INDEPENDENCE: FG Declares Monday October 1 Public Holiday

INDEPENDENCE: FG Declares Monday October 1 Public Holiday
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 The Nigeria's Federal Government (FG) has declared Monday, October 1, 2018  as public holiday to commemorate the country's 58th Independence Anniversary.

The FG made the declaration in a statement issued by the Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, on Thursday, 27th September 2018 in Abuja.

The statement was signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Dr. Mohammed Umar.

Gen. Dambazau, who congratulated Nigerians on the anniversary, urged them to sustain President Muhammadu Buhari Administration’s efforts at maintaining and strengthening the unity and peace of the country.

 

He emphasized government’s commitment to promoting national unity, economic growth, social and political development based on democratic principles.

The minister added that in the past 58 years, Nigeria had made a lot of progress and positive impact not only on the lives of its citizens but also on infrastructural development as well as international relations.

BREAKING: Labour Insists On 7-Day Warning Strike From Today

Labour Insists On 7-Day Warning Strike From Today
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The Organised Labour has called on workers from all sectors of the economy to comply with the seven days nationwide warning strike over refusal of the Federal Government to reconvene the negotiation on Minimum Wage.

The Organised Labour has called on workers from all sectors of the economy to comply with the seven days nationwide warning strike over refusal of the Federal Government to reconvene the negotiation on Minimum Wage.

Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress, made the call at a joint news conference organised by NLC, Trade Union Congress and United Labour Congress on Wednesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the organised labour had accused the Federal Government of stalling the negotiation by failing to mention a figure as a new minimum wage for workers in the country.

The organised labour had also on September 12 issued the Federal Government a 14-day ultimatum insisting that the Tripartite Committee on the new National Minimum Wage should conclude its work within the stipulated time frame.

The Organised Labour said it would commence nationwide warning strike over the non-implementation of the new National Minimum Wage with effect from midnight of Wednesday, September 26.

According to Wabba, the action is in compliance with the decision of the various organs of the organised labour, which endorsed the 14-day ultimatum served on the Federal Government by member of the unions who were part of the negotiation committee.

He said: “The labour further mandated its leadership to take all necessary steps to ensure compliance with the warning strike in the first instance.

“This is to compel the government to reconvene the meeting of the committee in order to bring it to a logical conclusion.

“In compliance with this mandate, all workers in the public and private sectors at all levels across the country have been directed to join the strike.

“Industrial unions, state councils, all workers organisation and our civil society allies have been directed to step up mobilisation of their members.”

He also said that public and private institutions, offices, banks, schools, public and private business premises including filling stations are to remain shut till further notice.

Wabba said that all those who mean well for the country and want to see to the success of the action should cooperate with labour, saying that the action would remain in force until further directive are given.

The NLC president noted that the justification for the new national minimum wage cannot be over argued.

He said: “We do believe that the reasons governors find it difficult to pay the national minimum wage are lack of political will, high level of corruption, excessive cost of governance, white elephants projects and among others.

“In any case, we are commending the governors that have indicated their readiness to pay the new national minimum wage and we advise those who are not prepared to pay to go back to their state and tell the workers in their state that they would not pay.

“We, therefore, find it necessary to caution against any attempt by government at any level to blackmail workers or/and their unions because we have been patient, considerate and patriotic.
“Indeed government had to commend workers and their union for waiting patiently for two years before commencing negotiations for a new National Minimum wage.
“We advise that our disposition should not be taken for granted.’’

Rostrum also reports that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, would be meeting with Organised Labour over the nationwide warning strike.

The National Minimum Wage Committee was inaugurated in November 2017 and commenced sitting in March 2018 with a timeline to deliver on its mandate of arriving at a new national minimum wage by September 2018.

JUST IN: Workers Set For Strike Tomorrow Over Minimum Wage

Workers Set For Strike Tomorrow Over Minimum Wage
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The organised labour will tomorrow (midnight of Wednesday) commence a nationwide  warning strike to compel the Federal Government (FG) in the ongoing negotiations over a new national minimum wage.

The strike option was agreed by the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and United Labour Congress of Nigeria (ULC) after an emergency meeting in Lagos State.

A statement released yesterday by the NLC addressed to all industrial unions and all NLC state councils, informed them of the commencement of a nationwide warning strike in respect of the non-implementation of the National Minimum Wage, effective from midnight of Wednesday, September 26, 2018.

The statement by the NLC Secretary General, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson directed all industrial unions and state councils to commence mobilization immediately for an effective strike action nation-wide.

It would be recalled that the organised labour has been advocating for an upward review of the workers' minimum wage from N18,000 to N56,000. 

BREAKING: Court Nullifies Madumere's Impeachment

Court Nullifies Madumere;s Impeachment
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A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri, the Imo State capital has nullified the impeachment of the Deputy Governor of the state, Prince Eze Madumere, by the State's lawmakers.

The court’s nullification is on the ground that Madumere’s impeachment did not follow due process, therefore illegal.

The presiding judge, Justice Benjamin Iheka, who made the announcement on Tuesday, 25th September 2018 insisted that he (Madumere) remains the Deputy Governor of the state.

Justice Iheka faulted the Chief Judge of Imo state Pascal Nnadi and the Attorney General of the state Miletus Nlemadim, of the process of the impeachment.

According to Justice Iheka, the Chief Judge did not comply with section 188 subsection 5 of the 1999 constitution as amended.

It (constitution) stipulates that the Chief Judge must set up a 7-man panel of inquiry within 7 days but on the contrary, the Chief Judge did after 9 days. According to the constitution, such action makes the impeachment process invalid, null and void.

Madumere was impeached on July 30, 2018, by 19 out of the 27 lawmakers on allegations of absence without reasons for a period of three months and a failure to perform constitutional duties like attending state executive and state security council meetings.

Others included his alleged failure to attend meetings with the governor and other government functionaries as well as an alleged concealment of felonious acts in the United States of America (USA).

BREAKING: Buhari Approves N42.68bn For Aviation, Education Sectors

Buhari Approves N42.68bn For Aviation, Education  Sectors
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The Nigeris's President, Muhammadu Buhari had graciously approved the sum of N22.68 billion to be immediately paid ex-workers of the Nigeria Airways Limited in liquidation, after fifteen years.

In addition , the president directed the sum of N20 billion be released to the public universities for revitalization scheme.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed communicated President Buhari's directive on Monday, 24th September 2018 at a joint meeting with the ex-workers of the defunct National Carrier and members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU).

Ex-workers of the airline have been in a dire and despair condition following accumulated outstanding benefits running for years after the airline was liquidated. The distraught ex- workers staged a protest Tuesday at the entrance gate to the headquarters of ministry of finance, a day after resumption of office of the new Minister. Zainab empathized protesting ex- workers with a promised to take up the issue.

She said: ” Upon my resumption of office as the Minister of Finance, some pending fiscal issues in the aviation and education sectors were immediately brought to my attention. As such, I took it as a challenge to quickly address key issues regarding the settlement of existing claims in both of these sectors. Consequently upon this , i’m happy to inform you that Mr. President has graciously approved the sum of N22.68 billion and N20 billion to aviation and education sectors respectively “.
While promising that, the balance of fund of retired Airways workers would be paid as soon as government finances improve , which she pegs at six months from now, she said the initial amount after liquation came to N78 billion.

” This amount was verified by Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) and other relevant stakeholders in line with the condition of service of Nigeria Airways in liquidation and other extant rules and regulations. At the end of which the sum of N45 billion was agreed as the total retirements benefits of the affected staff”.

On N20 billion approval for public universities, which came in the wake of ASUU’s fresh ultimatum for strike, Zainab said revitalization fund to be released to beneficiary universities was inline with administration’s determination to revitalize public universities to ensure smooth running.
” You may recall that the ASUU signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) with the federal government of Nigeria sometime in 2013 on the terms and conditions on which the government would improve funding for staff welfare and the provision of critical infrastructure in our public universities. However, the implementation of this bilateral agreement has had certain challenges due to revenue shortages and other reasons “, she said.

Responding, ASUU Vice- President Emmanuel Oshodeke said the agreement entered with government was higher than what government offered.

#OsunDecide: INEC Declares Election Inconclusive, Fixes Supplementary For Thursday

#OsunDecide: INEC Declares Election Inconclusive
...... Fixes Supplementary For Thursday
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The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) has declared the 2018 Osun guber polls inconclusive.

The Returning Officer (RO) in the governorship race, Professor Adeola Joseph Fuwape, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) said the declaration was based on the nation’s Constitution.

According to him, the difference between the two leading parties was a mere 353 votes as compared with the 3,498 votes cancelled in some polling units owing to irregularities.

Consequently, Prof. Fuwape announced that the rerun of the election would take place on Thursday, 27th September 2018.

Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 254,698 votes while his opponent of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Gboyega Oyetola scored 254,345.

The declaration of election results took several hours as some of the results generated controversies and the returning officer had to supervise a recalculation of some of the results.

Here are the details of the results.
1.Boluwaduro: APC LG:3843, PDP:3779, SDP:1766, ADP:858
2.Atakumosa West LG : APC: 5019, PDP: 5401, SDP: 1570, ADP: 718
3.Ifedayo LG: APC: 3182, PDP: 3374, SDP: 1377, ADP: 176.
4.Ede South: APC: 4512, PDP: 16693, SDP: 855, ADP:
5.Orolu LG: APC: 5442, PDP:7776 , SDP: 2043 ADP: 388, ADC:79.
6.Obokun LG: APC: 7229, PDP: 10859, SDP: 1907, ADC: 106, ADP: 663
7.Ilesha East LG: APC:9790 , PDP:8244 SDP:3620 , ADC: 188, ADP: 1275(APC)
8.Boripe LG: APC: 11655, PDP:6892, SDP: 2730,ADP:1137, ADC: 137(APC)
9.Ilesha West
APC: 7251, PDP: 8286, SDP: 2408, ADC: 127, ADP: 2363(PDP)
10.Oriade LG
APC: 9778, PDP: 10109, SDP: 2265 , ADC: 109, ADP: 1224
11.Irepodun LG
APC: 6517, PDP: 8058, SDP: 4856, ADC: 158, ADP: 2564(PDP)
12.Ila LG
APC: 8403, PDP: 8241, SDP:3134, ADC: 96, ADP: 183(APC)
13.Isokan LG
APC: 7297, PDP: 9048, SDP: 3460, ADC: 56, ADP:682(PDP)
14.Odo-Otin LG
APC: 9996, PDP:9879, SDP: 2941, ADC: 1034, ADP: 1112(APC)
15.Ayedaade LG:
APC 10861, PDP: 9836, SDP: 2967, ADC: 145, ADP: 1645(APC)
16.Atakumosa East LG
APC: 7073, PDP: 5218, SDP: 2140, ADC: 06 , ADP: 629(APC)
17. Ede North LG
APC: 7025, PDP:18745, SDP: 1382 ADC: 89, ADP: 758(PDP)
18. Ifelodun LG
APC: 9882, PDP:12269 , SDP: 1970, ADC: 236, ADP: 2844, (PDP)
19. Ayedire LG
APC: 5474 , PDP: 5133, SDP2396:, ADC:144 , ADP:1642, (APC)
20. Ife North
APC: 6527, PDP:5486, SDP:5158, ADC:94, ADP: 745, (APC)
21. Ejigbo LG
APC: 14779, PDP: 4803, SDP4803:, (APC)
22. Egbedore Local Government
APC: 7354, PDP:7231 , SDP: 3367
23. Ife Central Local Government:
APC:6957 , PDP:3200 , SDP:20494 ADC:194, ADP:1053
24.Irewole LG:
APC: 10049, PDP: 13848, SDP: 1142, ADP: 1915(PDP)
25.Olorunda LG
APC: 16254, PDP: 9850, SDP:7061, ADC:335, ADP:1407, (APC)
26 Ola-Oluwa LG
APC:5025 PDP: 4026 SDP:2104 ADP:2194 ADC: 1408(APC)
27. Ife South LG
APC: 7223, PDP:4872, SDP: 6151, ADC:136 , ADP:561. (APC)
28. Ife East
APC:8925, PDP: 6608, ADC: 237, ADP: 509, SDP: 17643
29.Iwo Local Government
APC:7644 , PDP: 6122, ADP: 16, 425, ADC: 1164, SDP: 4153
30.Osogbo LG
APC: 23379, PDP: 14499, SDP: 10188, ADC:413, ADP: 2478.

BREAKING: Buhari Departs For New York Over UNGA

Buhari President departs for New York Over UNGA

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President Muhammadu Buhari has departed for New York, the United States of America (USA) to participate in the 73rd Session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which officially opened on Tuesday, September 18, 2018.

The theme for this year’s Session is: “Making the United Nations relevant to all People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies.”

TheMediaAmbassador learnt that the highpoint of President Buhari’s participation would be his address scheduled for Tuesday to the General Assembly on the opening day of the General Debate.

The President’s presentation of Nigeria’s National Statement is expected to reaffirm the nation’s commitment to international peace and security and sustainable socio-economic development.

The presentation would also cover the areas of disarmament and denuclearisation, youth and women empowerment, climate change, rule of law and human rights, among others.

A message released by the president's Spokesperson Mr. Femi Adesina on Saturday, in that regard, disclosed that President Buhari would particularly canvass international support for the fight against corruption, the return of illicit assets, counter-terrorism, insurgency and curbing irregular migration.

The president would seek the support of the international community in efforts to re-settle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and recharging the receding Lake Chad.

The president would also advocate for the reform of the United Nations, especially the expansion of the permanent membership of the Security Council to make the vital organ of the global organisation reflect regional and equitable geographical representation.

The message further highlighted that the president and his wife, Aisha Buhari would also attend a welcome reception hosted by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres and his spouse for Heads of State and Government and their spouses.

“The Nigerian leader and his delegation will participate in a High-Level meeting on the Fight against Tuberculosis, organised by the World Health Organisation as Nigeria currently ranks seventh amongst the high TB-burden countries globally, and second in Africa.

“The Nigerian delegation is expected to attend the Mandela Peace Summit, which is a High-Level Meeting on Global Peace in honour of the centenary birth of the late South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela,’’ he revealed.

According to Adesina, other side events lined up for the Nigerian delegation include a High-Level Meeting on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit.

Others are the Second Annual Bloomberg Global Business Forum, High-Level Meeting on Action for Peace-Keeping, Commemoration and Promotion of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

He said: “During the course of his stay in New York, in addition to the audience with the UN Secretary-General, the Nigerian President is also expected to have bilateral meetings with African and world leaders, including Bill Gates, to promote national and African interests.’’

Mr. Adesina disclosed that the president would also grant audience to a select group of Nigerian professionals based in the United States.

He said that apart from his wife, President Buhari was accompanied by Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo State; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; and the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole.

Others in the president’s entourage are the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma and the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibrin.

The National Security Adviser,  Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno; Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Abubakar; Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Mohammad Babandede and the Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu are equally on the presidential entourage.