Former Minister of Sports and Youth, Solomon Dalung, has accused President Bola Tinubu of falling prey to fuel subsidy criminals.

Dalung said this in a recent interview with Trust Radio, while giving a review of the current administration.

“He goofed full-time by playing into the hands of subsidy racketeers, by making the statement that subsidy was gone. And Nigerians have not recovered from that trauma,” Dalung said.

He, however, said Tinubu should reintroduce 50 percent if it is necessary to remove subsidies.

The ex-minister also said that Tinubu must defend Naira, “because allowing the Naira to float, is just like sending a soldier to go to war naked”.

The former minister urged the president to save the lives of Nigerians and redeem his name as they can no longer sacrifice for the future, due to his economic policies that “doesn’t have a human face”.

Dalung argued that people are in hardship and dying of hunger due to current hardship facing the nation that needs to be addressed.

He said, “The promise that Nigerians can sacrifice for the future is unattainable, and it makes him look like a wicked leader, he must redeem his name because people are dying of hunger and you are asking them to sacrifice. So if they sacrifice and all die, who will see the future?”.

“He needs to save lives first, before he talks about economic policies, His economic policies should have a human face. Otherwise he will end up like Buhari,” he said.

The Federal Government has approved the appointment of retired doctors, nurses, and other clinical healthcare workers as contract staff.

However, the government stated that the appointed contract staff would be on the same salary scale level that they retired on if they desire and deserve it.

A circular reported by Punch and dated October 5, 2023, by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) directed the Chief Executive Agencies, Chief Medical Directors, Medical Directors, and Heads of Regulatory Bodies and Schools to ensure compliance with the circular earlier issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) to all staff in their institutions.

OHCSF had in a circular dated August 30, 2023, rejected the upward review of the current retirement age of Medical/Dental Consultants and other health professionals from 60 to 70 and 75 respectively.

The circular titled ‘Re: Review of retirement age to 65 and 70 years for health professionals and medical/dental consultants,’ with reference number HCSF/SPSO/ODD/CND/100/S./145, was addressed to the Permanent Secretary FMOH.

The circular signed by the Permanent Secretary, Service Policies and Strategies Office, Olufemi Oloruntoba, for the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation read partly, “I am directed to refer to the above-mentioned memorandum presented at the 44th National Council on Establishment held from 5th-9th December 2022, in Yola, Adamawa State requesting a review of the current retirement age of Medical/Dental Consultants and other health professionals from 60 to 70 and 75 respectively

“After careful consideration of the memorandum, the council rejected the request based on the following: Professionals in the health sector were leaving the country because of pecuniary consideration and unfavourable conditions of service and not as a result of retirement age.

“Some state government had already increased the retirement age of medical doctors and other health workers and this has not addressed the spate of brain drain.

“Council, however, approved that clinical health workers who have attained the compulsory retirement age/years may be given contract appointment on the same salary scale level that they retired on if desired and deserved.

“Government should engage the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Medical Association to extract some level of commitment from medical doctors.

“To address the observed dissatisfaction with the attitude of health workers to work, there is a need to institutionalise an effective performance management system in the public service in order to improve the work ethics of the medical officers and consultant, and medical doctors should show more patriotism in the discharge of their duties and avoid holding the system to ransom.”

Consequently, the FMOH in its circular urged all executives of agencies, Chief Medical Directors, Medical Directors, and Heads of Regulatory Bodies and Schools to ensure strict compliance with the directive from the OHCSF.

[NaijaNews]

The raging conflict between Israel and Palestine has been linked to the attacks by the former on al-Aqsa mosque and Gaza refugee camp in the past years.

The escalated crisis has since Saturday recorded more than 1,000 casualties on both sides. Palestine was said to have had 421 deaths; and Israel, over 700. The numbers of those injured were put at 2, 220 and 2, 156 respectively.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs the Gaza strip, had explained that it launched its large-scale operation on Saturday in response to the “continued brutality” by Israel and its occupation administration against Palestinians.

This includes standing by as Israeli settlers launched attacks on Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods; attacking worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and killing an alarming number of Palestinians this year.

Why Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm

The leader of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at al-Aqsa and increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and the growth of settlements.

The attack code-named ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’, is said to be the most serious escalation since Israel and Hamas fought an 11-day war in 2021.

Hamas said it had fired 5,000 rockets; while Israel confirmed that the group’s fighters had entered its territory.

The rockets were fired as far north as Tel Aviv. Hamas also sent fighters into southern Israel. The Israeli army has since launched “Operation Iron Swords” against the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has declared a “state of war” as its army continues to face off against Palestinian fighters in several areas across southern Israel.

Reports had it that in May 2021, after weeks of tension during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, hundreds of Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces at the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem.

The disputed al-Aqsa Mosque compound, located at the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, is the third holiest site in Islam and sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The compound has been a flashpoint of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians over the past years.

After demanding Israel withdraw security forces from the compound, Hamas unleashed a barrage of rockets from Gaza into Israel.

Israel hit back with air strikes on Gaza. Fighting went on for 11 days, killing at least 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel.

Again in August 2022, at least 44 people, including 15 children, were killed in three days of violence that began when Israeli air strikes hit a senior Islamic Jihad commander.

Israel said the strikes were a pre-emptive operation against an imminent attack by the Iranian-backed militant movement, targeting commanders and arms depots.

In January 2023, the Islamic Jihad in Gaza fired two rockets towards Israel after Israeli troops raided a refugee camp and killed seven Palestinian gunmen and two civilians. The rockets set off alarms in Israeli communities near the border, but caused no casualties. Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza.

In a recorded message, Deif said:”Enough is enough.”

He said the Saturday morning attack was only the start of what he called Operation al-Aqsa Storm and called on Palestinians from East Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight.

“Today the people are regaining their revolution.”

Experts flay Israeli occupying power

Prof. Abubakar Jika Jiddare of the Department of Political Science, Bayero University Kano, said Hamas attacks took the international community off guard because of the Israel’s policy of containment of the Palestinians over the decades.

He said containment would rather embolden Palestinians into devising solutions to free themselves from the “bondage” of Israel.

He said only an agreement on the existence of the two states of Palestine and Israel could end the decades-long standoff “because it has shown that containment would not work.

“So, Israel must understand this problem and sit with the Palestinians and come to terms on the two steps solution to this unending conflict in the region.’’

An ex-diplomat, Ambassador Suleiman Dahiru, told Daily Trust that the escalation of conflict between Hamas and Israel should be expected, “because Israel has been a ruthless occupying power acting in the most unacceptable manner.

“I’m happy that Hamas responded in good measure in the way Israel never thought. No matter what happens, Hamas has disgraced invincible Israel. I’ve never and will never tolerate Israel’s criminality against Palestine with the active connivance of lapdog America,” he added.

Israel should be forced to obey int’l laws-Palestinian envoy

Speaking on Trust Tv last night, Palestinian Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary to Nigeria, Abdullah Abu Shawesh, asked the international community to force Israel to accept all international resolutions made by the United Nations and other organisations to end the resurgence of the conflict.

Shawesh said Palestinians had continued to suffer from the illegal occupation of Palestine without recourse to international laws.

He stated: “The international community needs to be serious on the implementation of all the resolutions they have adopted in the UN, in the Security Council and other places.

“If the international community wants to be serious to end the Israel occupation, countries like the US, European countries and their allies should put an end to the brutality and force Israel to be bound to international laws. So, when international laws are followed, we’ll put an end to this escalation.”

He said the conflict had been going on for the past 75 years, thus, the public should not be gas-lighted to make decisions on the recent events but should consider inhumane ways Palestinians had lived in refugee camps scattered across the world and those who had to remain on the strict rule of Israel.

“Since the Palestinian An-Nakba, Israel has wiped out the majority of Palestine people. They became refugees in the diaspora, the root cause is Israel in 1967 that has continued to occupy the remaining part of Palestine; we live under Israel rule.”

He urged the public not to rely on Israel media for information on the war as the historical sufferings Palestinians had been enduring under the rule of Israel led to the death of over 250 Palestinians since the start of the year with more than 50 children murdered.

Israeli ambassador fingers Iran

Michael Freeman, the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, has fingered Iran in the attack on Israel by Hamas.

While speaking with Trust TV on Saturday, he alleged that Iran was trying to stop the peace initiative in the Middle East by pushing Hamas into the attack.

“Make no mistake, Iran is behind all of these. Iran is sponsoring Hamas, Iran is pushing Hamas and we will make sure that Hamas paid a severe price for these unprovoked attacks.

“Hamas is determined to stop the peace in the Middle East,” he said.

On the narrative that the attack was a response to the occupation of Gaza by Israel, Freeman said Israel left Gaza in 2005 and that there were no Israelis in Gaza currently.

“Hamas death squad walked through the streets and shot women and children and may have kidnapped thousands of other civilians and taken them back to Gaza where they are being held. We’ll do everything to bring them back,” he said.

He said there would never be any justification for walking down the street and murdering women and children, assuring that Hamas would be made to pay for their actions.

He said the Hamas militants killed over 150 unarmed men, women and children just because they were Israelis.

Hezbollah enters the fray

The Lebanese resistance group, Hezbollah, has joined the fight against the Israeli occupation.

The group declared that it had targeted three Israeli military positions in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms, in the early hours of Sunday.

In a statement on its website, the group said it entered the fight to liberate the remaining part of occupied Lebanese land and in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.

AU, Nigeria, China, S/Arabia, Egypt, others urge ceasefire

Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, in a statement, said the cycle of violence and retaliation that the current escalation had assumed only served to perpetuate an unending cycle of pain and suffering for the civilian population that bears the brunt of every conflict.

He said Nigeria called on both sides to exercise restraint, prioritize the safety of civilians and give room for humanitarian considerations.

“We’re, therefore, calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue,” he said. The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, urged both parties “to return, without preconditions, to the negotiating table to implement the principle of two states living side by side”.

China said it was “deeply concerned” by the dramatic escalation of the crisis and asked all sides to show “calm”.

Egypt, according to its foreign affairs ministry, is in talks with Saudi Arabia and Jordan to defuse Palestinian-Israeli tensions.

Saudi Arabia urged “immediate cessation of violence”; while American President Joe Biden described Saturday’s Hamas attacks in Israel as “unconscionable” and pledged to ensure Israel has “what it needs to defend itself”.

Pope Francis yesterday called for peace, saying “terrorism and war do not lead to a solution”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of “a long and difficult war” vowing to flatten Gaza Strip.  Israel has intensified air attacks and cut off power to the coastal enclave in the Gaza Strip. The 2.3 million Palestinians who live in the besieged Gaza Strip spent the night in terror and darkness.

The Israeli attacks flattened residential buildings in giant explosions, including a 14-storey tower that held dozens of apartments as well as Hamas offices in central Gaza City.

US to help Israel with military ships, aircraft

Reuters quoted American Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin as saying yesterday that the US would send multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support.

[DailyTrust]

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has expressed concern over the rising cases of insecurity ahead of the November 11 governorship elections billed to take place in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states.

In a statement by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, he appealed to political parties and their candidates to avoid actions and utterances capable of heating up the polity.

“The commission is concerned about the spate of insecurity and violence, including clashes among supporters of political parties and candidates in the forthcoming elections,” he said.

The commission appealed to all political parties and candidates to avoid utterances and acts that may heat up the polity, adding that it will continue to closely monitor the situation and sustain its engagement with security agencies and stakeholders to ensure peaceful conduct of elections in the three states.

[DailyPost]

The Federal Government, on Sunday, provided more reasons why it decided to suspend the N-Power programme, stating that the scheme had ghost beneficiaries, while some of its consultants were currently withholding participants’ funds.

Sunday PUNCH reported that over one million Nigerians had lost their jobs under the N-Power programme following the indefinite suspension of the scheme by the government as announced on Saturday by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.

The N-Power programme was established by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to address youth unemployment as beneficiaries were paid N30,000 monthly stipend.

Providing additional reasons why the scheme was suspended, the National Programme Manager N-Power, Akindele Egbuwalo, stated on Sunday that the scheme had ghost workers that should be eliminated.

On concerns about consultants of the scheme, he said, “Preliminary findings of our audit have shown that some consultants are holding on to beneficiaries’ funds disbursed to them long ago even when their contract ended in March 2023 without any renewal.

“We condemn this practice and will not tolerate it going forward. Work is ongoing to identify those involved, understand why the payments didn’t get to the final beneficiaries, and recall the funds to pay those owed.

“We appeal to Nigerians to understand the rationale behind the temporary suspension and investigation of the programme as we work to restore the nation’s confidence in the programme and for the new N-Power to serve Nigerians better. Things have to be properly done for us to move forward.”

Egbuwalo said the ongoing restructuring and transformation would also birth an expanded programme to reach beneficiaries aged 18-40 (the previous age limit was 35).

Aare Afe Babalola, the 94-year-old Senior Advocate of Nigeria with a 60-year experience at the bar, recently revealed an open secret: that virtually all state governors are stealing the funds of the local governments.

The nonagenarian founder of Afe Babalola University lamented on September 7: “When I was a councillor, in those days, local government funds used to come directly to them. We all know what has been happening to their money. I think the current President (Bola Tinubu) should do all he can to ensure that local government allocation gets to them directly and not through the governors because they (governors) steal a lot.”

It is tragic for Nigeria that an old man whose life has revolved around the rule of law, knows better to appeal to political authorities than advocate for the rule of law, as it would be a waste of time.

Indeed, the local government contraption is a fraudulent system operating on the wings of mass deceit. It has been so for about half a century. I recall the shock of a younger friend when he went on his National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, primary assignment in a local government. The Council Chairman came to the secretariat once monthly to share the monthly federal allocation. He took ‘his share’, gave his councillors theirs, paid the staff and gave the balance to the influential persons in the area. All dispersed happily to await the next allocation. That was during the Babangida dictatorship.

 Under the Abacha regime, there was a directive that traditional rulers be given five per cent of the local government allocation. This led to squabbles in some areas as the fight for supremacy amongst them which would determine the share of the loot they collect, intensified. In some areas, in order to get greater share, kingdoms were subdivided. In cases where traditional kingdoms spanned across two or more states, additional traditional rulers were installed so they can share the states largesse.

This July, I attended a reception for a former local government chairman who narrated some of his experiences under the state governor. In one instance, he and his colleagues were invited to meet His Excellency. While seated, a document was passed round for the signatures of the Council Chairmen. In it, they were allegedly empowering the state government to deduct payments over a period for a sundry of things. He said on enquiring when the chairmen met to take such a decision, he became a marked man. In another instance, he said the Chairmen were instructed to sign vouchers for the purchase of a Hilux van each as the state government donation to the police. He said when he contacted a well-known motor dealer to ask for the price of the vehicle, he discovered that the price on each voucher was over 100 per cent higher. He said when he pointed this out to the governor, he promised to investigate. He added that he then decided that his local government would directly buy the vehicle and deliver to the government house. This he said, seemed to have sealed his political fate in the state.

In practice, local government leaders are foot mats of governors. In the first place, they might have been appointed by the governor as the ‘elected’ leaders of the local governments. So it is a servant/slave-master relationship. It is, therefore, almost impossible for a local government chairman to raise a voice against a governor. This rarity occurred in Ogun State when the Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area, Wale Adedayo, accused Governor Dapo Abiodun of diverting in the last two years, the statutory federal allocation to the local governments.

Adedayo, a self-determination activist and journalist, alleged that over N10.8bn fund of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme was also diverted by the governor. He also claimed that the 10 per cent of the state’s internally generated revenue which, constitutionally, should be paid local governments had been withheld for years. Adedayo claimed that this zero allocation to the local governments had been going on since the days of Senator Ibikunle Amosun, the governor’s predecessor.

Governor Abiodun not only denied the allegations but also claimed his administration augments the funds allocated to local governments in the state to enable them meet their obligations. What logically should follow is the state government publishing the claimed allocations and release of funds, especially when they would have been done through the banks and not across the table. Rather, Adedayo was hounded. His fellow chairmen denied him and went to prostrate for the governor. His legislative council suspended him from office. The State Security Services detained him for days. The police also detained him. Then, he was arraigned on a two-count charge based on a petition signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi. It states: “Petition against Wale Adedayo’s deliberate circulation of falsehood, false report to government, threat to life and interference with the exercise of executive function.”

Basically, local government allocations are regarded as free funds to be squandered. Just as the crooked would use bread to scoop the communal soup, so do many of our leaders use local government funds to scoop our national funds.

In the first place, the creation of local governments in the last 40 years has been based on fraud. Powerful people went shopping to be allocated local governments. Military officers who sat in the inglorious ruling military councils allocated local governments to themselves. These creations followed no rules, objective criteria, logic or sense; they simply flow from the power relations in the military. The more successful coup plotters you have in the military regimes, the more local governments you had; invariably, the less coup plotters you could muster, the less local governments your ‘people’ would have. This is why today, while Lagos State which was created on on May 27, 1967 has 20 local governments, the old Kano State created the same day, has 71 (present Kano and Jigawa states). Bayelsa State which contributes about one third of national wealth has eight local governments, while many states which contribute very little, have quadrupled that number. Yet the number of local governments are part of the criteria for the allocation and distribution of national wealth.

While the idea of local governments being the third tier of government is very good, its practice is iniquitous, unfair, immoral and obstructive of social justice in the country.

Since the Constitution states unequivocally that: “Nigeria shall be a Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory” (Section 2 sub section 2), a practical and equitable way forward is for the present local governments to be scrapped, and allow each federating state to create the number of local governments it needs and can afford.

In light of the recently planned October 3, 2023 national strike that was called off by the NLC and TUC, let us examine the 1964 general strike and the Morgan Commission for lessons that might help Nigerian workers carry out successful general strikes in future. The Morgan Commission was the product of the 1963 general strike. The workers went on a general strike on September 27, 1963 and the Federal government capitulated a few days later and set up the Morgan commission. The terms of reference Morgan Commission included the investigation of the existing wage structure, remuneration and conditions of service in wage-earning employments in the country. The Morgan commission sat from October, 1963 to April, 1964 and received petitions and presentations from workers, trade unions, private employers and regional governments.

The Morgan commission recommended the division of the nation into four waged zones in its final report. The monthly minimum wages in Zone 1 and Zone 2 were fixed at £12.0 and £10.0 respectively. Minimum monthly wages in Zone 3 were set at £8.0. while those at Zone 4 were set at £6.5. For the salaried staff, the commission recommended an annual wage increase of £36.0 for those who earn less than £312.0 a year, an annual increase of £24.0 to those who earn between £319.0 and £432.0 a year and an annual increase of £12.0 to those in the £433.0 to £588.0 range. The commission recommended the establishment of wage boards to enforce the salary increases. It made the new wage scale payable from October 1, 1963.

The failure of the State to release a white paper on the recommendations of the Morgan Commission report forced the Joint Action Committee (JAC) to call for a mass meeting in Lagos on May 30, 1964 and a general strike on June 1, 1964. During the mass meeting, the militant trade union leaders agitated for a demonstration against the Federal government's ban on public meetings and demonstrations. They were supported by rank and file workers. The demonstration took place immediately after the mass meeting. Workers lined up and marched from the meeting place at Surelere to the ULC headquarters at Ebute-metta. There, the moderate trade union leaders attempted to disperse the workers. However, Micheal Imoudu decided to lead the peaceful march to the Prime Minister's residence in Lagos Island. The march never got there. On Carter bridge, which connects Lagos mainland to Lagos Island, the Nigerian Police attacked the peaceful workers. The workers were dispersed after numerous police baton charges and excessive use of tear gas. Some workers were injured and many were arrested. The 1964 general strike began on the next day. Millions of workers participated in the general strike nationwide. The Prime Minister, Sir Abubaka Tafewa Balewa, ordered the workers back to work. The striking workers ignored the order. Some workers demanded that 'Balewa must go' and a resolution asking for his resignation was passed at a mass workers' rally.

On June 3rd, the Federal State released a white paper in which it rejected most of the recommendations in the Morgan Commission's report. The Federal and Regional government, as employers, accused the commission of using a new formula to determine the how much means of subsistence was required by a worker and thereby increasing wages by 58% to 100% instead of the 15% to 20% as revealed by the cost of living increase when calculated with the old formula. They divided the country into seven zones, with 3 zones in Southern Nigeria and 4 in northern Nigeria. In Zone 1, they set a minimum monthly wage of £9.1. Minimum monthly wages was £7.8, in Zones 2 and 3. Zones 4, 5, 6 and 7 had minimum monthly wages of £6.6, £6.1, £5.3 and £4.8 respectively. The States did not increase the salaries of low income workers earning between £78.0 and £90.0 a year. Rather, it declared that they were covered by the new zonal minimum wages. Workers in the salary range of £91.0 to £318.0 per year were offered a £18.0 wage increase, while those with salaries between £319.0 and £432.0 were offered a £12.0 wage increase. A £6.0 wage increase was offered to those earning between £433.0 and £588.0 per year. The governments argued that the new wage scale should become effective from April 1, 1964.

The workers' response was to continue the strike. Private sector workers joined the strike in large number. On June 10th, the Federal State threatened to dismiss all striking workers and deny them all their pension rights. It issued queries to 10,000 striking workers. Private sector employers gave a similar ultimatum on June 12th. Some of the companies carried out the threat. For instance, Union Trading Company dismissed 1,000 workers on June 12, 1964, for participating in the strike. Policemen were invited to offer protection to new applicants. Despite such repressive measures, the general strike continued. According to the Financial Times “The strike was more than a strike for a living wage for the low income groups of workers in Nigeria. It was a protest strike against the extravagance of politicians of all parties, against corruption and nepotism in high places and the failure of all Governments in the Federation to improve the lot of workers, particularly the low income group since Nigeria attained independence in 1960. Nigerian labour leaders had decided to ask the Federal Government to appoint a commission of inquiry into the wealth of the ruling class."

The Federal State capitulated and a Reconciliation Committee, consisting of JAC leaders and representatives of the States, was set up to negotiate around the recommendations of the Morgan Commission. The general strike was called off on June 13, 1964, based on the understanding that no striking worker would be victimized and the strike period would be regarded as leave with pay. The strike cost the nation more than £10.0 million . Negotiation began on June 15, 1964.

After two weeks of negotiation, the Federal government accepted responsibility for the implementation of the new wage scale in the private sector. It also accepted the responsibility for implementing a grading system where workers doing equal work would get equal pay irrespective of their geographical location. The grading system was modified and workers divided into unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled categories. The nation was divided into 6 zones, with 2 zones in Southern Nigeria and 4 in the North. Minimum monthly wages of £10.0 were set for workers in Zone 1 and all workers in the private sector. In Zone 2, the monthly minimum wage rate was fixed at £8.125. The range of the monthly minimum wages in the 4 northern Nigerian Zones were increased from £4.0-£6.0 to £5.2-£8.0. All minimum wage rates in the country were made applicable to workers employed by Voluntary Agencies, States bodies and Parastatal ( Statutory Corporations). Salary increases of £24.0 per year were given to workers earning less than £318.0 per year. £16.0 and £8.0 salary increases were given to those earning £318.0-£432.0 and £433.0-£588.0 respectively. The daily wage system was to be abolished between 1965 and 1967 and all unskilled workers moved into the permanent establishment.

Thus, after the 1964 general strike and the Morgan Awards, the daily wages of unskilled public sector workers in the Federal Territory increased from 5s. l0d. to 7s. 8d.. This constituted a 31% increase in monetary wages. In the rest of Southern Nigeria, daily wages increased by 26% from 5s. to 6s. 3d.. Similar increases were recorded in northern Nigeria. Semi-skilled public sector workers were paid 9s. 3d. per day in Lagos, 8s. l0d. in the rest of Southern Nigeria and 6s. 2d. in northern Nigeria. The greatest increase in this grade occurred in northern Nigeria where daily wages rose by 37%. Public sector workers in the skilled (artisans) grade were paid 10s. nationwide, reflecting an increase of 15.4% from the 1963 wage rate. 

The NLC and TUC need to remember the lessons of the 1964  general strike because they are very relevant to the struggles of the Nigerian workers  today. These lessons were (1) the trade unions demanded a commission of enquiry instead negotiating directly with the Federal government. This allowed them to engage the Federal government as the State authority or representative of the Nigerian bourgeois class, rather than as a public sector employer. (2) the unions formed a united front. (3) the unions bridged the public-private sector divisions as well as the divisions between federal public sector workers and regional public sector workers. The Regional governments and private employers were invited to make presentations to the commission. (4) the unions had a strong, well prepared negotiation team. They not only prepared for the general strike, they prepared for the resulting negotiations. (5) the trade unions had clear, consistent measurable demands. (6) the trade unions mobilized, not only their members for the general strike, but also the whole of the general Nigerian civil society. The Micheal Imoudu led pre-strike Lagos demonstration was designed to mobilize civil society and public sentiment (7) the negotiations continued until most of the workers’ demands were met. The institutional memory of workers struggles needs to be maintained during capacity building and training of trade unionists. The lessons learned from the past struggles of Nigerian workers are essential to waging successful workers struggles in the future.

Foremost rights groups, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and Amnesty International (AI), yesterday, condemned attempts by the federal government through the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to gag the media, especially Nigeria’s number television station, the Arise News Television.

HURIWA specifically cautioned the NBC to avoid acting like an agency of fascism, and not to continuously act as though it was being teleguided, manipulated and mechanically remote-controlled by haters of democracy, free speech and constitutionalism, to scuttle Nigeria’s democracy.

HURIWA also called on National Broadcasting Commission to take cognisance of the ‘indubitably, incontrovertible and irrevocable’ fact that the grundnorm or the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was more supreme and bigger than any public office holders.

It said the NBC that was set up by an inferior legislative template couldn’t be seen to be attempting crudely to revoke the constitutional freedoms enshrined copiously in chapter 4 of the constitution, including freedom of information.

The civil right group said claimed the Constitution in section 22 has empowered the media of mass communication to do the duty of a vanguard and conscience of the nation and monitor the behaviours of public institutions and public office holders.

It said this was to ensure rule of law, respect for constitutionalism and fundamental freedoms recognised internationally under the Universal Declarations of Human Rights (UDHR), the African Charter on people’s and human rights, the international covenant on civil and political rights and a plethora of international human rights treaties.

HURIWA said the persistent attempt by NBC to muzzle the exercise of the fundamental human rights of Nigerians including attempting to force broadcasting stations to start operating as if they were in the era of Musolini’s fascism of Italy of far years gone by or as if Nigeria was under the North Korean type of absolute tyranny by not featuring critics or Nigerians of divergent views different from those of the persons in government of the day, must be actively resisted by all and sundry so that democracy was not imperilled.

The Rights group, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, accused the NBC of working with reactionary elements to scuttle democracy and institute absolute monarchical type of governance in this 21st century Nigeria.

Nigerians, it said, should and must actively resist this negative forces, who were bent on scuttling the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms by the Nigerian citizens.

On its party, Amnesty International, condemned NBC for issuing a ‘final warning’ to owners of Arise Television over the use of derogatory and incendiary remarks on the station.

In its reaction shared on its X account in the early hours of Saturday, October 7, 2023, Amnesty International Nigeria said the NBC action has proven that the Nigerian authorities were not prepared to be held accountable.

It urged the government to desist from what it called an attempt to silence media organisations whose roles are crucial in ensuring independent and diverse media space in the country.

The statement read: “Amnesty International condemns the ‘final warning’ issued to @ARISEtv by the FG through National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Targeting Arise TV simply for doing their work sends the wrong message that; Nigerian authorities are not prepared to be held accountable.

“Nigerian authorities must stop the unrelenting quest to silence media organizations like @ARISEtv which are crucial to ensuring independent and diverse media space in the country and fulfilling people’s right to information.

“Using regulations as a way to silence independent journalism is completely unacceptable. The media in Nigeria should be free to exercise their right to freedom of expression as protected by international law.”

The Federal Government has approved the appointment of doctors, nurses, and other clinical healthcare workers as contract staff after attaining their compulsory retirement age or years.

The government, however, said the appointed contract staff would be on the same salary scale level that they retired on if they desire and deserve it.

A circular obtained by our correspondent, dated October 5, 2023, by the Federal Ministry of Health, directed the Chief Executive Agencies, Chief Medical Directors, Medical Directors, and Heads of Regulatory Bodies and Schools to ensure compliance with the circular earlier issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to all staff in their institutions.

The office of the OHCSF had in a circular dated August 30, 2023, rejected the upward review of the current retirement age of Medical/Dental Consultants and other health professionals from 60 to 70 and 75 respectively.

The circular titled ‘Re: Review of retirement age to 65 and 70 years for health professionals and medical/dental consultants,’ with reference number HCSF/SPSO/ODD/CND/100/S./145, was addressed to the Permanent Secretary of the FMoH.

The circular signed by the Permanent Secretary, Service Policies and Strategies Office, Olufemi Oloruntoba, for the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation read partly, “I am directed to refer to the above-mentioned memorandum presented at the 44th National Council on Establishment held from 5th-9th December 2022, in Yola, Adamawa State requesting a review of the current retirement age of Medical/Dental Consultants and other health professionals from 60 to 70 and 75 respectively.

“After careful consideration of the memorandum, the council rejected the request based on the following: Professionals in the health sector were leaving the country because of pecuniary consideration and unfavourable conditions of service and not as a result of retirement age.

“Some state government had already increased the retirement age of medical doctors and other health workers and this has not addressed the spate of brain drain.”

It also said it was dissatisfied with health workers’ attitude to work, noting that in spite of efforts by the government to encourage health workers, the exodus of health workers had not abated.

“Council, however, approved that clinical health workers who have attained the compulsory retirement age/years may be given contract appointment on the same salary scale level that they retired on if desired and deserved.

“Government should engage the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Medical Association to extract some level of commitment from medical doctors.

“To address the observed dissatisfaction with the attitude of health workers to work, there is a need to institutionalise an effective performance management system in the public service in order to improve the work ethics of the medical officers and consultant, and medical doctors should show more patriotism in the discharge of their duties and avoid holding the system to ransom,” it added.

Consequently, the FMoH in its circular urged all executives of agencies, Chief Medical Directors, Medical Directors, and Heads of Regulatory Bodies and Schools to ensure strict compliance with the directive from the OHCSF.

The circular signed by the Deputy of Appointment, Promotion and Discipline, Daloba Paul Edward for the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, was referenced C.4007/T.2/37.

President Bola Tinubu has rejected a request by Niger’s military leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani for direct one-on-one talks to help resolve the crisis in the West African country.

According to diplomatic sources, Tinubu dismissed the overture as disrespectful to detained President Mohamed Bazoum and an endorsement of the illegal junta government.

The request was conveyed to Tinubu by a delegation of Muslim clerics who met him in Abuja last month. But the Nigerian leader outrightly ruled out interacting directly with the head of a coup government not recognized by ECOWAS.

Government sources confirmed Tinubu insisted that engaging Tchiani would improperly legitimize the junta and disappoint other ECOWAS leaders. The president stated that the coupists must be held accountable.

Tinubu had also received emissaries like ex-Nigerian leader Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar and Sultan of Sokoto, who visited Niger to discuss resolution. But the impasse persists amid doubts on sending envoys who benefited from past military rule.

The ECOWAS chairman however told the Ulamas delegation that the bloc remains committed to a peaceful and diplomatic solution. Tinubu pledged to continue restraining calls for swifter intervention in the crisis.

Analysts say Tinubu’s rejection of direct discussion with Tchiani sends an important signal, but a united ECOWAS front is needed to resolve the coup crisis. The junta continues to hold President Bazoum in detention.