Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has claimed the club will not sign a new striker in January.

This comes amid speculations linking the Gunners with a move for Brentford’s Ivan Toney.

In the summer, Arteta allowed Folarin Balogun to join Monaco, leaving just Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus as the senior strikers in his squad.

Nketiah and Jesus have managed just three Premier League goals so far this season. But Arteta insists he retains faith in the duo.

Ahead of Sunday’s summit meeting with Manchester City, Arteta was asked whether he needed another striker.

He said: “We believe in the players that we have first of all. Because we have the resources that we have secondly, and at the moment we feel we are covering that position.”

Toney is currently serving an eight-month ban for breaching betting regulations.

[DailyPost]

The Federal Government has suspended N-Power programme indefinitely.

 Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu announced the suspension during aninterview with TVC News.

According to Edu, the decision to suspend the programme was birthed by several flaws within the scheme.

The Minister added that a government:s  probe into how the money has been used since the program’s inception has already kick-started.

She said that some of the beneficiaries are not found in their place of assignments yet they expect monthly stipends.

Some of the beneficiaries, according to the Minister, should have left the programme since 2022 but are still on the payroll.

According  to her:: “We must go back to look into N-Power and understand what the problems are so we will basically suspend the programe for now until we are done with proper investigation into the utilization of fund into the N-Power program.

“We want to know how many persons are basically on the program right now, how many persons are owed, amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring the N-Power and expanding it.

“There are lots going on. We met people who are supposed to have exited the program since last year and they are still on claiming that they are still teaching.

“Sometimes we contact the school or the places where they are working and they are not there. They are not working yet they keep claiming that they are being owed eight or nine months stipends.

“About 80 percent of them are not working yet they are claiming salaries.”

The Nation recalls that N-Power Program was introduced by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to combat youth unemployment and promote social development.

[Nation]

Government College Umuahia. Class of 1970 (Entry Year)

On this special occasion of Teachers Day, I would like to take a moment to extend my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to Mr. Dennis Okoro, my Science Teacher during my time in Form 1 at Government College Umuahia in 1970. Your exceptional teaching abilities left a lasting impact on my young and impressionable mind, ultimately guiding me towards pursuing a first degree in Zoology.

I am truly grateful for the privilege of having you as my teacher, as well as being a part of our iconic class of 1970. Your role extended beyond that of a mere educator; you patiently nurtured us, serving as a father figure at our first year in Umuahia and the onset of our academic journey. Thank you for your unwavering dedication and for shaping the lives of countless students like myself.
Thank you sir, and God bless you today and always.

The Federal government has directed its road construction contractors not to use laterite as a base in road construction any longer.

Accordingly, lumps, sharp sand and stone base will form the base before laying of concrete or asphalt pavement of Federal roads.

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi gave the order at the inauguration of the committee for the supervision of the reconstruction of Benin – Warri dual carriageway and the dualization of East – West Road, Port Harcourt – Onne Port junction road in River State.

The Minister also warned that contract variation would no longer be taken with levity at the Ministry.

In a statement  on Friday by Blessing Lere-Adams  Director (Information) Press & Public Relations Unit, Federal Ministry of Works (FMW), Umahi noted that laterite has a limited load bearing capacity, susceptible to erosion and weathering especially in areas with heavy rainfall and this can lead to degradation of the road surface overtime, maintenance challenge and does not last long.

The statement reads: “We are giving very serious attention to the roads between Benin and Warri. The road between Eleme and Onne Port, we are mindful of the site conditions of these roads, the water conditions and the boreholes instead of pot holes on these roads.  No more laterite, contractors are now to use lumps, sharp sand and stone base in place of laterite.

“The Minister directed the newly inaugurated Road Taskforce Team that there must be a continuous maintenance of all the roads under construction until the end of the project and should make sure that the contractors are duly informed of the development, and that they should remember that the ministry is under the matching order given by Mr. President to fix Nigerian roads for the citizens to have ease of movement from one location to the other.

“The committee must implement the contract agreement with maintenance culture as key.  Committee members are to monitor the contractors closely to make sure things are done right.” 

The minister charged the contractors using asphalt pavement to ensure that their contracts are stable, sustainable, and can stand the test of time.

He also warned that the ministry would not go to the Federal Executive Council (FEC)to ask for an increment because of the fluctuating price of bitumen, insisting that the ministry will not go beyond the N6 trillion set aside for the ongoing projects completion.

Meanwhile, the committees constituted are as follows :

•  Reconstruction of Benin-Warri Dual Carriageway (Section 1 : By Levant Construction Company Ltd) Engr. C. Oke, Deputy Director HSSI; Engr. B. W. Hassan; Representative of the Honourable Minister; Representative of Highways MG&QC; Representative of Human Resources Department, FMW; Representative of Legal Department, FMW ; Representative of COREN; Representative of NSE.
• Reconstruction of Benin-Warri Dual Carriageway C (Section 11: By Geld Construction Company Ltd/Triata Nigeria Ltd (JV)) Engr. (Mrs) B.O. Ogunleye Ag. Director HSSII; Engr. Mathew Ogar (Ag. FCW, Delta); Representative of the Honourable Minister; Representative of Highways MG&QC; Representative of Human Resources Department, FMW; Representative of Legal Department, FMW; Representative of COREN and Representative of NSE.
• Reconstruction of Benin – Warri Dual Carriageway (SECTION III: BY SKCC Nigeria Ltd)
• Engr. Oladele Oladunjoye, Deputy Director Highways NC; Engr. Tari Enwereams, Chief Engineer Rivers State Field HQ; Representative of the Honourable Minister; Representative of Highways MG&QC; Representative of Human Resources Department, FMW; Representative of Legal Department, FMW; Representative of COREN and Representative of NSE
• Dualization of East-West Road, Section III: Port Harcourt (Eleme Junction)-Onne Port Junction Road in Rivers State. Engr. David Nwachukwu, Deputy Director Highways (RD-S); Engr. O. A. Adetunji, FCW, Rivers State; Representative of the Honourable Minister; Representative of Highways MG&QC; Representative of Human Resources Department, FMW and Representative of Legal Department, FMW.

“The Minister directed that a letter should be sent to the  Nigeria Union of Journalists requesting for a journalist each to be sent to each of the sites to report to the general public what is going on in the project site, and also a member of NUPENG to each of the project sites. 

“He promised that the ministry will provide all logistics to make sure the assignment goes on smoothly without hitches.

“Umahi also mentioned some other projects which Mr.  President has magnanimously approved and funds released for its construction, thus: the rehabilitation of the third mainland bridge, East-West Road between Warri and Cross Rivers, the reconstruction of Shadam-Lafia Bridge and New Artisan Bridge in Enugu that collapsed a week ago.

“The Minister on behalf of the Ministry thanked Mr. President for erasing the fear of the citizens and stressed that the ministry will have to double the response of Mr. President and have directed the Directors in charge of those zones to move straight to the site and do the needful.”

[Nation]

The Senate has pledged to expedite the review of the new minimum wage bill, with the assurance coming from Senator Diket Plang, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity.

The commitment was made in a statement released in Abuja on Friday.

Senator Plang emphasized the Senate’s dedication to enhancing the living standards of Nigerian workers and addressing the prevailing high levels of poverty. He pointed out that when the new minimum wage bill becomes law, it will further improve workers’ welfare and promote industrial harmony in the country.

He stated:

”Efforts of the Federal Government and the organised labour for agreeing to set in motion necessary machinery to review the current minimum wage as contained in the memorandum of understanding signed by the negotiating parties are commendable.

• ” The Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity under my chairmanship is prepared to give expeditious attention to the passage of a new Act once negotiation on the matter is concluded and such bill transmitted to the National Assembly for enactment.”

Senate’s dedication to worker welfare and decent work

Senator Plang also commended the Federal Government for its proactive measures in preventing a nationwide worker strike. However, he cautioned all parties involved to uphold the agreements reached.

• He remarked, “Nigerians and particularly members of this committee are happy that the looming industrial unrest was averted by a memorandum of understanding signed by the Federal Government, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress. However, all the parties involved should avoid reneging on any of the agreements reached.”

Furthermore, Senator Plang disclosed that the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity is committed to the principles of decent work as outlined by the International Labour Organization.

The committee intends to take legislative action to support initiatives aimed at enhancing the working conditions of Nigerians, including the implementation of a living wage, in line with the decent work agenda.

As I have stressed repeatedly, I have no partisan emotional investment in the political brawl between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, or in who is and is not president of Nigeria. My only partisan affinity is with the truth or, to reecho iconic Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, the best obtainable version of the truth.

This intervention is for people who genuinely want clarity from the blinding maze of propaganda and intentional falsehoods flying around. It’s not for sentimental partisan hacks and political devotees who just want an affirmation of and a comfort to their prejudices and preconceptions.

As an American citizen, a graduate of two American universities, and a professor in one, I can tell the reader three major things Atiku’s Nigerian lawyers and his supporters on social media— and in some openly partisan news sites— are getting wrong.

The major one is the idea that because Tinubu presented a certificate (called a “diploma” in America) to INEC that didn’t emanate from Chicago State University, whose registrar affirmed under oath that Tinubu graduated from there, he has committed forgery in the legal sense of the term. That thinking betrays ignorance of the American university system—and results from people using their limited Nigerian lenses to refract an American phenomenon that’s beyond their experiential reality. 

Certificates are not used as legal proof of graduation from any school in America and therefore can't be forged in the legal sense of the term. Only transcripts can be used as legal documents to validate the genuineness of claims to have attended institutions, including secondary schools. Had Tinubu presented a counterfeit transcript to support his claim of graduating from CSU when he didn’t, or merely to claim a higher GPA than he actually earned even when he graduated from there, that would have been forgery in the legal sense of the term, which is understood to mean “Criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud.”

In this context, “intent to defraud” would mean Tinubu wanted to pass himself off as a university graduate when he wasn’t. But he is. His transcript says he is. The registrar of the university said under oath that he is. A classmate of his said under oath that they graduated from the school the same year. That’s all that matters.

 One indication of the legal worthlessness of certificates in America came from the CSU registrar’s admission in court that the school had many uncollected diplomas going as far back as the 1930s. Certificates are not required to prove graduation here. That’s why people can afford to ignore them.

Intriguingly, the registrar said Tinubu also didn’t collect his original certificate from the school and that it is still lying there. Why did he say he lost it? 

In the United States, a certificate is in many ways similar to a graduation ceremony. Most people attend it and listen to the president of the university formally confer diplomas on them with "all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto." But it has no force of law. Not attending a graduation ceremony doesn’t deprive you of “all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto."

 If you organize your own graduation ceremony, invite friends and family, and ask your father to confer your degree on you, it's fine so long as you validly earned the degree. Incidentally, an American family friend of mine did exactly that last May. His autistic son can't tolerate the sensory overload of large crowds. So, he organized his son’s graduation and invited friends and family. He dressed as the president, and his wife was the provost. His eldest daughter was the graduation speaker.

 In America, the diploma is the printed version—or fixed extension—of a graduation ceremony. It’s merely ceremonial and can be tweaked or individualized by anyone without legal consequences.

It betrays a stupendous poverty of legal and logical imagination to say that the “forgery” (unauthorized redesign is a better expression) of a non-legally-binding ceremonial document of a validly earned degree invalidates the degree. It’s never mentioned in CSU’s diplomas that alteration of the documents renders them invalid because they have no validity beyond being decorative documents. 

You find that kind of language here only on transcripts. On Tinubu’s CSU transcript, for instance, we find such legal language twice. The left-hand side of the transcript says, “Explanatory legend and authenticity confirmation information on back.” On the right-hand side, it says, “THIS RECORD IS NOT OFFICIAL UNLESS IT BEARS A SIGNATURE AND SEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY.”

The diploma does not have such language because in America the diploma is no more important than a school’s academic gown. For example, I use a cheaper, “forged” version of the academic gown of the university that awarded me a doctoral degree (that I ordered from a third-party vendor online) to attend graduation ceremonies at the school where I teach now. At the time I graduated with my doctoral degree, I could only afford to rent the gown. Most people here do the same. It doesn't invalidate our degrees because we’re using the unofficial academic gown of our universities.

I admit, though, that Tinubu was careless. He is in Nigeria where certificates have a different meaning and valence from the United States. He should have submitted CSU’s official diploma to INEC. But what he did does not, by even the most feverish stretch of conspiratorial fantasy, rise to the level of a Salisu-Buhari-type criminal forgery. 

Unlike Salisu Buhari who forged a University of Toronto degree that he didn’t earn, Tinubu attended and earned a degree from Chicago State University. What Tinubu did with his certificate is pointlessly self-harming in reputational terms in Nigeria, but it’s not illegal. 

The second major misconception of America came from Atiku’s lawyer by the name of Kalu Kalu. He said at a news conference on October 5 that “the Chicago State University admission application form has a claim that… the owner of that document is a Black American, and the document Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to INEC, he denied having dual citizenship which means it doesn’t belong to him.”

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help myself from letting out a burst of deep, loud, hearty laughter when I read that. It’s pure hilarious ignorance! You see, America has an enduringly irresistible impulse to taxonomize humanity into discrete racial categories. Every official form here requests you to identify your race. The modern options are “White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.”

In the mid-1970s when Tinubu applied to study at CSU, what is now “Black or African American” on official forms in America was simply “Black American,” particularly in historically Black Universities like CSU.

The US Census Bureau has historically defined “Black or African American” as “A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.”

 “Black American” was the only category that closely applied to Tinubu, so he chose it because the form instructed him to “CHECK ONE BOX.” Checking the “Black American” box didn’t mean he called himself a Black American or that he impersonated a Black American. It only meant he identified HIS RACE as “Black American.” No more, no less.

The other options in the form were barely decipherable, but I could pick out “American Indian or Alaska Native,” something that looks like “Spanish Surname American,” another that looks like “Eurasian American,” etc. Although the form gave the option for “Other (explain),” most Africans here typically choose Black American as the closest description of their race.

Finally, a Dr. Abimbola Adenike Tinubu, who lives in a small town called Opelousas in the state of Louisiana, is being touted by social media trolls as the woman whose identity Bola Tinubu allegedly stole. The problem is that the lady was born in 1971, just 4 years before Tinubu enrolled at Southwest College. She graduated from the University of Ilorin in 1998 and came to the US later.

It's chronologically and rationally impossible for Tinubu to steal the identity of a 4-year-old Nigerian preschooler (who came to America decades after Tinubu left it) and then present himself as an adult male to enroll at a community college!

Plus, Dr. Abimbola’s Whitepages information shows that she has never lived in Virginia where the social security number associated with President Tinubu was issued or Chicago where he went to school. She has only lived in Tennessee, Texas, and Louisiana.

Look, Tinubu’s life is wrapped in multiple layers of mind-bogglingly intricate fraud, but you can't peel off these layers of fraud with fraud. You do it with the truth.

And Atiku can actually inflict fatal moral wounds on Tinubu and potentially immobilize him in 2027 if he pursues the leads that came out from his “fishing expedition” in Chicago. A low-hanging fruit is Tinubu's obviously fraudulent secondary school attendance claim.

 He can write to Cambridge University to verify the GCE A-level result that Tinubu presented to Southwest College. If it turns out that it’s fake or belongs to someone else, he can cause Daley College to rescind his associate degree. If his associate degree is rescinded, his bachelor's degree from Chicago State University will automatically follow. With no qualifications to present to INEC to prove that he has at least the equivalent of a secondary school certificate, he'd be legally ineligible to run again.

A document of unmatchable scurrility, last encountered during General Sani Abacha’s global campaign of calumny against opponents of his despotic, infernally venal and homicidal reign, is back in circulation. Duly modified to suit a debased internet culture, it is making its grimy rounds ironically under the auspices of a democratic political party, supposedly dedicated to an ethos of freedom of opinion and expression. The contents of that script are attributed, as before, to the scholastic industry of a Bristol schoolteacher.

While awaiting a decision from my lawyers whether or not to dignify the current sponsors of this mouldy tract with legal action, I wish to state in advance that I voluntarily waive all protection under the statute of limitations, and insist that the laws that govern fraudulent academic claims be invoked and applied to these allegations to the uttermost limit.  I also declare, in advance that, if found culpable, I shall  strip myself of any titles and honours I may have garnered in my entire career, from the most obscure to the most coveted.

In return, I expect the purveyors of this sordid material to submit all evidence, however minuscule, to the nation’s investigative agencies - Directorates of Prosecutions, EFCC, ICPC, plus affected institutions and others - within the next thirty days. Failing this elementary service in public interest within the stated time, and/or If such allegations are yet again proven baseless, thus indicating that their sponsors can boast of neither honours to their careers nor honour to their births and origins, then, as a token of moral recompense, they should undertake to jump off the bridge of the symbolic River Niger, provided with life jackets to ensure a life of remorse after this ritual purgation, but chained to one another in a commendable unity of purpose.

This is being copied to the Academic Staff Union of Nigeria, Pan-African Writers Association, Accra, Nigeran Association of Authors, the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, the University of Leeds, the alleged Bristol Primary Source and his school, and the infested media.  

Anthony Kila writes about the need for government and the public to celebrate teachers as Thursday, October 5, was observed as World Teachers Day.

Dear Readers

Yesterday (Thursday, 5th of October 2023) was a working day, on a personal note where were you physically and mentally and what did you do normally and differently?

There is no right or wrong answers to these questions since they are about personal events and activities. Just facts.

Well, while you are considering my questions and your answers, here are two other facts to reflect on: One, you are reading my missive today because you can read.

Two you can read because someone or some people somewhere taught you how to read. Yes, it is easy to forget that we were not born readers, it is easy to forget that there was a time we could not read essays like this one, it is easy to forget that there are still people who cannot read.

I admit we were not taught to do so but I recommend that once in a while we pause to reflect on these facts so that we can remember that some of the things we have, can do and take for granted were and are still the wishes and prayers of others. Some of the things we have, can do and take for granted are fruit of the endeavours of some other people.

Yesterday, was another World Teachers Day. It is an event held annually on the same day every year to celebrate all teachers around the globe. It is an occasion designed to commemorate the anniversary of the adoption of the “1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers” across the globe.

The recommendation sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers, standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment as well as teaching and learning conditions.

If you are one of the very many, too many, people that did not remember the World Teachers Day, let alone do anything about it, it is okay, you will neither be penalized on earth nor go to hell for it.

You are in a popular but I think bad company of hundreds of millions. There were no streetlights, nor rallies, no holiday nor newspaper adverts to celebrate teachers. Yesterday, on the World Teachers Day, doctors just carried on treating, bankers went on counting, diners just read their menus and ordered food, writers went on writing and even some teachers went on teaching as if nothing happened with no thoughts of the teachers that taught them to treat, count, read, write and teach.

Save for some pockets of exceptions here and there, teachers are not celebrities so no one celebrates them.

The World Teachers Day is just a symbolic day though, the rot and damage are deeper. One of the biggest evils committed by modern society and perpetuated by contemporary society is our nonchalant attitude towards knowledge and those that made us know.

The consequences are clear for all to see and it varies from society to society in time and in space. Here is another untaught lesson we need to review: Across the world (countries) and in communities (such as clubs and associations), there is a correlation between the level of knowledge, respect and recognition accorded to teachers on one side and the level of wealth and orderliness on the other side.

Societies with little respect for teaching and teachers are also poorer and more prone to crime and disorder.

I am a teacher and I agree that “charity begins at home” so in identifying the origin and causes of the lack of appreciation of teaching and teachers we must start by looking inwards.

A sober and objective introspection will leave us with no option but to admit that whilst on one side many of us have done well in teaching subjects (at least most of our students can count, read and write), most of us have not done well in interpreting our roles as priests of the temple of knowledge.

We have not done enough in teaching our students (and consequently the world) that teachers are not just the key to knowledge and bridge to the realization of dreams and desire but are also makers of men, creators of leaders and custodians of our future.

Let us be clear, a teacher that cannot inspire is not worthy of the title “teacher”, especially when conceived as a maestro, a teacher that bullies, harasses or extorts students is an anathema to teaching.

What we teach at CIAPS is that teachers need to make sure that the school and the classroom are places to want to be not escape. Yes, I know many teachers feel overworked, underpaid, undervalued and I argue that this is partly because teachers have not valued themselves enough.

It is time for our teachers to review the untaught lessons of self-worth and start acting accordingly.

The issues of having a decent, dignified and functional learning environment to teach for equally decent, dignified and functional pay are matters of government (of school and state).

Suffice to say it will be difficult to attain decency, dignity and functionality in a country that has no money but it is even more difficult to attain them in a system that does not value knowledge and those that serve knowledge. Values determine priority.

There is one thing that should not be too difficult to attain though: Governance.

Let the government roll back from school management and give teachers more independence to manage themselves.

Let governors and commissioners have less say in who becomes Vice Chancellors and school Heads. Allow teachers decide who manages them based on merit, knowledge and track record of managing education.

We the people (as students ex students and parents) are very guilty of many things and we have a lot of revision to do and amends to make, luckily it is not too late to start.

We can start by rediscovering the importance of teaching and teachers, we need to take time to think it through and reconsider what values we place on who and what we are and those who contributed to making us who and what we are.

Now that you are aware of “The World Teachers Day”, let us review another untaught lesson. I invite you to take some time to think of some teachers that have affected you for better or for worse and if you can send them a thought or a prayer.

I listed 15 teachers that have influenced me for better and for worse. Thoughts are essential and even great but actions will achieve more.

Imagine a world where 5% of those over 40 years old give about 100USD to their favourite teachers every year.

There is a heavy security presence at the premises of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, the venue for the sitting of the Abia Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

The tribunal is set to deliver judgment today in the petitions filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Okey Ahiwe, and his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Ikechi Emenike, against the victory of Governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP).

Naija News reports that everybody, including reporters accessing the court premises, was subjected to screening by a combined team of security operatives.

After the screening, the tribunal judges entered the courtroom, and the counsels to the various parties announced their appearances, and the initial formalities were done.

However, the tribunal Chairman refuted reports that the litigants were told not to be in court, dismissing such reports as false.

Labour Party Chairman in the state, Ceekay Igara and a member representing Isiala Ngwa North and Isiala Ngwa South federal constituency, Hon Ginger Onwusibe (LP), among others, were sighted in the courtroom.

Also, PDP chieftains, including the former Commissioner for Sports, Barrister Esomonu Ugochukwu, were also sighted in the court.

Details later...

[NaijaNews]