediately after the arrival of his group in Lagos.
Mr Ribadu, however, stated that to set the record straight, “I was the lead state prosecutor (not escort officer) in all the cases of the 1998 trialists facing murder charges before they were handed over to the Lagos State government.
“I was also a passenger in the same Nigerian Air force aircraft that conveyed the man (including General Bamaiyi, Col. Bako and others) from Abuja to Lagos to begin trial.
“This would certainly not be a logical setting for assassination! I think at this point, Mr Al-Mustapha’s case is best served by keeping the substance of his murder case on the trials, and by shying away from the distraction of public performance,” Mr Ribadu said.
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