Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has said that it was not on the front burner of his administration to employ new people into the state’s civil service.

The governor made the disclosure during the monthly interactive session with the media on Thursday in Umuahia.

According to him, the issue of employment would arise when the government finished dealing with what it met in the civil service.

He added that there was an embargo that he made, stressing that it was still in place.

He complained that the number of persons in the civil service was still very high even after verification.

Otti decried the huge wage bill of about four billion naira for both local government and state on a monthly basis.

The governor, however, assured that the government was working assiduously on improving and enhancing the pay for the civil servants.

He said that government was aware that there were quite a lot of people in the service who might not be contributing at optimal levels and would need to do something about it.

He said: “So, it may not be a priority at this time to open up the doors to bring in new people, except if we have a way of exiting a few people.

“But you know with the civil service rules, it is not going to be very easy to exit people.

“What we are trying to do with the establishment of the Civil Service Commission and resumption of the new Head of Service and new Permanent Secretaries is to ensure that our people are adequately trained.

“This is to enable them operate their skills and perform better.”

[DailyPost]

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has asked the Federal Government to address Nigerians’ sufferings caused by the fuel subsidy removal and increased electricity tariffs.

Adams disclosed this while speaking during the 2024 edition of the Oke Ibadan festival, organised by the Olokun Festival Foundation, which was held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday.

He noted that Nigerians are concerned about the present situation in the country.

He also pointed out that the idea of states having independent power supply was one of the policies of this administration that he had applauded, adding that there are a lot of advantages the states can get from this initiative.

He said, “One of the major policies of this administration that I applauded at the onset was the idea of having an imdependent power supply in the states.

“There are a lot of advantages the states can get from this initiative.

“Nigerians have continued to raise their voices against the policy, even as power outages persist in the country. The new tariffs have become a big problem for Nigerians.

“The increase in electricity tariffs had taken a huge toll on the entire system. It has affected all the sectors of the Nigerian economy.

“Like the growing pain experienced through the hike in the electricity tariffs, the fuel subsidy removal has continued to bring more hardship to Nigerians. It has also affected the Nigerian economy, drifting the country to further inflation.”

Adams has always pledged his support for President Bola Tinubu’s administration, saying his Presidency represents a new chapter for Nigeria.

He stated this in a congratulatory letter to the President on his recent victory at the Supreme Court.

Noting that “Nigeria is going through a lot at the moment,” Adams said Tinubu’s “victory has given rise to a leadership that this time demands. And we must agree with the fact that this is truly a new chapter in the political trajectory of Nigeria.”

He, however, urged Tinubu to make the best of his Presidency to, especially, heed the widespread yearning for the restructuring of the country.

[Punch]

Bandits on Thursday night invaded the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, Okene in Kogi State and abducted some students.

An eyewitness account indicated that the bandits swooped on the university around 9pm while the students were reading for their upcoming exams.

The source said that the bandits came in through the bush, went into three lecture halls and began to shoot into the air to scare the students.

“They trapped the students inside the halls and started taking them; the school was thrown into total confusion as fear-stricken students in other halls scurried to safety, scampering in various directions. 

“By the time local security guards and the conventional security men at the gate engaged the bandits, they had already succeeded in abducting some students.

“But the efforts minimised the damage as the attackers didn’t go beyond the first three halls,” the source said.

According to the source, the students were preparing for their first-semester examination expected to commence on Monday, May 13, when the bandits struck.

A student, who craved anonymity, said that he and some colleagues ran to the bush and hid there for “more than an hour”.

“We only ventured out when everywhere became quiet,” he said.

Contacted, CUSTEC Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdulraman Asipita, confirmed the incident but refused to give details of the number of students abducted.

“I don’t talk to journalists on incidents like this, but I want you to know that we are on top of the situation,” he said.

Efforts to reach the Commissioner of Police in Kogi, Mr Bethrand Onuoha, were not successful.

Retired Cdre Jerry Omodara, State Security Adviser, could equally not be reached for comments as calls to his line were not picked up nor returned.

Like in several parts of the country, abduction for ransom is the new normal. In February, gunmen reportedly kidnapped nine travellers in Oshokoshoko, along the Kabba/Obajana/Lokoja Road in Kogi State.

(NAN)

Organised Labour has justified its proposed N615,000 minimum wage demand.

The request is based on a conservative analysis of what an average Nigerian family needs to survive.

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero stated this yesterday during his visit to the headquarters of The Nation in Lagos.

He was accompanied by some national officers and officials of the Lagos State council of the union.

Some of these are the National President, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Ambali Akeem Olatunji; NLC Lagos State Chairman Funmi Sessi and NLC National Trustee, Akporeha Williams.

The delegation was received by senior editorial figures led by Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh.

Ajaero, a former Labour reporter, who is one year old in office, described the visit as “home-coming”.

He said he would have visited media houses before now but for the pressure of office.

Although Labour was not opposed to a negotiated wage for workers, Ajaero said the prevailing economic realities informed its decision to put forward for negotiation the proposed N615,000 wage demand to the Federal Government’s Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage.

Labour made public the amount on May Day, saying it had tabled it before the Tripartite Committee, whose meetings are ongoing to reach an agreement on the minimum wage.

Ajaero said there were misconceptions about the proposal, but the NLC was left with no other choice than to arrive at the figure based on prevailing economic indices and realities to make life better for Nigerian workers.

“We presented N615,000 as minimum wage to the Federal Government. But if you ask us to present again today, it is going to increase because when we were presenting that figure, things like electricity tariff had not increased. And there was no cybersecurity levy,” he said, asking: “Where are we going to get money to pay for these?”

Ajaero said this was why the NLC gave the Federal Government, through the Tripartite Committee, a proviso that “If the indices remain the way they are, this N615,000 demand stands, but if they come down as we are negotiating, we will look at it.”

Explaining how NLC arrived at the N615,000 minimum wage, Ajaero said: “We looked at accommodation, food, medicals, education, and other utilities. We didn’t make provisions for communication, offerings, tithes and the like. Those are some of the things we took into cognisance before we arrived at N615,000.”

On accommodation, for instance, Ajaero said the NLC pegged it at N40,000 for a room and parlour apartment for a family of husband and wife and four children.

“This means that if you have a grandmother or mother-in-law, you are on your own because we did not calculate those,” he said.

NLC calculated feeding based on N500 per person per meal for a family of six.

“So, N500 per person is N1,500 per person in a day. For six tables in a month, we are going to have N270,000 for feeding,” he said, adding that N50,000 is for education and medicals each, assuming a worker does not go for surgery or send his or her children to private school, for instance.

For utilities like electricity bills and gas, Ajaero said while N20,000 was allocated to the former, even before the tariff increased, about N16,000 or N17,000 was for gas, which does not last for more than two weeks.

This, he said, means that in a month, some families buy gas at least twice, spending between N30,000 and N35,000.

“Based on our calculation, a worker is not supposed to own a car, not even a motorcycle, because he or she can’t fill a car tank with N30,000; he can’t service a vehicle,” Ajaero said.

He noted that these are some of the things the NLC took into consideration before coming up with N615,000.

“We have placed it (N615,000) wage demand before the government for negotiation because when there is an offer there is usually a counter-offer to say no, this one you are asking is out of it,” the labour leader said.

He pointed out that while inflation remained high, wages have also remained constant and all other costs are going up, whether it’s housing, transportation or school fees.

“So, should wage remain constant and still take care of other variables?” Ajaero asked.

“If all these factors are checked, we will be arriving at another figure.”

The NLC boss also said the removal of petrol subsidy pushed up prices of goods and services across the country.

He said if the fuel subsidy was not removed, “probably we would have suggested N80,000 minimum wage.”

Asked about state governments not even paying the current N30,000 wage, and whether the Federal Government can afford the proposed N615,000, Ajaero was emphatic.

“States can pay if they get their priorities right,” he said, noting that it’s only a few state governments that are not paying the N30,000.

He said: “I think a few state governments are not paying; just very few or some are paying in breaches.

“But on the issue of whether the states can pay, yes, they can if they get their priorities right.

“In fact, National Assembly’s wages have almost tripled. If you come to an economy and we are having this argument of affordability, everybody must be disciplined.”

Besides, he argued that the issue of minimum wage is a benchmark and a product of legislation such that if left open, some states will not even pay N10,000.

“If this N30,000 was not a product of legislation, the state governments that have been kicking that minimum wage be sent into the concurrent list so that they can decide whether to pay N5,000 or not would have succeeded,” he said.

Ajaero, however, said all over the world, it is called minimum.

In other words, states are supposed to pay beyond the minimum.

“If you check states like Edo, while some are paying N30,000, they are paying N40,000; some others are paying N35,000. Most states are paying more than N30,000,” he said.

He also pointed out that when this same complaint about the payment of 30,000 came up during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s era and he released money from the Sovereign Wealth Fund for state governors to pay salaries, they did not use it for the purpose but diverted it.

On the ongoing negotiations at the Tripartite Committee, made up of Federal/state government officials, labour unions and the organised private sector, Ajaero said the labour centres were asked to harmonise their positions, which he said had been done.

He said another meeting of the committee had been fixed for May 15. It will be held via Zoom.

He expressed reservations about using Zoom for such a serious negotiation, saying many factors could make it inappropriate.

He also said if the Federal Government makes good its promise to provide Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses, which, according to him, is not rocket science as it only requires a conversion kit to switch over to PMS, transportation costs will significantly reduce.

“If we had achieved that, you don’t need to tell anybody and you will see that transportation will just crash. Transportation is central to our demand.

“If CNG buses are put in place, we won’t be talking about this. We are looking at it holistically. If all this is done, Nigerians will live happily,” Ajaero said.

FBN Holdings Plc, has announced the exit of Mr Tunde Hassan-Odukale as Chairman of its subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd., following the completion of his tenure.

The Board of First Bank appointed Mr Ebenezer Olufowose, a Non-Executive Director, as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank.

Company Secretary, FBN Holdings, Adewale Arogundade, said this in a notification sent to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd.(NGX) on Thursday in Lagos.

Arogundade explained that Hassan-Odukale completed the cumulative number of years, which is 12 years for a Non-Executive Director, in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBNs) corporate governance guidelines.

He said Olufowose was appointed to the Board of Directors of First Bank on April 29, 2021.

Olufowose is the Group Managing Director of First Ally Capital Ltd., an investment banking firm based in Lagos.

With over 35 years of working in the financial services industry, Olufowose brings skills from corporate finance, project finance and investment banking to the board.

Before joining the First Bank Board, he was Executive Director at Access Bank Plc and Citibank Nigeria, where he led Citigroup’s origination, structuring and execution of corporate finance and investment banking transactions in Nigeria.

He started his banking career in 1985 at NAL Merchant Bank Plc (NAL), working in the Corporate Planning and Finance Departments.

A first-dass honours degree holder in Economics from the University of Lagos, Olufowose holds an MA in International Economics from the University of Sussex, England.

He has attended several management and leadership training programmes at leading institutions, including the Institute of Management Development, Switzerland, Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S., and INSEAD Singapore.

He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School and the Lagos Business School and an Honourary Senior member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

Olufowose is also a Fellow of the Institute of Credit Administration and a Fellow of the Association of Investment Advisers and Portfolio Managers.

(NAN)

THE journalist is needed everywhere, but is endangered everywhere. Hence humanity declared May 3 as World Press Freedom Day to highlight the importance of the profession and the need for freedom of the press in the context of current global affairs.

Tragically, the day has become like a body count of journalists killed, those of them incarcerated and, in some places, the near impossibility of practising the profession. In 2023, at least 71 journalists were killed. This year promises to be far higher unless the Israeli-Palestinian War is quickly brought to an end. Already, that seven-month conflict has claimed 97 journalists with 92 of them Palestinian, two Israeli and three Lebanese.

Those figures make Palestine the deadliest place to practice journalism. Even before the on-going conflict, it was dangerous to practise the profession in Palestine, as Israel had deliberately murdered journalists in that country. One of the most brazen was the May 11, 2022 murder of Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. She was picked out by an Israeli sniper while standing with her professional colleagues, all wearing vests with ‘Press’ emblazoned on them. The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that her murder was deliberate.

As the world marked the Press Freedom Day, a week ago, Nigerian journalist, Daniel Ojukwu, of the Freedom for Investigative Journalism, FIJ, was spending his third day in detention after being abducted by Special Forces sent by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun. Since nobody, except his abductors, knew his whereabouts, he was presumed missing or possibly dead before, luckily, he was found in a Lagos police cell. As I write, Ojukwu remains in captivity.

He might be luckier than Segun Olatunji, Editor of FirstNews who was abducted by armed soldiers on March 15, 2024 at home in the presence of his young family, and practically vanished. Even the serving Nigeria Army Generals who directed his abduction, personally claimed they knew nothing about his whereabouts. He was lucky to have been positively located in a military dungeon in Abuja by his colleagues. At that point, the cornered Generals set him free after 13 days in captivity.

In a sense, Nigerian journalists are luckier than those in Palestine; at least they are not being shot. But those in the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, SADR, better known Western Sahara, are operating in almost impossible circumstances. At least in Palestine, Israel, even if it cannot tolerate them, recognises Palestinian journalists and, is conscious that it is an occupying force. In contrast, the Moroccan monarchy does not even recognise Western Sahara as a separate territory, does not see itself as an occupying force, and of course, does not recognise Saharawi journalists as professionals with a duty to report.

Where, during protests, Israel pretends to spare the Palestinian journalist, Morocco sees Saharawi journalists as part of the subversive forces that are fit only for prison. As an occupying force, Israel attacks Palestinians and imprisons, but does not expel them. In Morocco’s case, it claims the Saharawi are its citizens, but can expel them from their country. In one of the most infamous cases, when on November 13, 2009, the President of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders, CODESA, Aminatou Haidar, returned home from a trip to Nigeria where I was one of the labour leaders that received her, she was denied re-entry. The Moroccan government detained her overnight at the airport, seized her passport and national identity card and expelled her as a stateless person to the Spanish Canary Islands.

So, to practise journalism in a country you can easily be declared a terrorist or non-citizen, requires the journalist operating like a guerrilla fighter. To worsen matters, the Saharawi journalist by virtue of his nationality has to work in three territories: in parts occupied by Morocco, in the liberated territories and the Refugee Camps in Tindouf, Algeria.

In marking the 2024 World Press Freedom Day, journalists from various continents gathered in the Refugee Camps in practical solidarity with Saharawi journalists and people. This first international media solidarity conference was titled: “A journalistic perspective of the issue of Western Sahara and its Developments”.

In striving to remove the prevailing international media veil over the bloody and vicious attempts by the Moroccan monarchy to recolonise Western Sahara, a member of the African Union, the international journalists, examined “Current Issues and Double Standards” in reporting the situation. They dedicated themselves to documenting the truth about the country and “ conveying the voice and stories of the Sahrawi people to the world”.

The journalists also announced that they would be: “Defending Sahrawi media professionals in the occupied territories of Western Sahara by exposing Moroccan violations that target them, highlighting the risks to which they are exposed under occupation, and contributing to the defence of their freedom and safety.”

In examining the state of journalism in today’s crisis-ridden world, the journalists concluded that the old ways of reportage is no longer adequate as the situation threatens not just the professional standards of journalism, but also, human values.

In noting the widening areas of conflict in an increasingly explosive, complex, divergent, yet intertwined world, they regretted that: “Instead of reporting and addressing events objectively, the media has become a massive propaganda machine, posing a threat to peace, stability, and security.” They warned that: “Any failure of the free press today to fulfil its pivotal role, leaves the field wide open, especially given the opportunities presented by modern communication technologies and their effects.”

Linking these to the Western Sahara situation, the visiting journalists revealed that “concealing and biasing the truth has become a consequence of colonial policies and their various forms characterised by racial, cultural, and even geographical discrimination, among others.”

They declared that the forms of occupation anywhere in the universe are essentially the same and that declaring legitimate resistance as terrorism, is no solution to such occupation.

They added that for there to be peace, it has become an urgent necessity for the conscientious across the globe to unite in protecting basic rights and principles of justice.

The media practitioners advocated for journalism with social relevance; one that would convey the concerns, hopes, and future of oppressed peoples in all “corners of the world from Western Sahara to Palestine.”

In a declaration called: ‘The appeal of Bir Lahlu’, named after the liberated Sahrawi territory, the international journalists called for a unification of the efforts of “ free advocacy for a better, possible world, with its free media serving the freedom and dignity of humanity.”

The future of journalism, and I dare say of the world, may depend on humanity, adopting and implementing declarations like the one emanating from Western Sahara.

A federal high court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to restrain the federal government from securitising the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means loan received from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Securitisation is the practice of pooling together various debt instruments and selling them as bonds to investors.

In a judgment delivered on Thursday, James Omotosho, the presiding judge, held that the plaintiffs lacked locus standi (legal right) to institute the case, noting that they failed to prove the case.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1286/2023, was filed by Justin Edim and Akinfewa Akinwunmi against President Bola Tinubu, the federal government of Nigeria, CBN, and the ministry of finance as first to fourth defendants.

Others in the suit are the debt management office (DMO), national assembly, and attorney-general of the federation (AGF) as fifth to seventh defendants, respectively.

The plaintiffs, through their counsel, Victor Opatola, claimed they initiated the legal action on behalf of themselves and other Nigerian citizens.

They asked the court to stop the conversion of the debt to a promissory note or any other promise to pay at a future date or securitisation through the issuance of treasury bills, bonds, or other forms of security.

In December 2022, the federal government requested the 9th national assembly for permission to securitise the debts it incurred from the CBN over the years.

The plaintiffs claimed that the series of loans secured by the government from the CBN had amounted to N23.7 trillion.

They added that the federal government was planning to restructure the loans to something that could be traded.

They further stated that the federal government had over the years secured various loans from the CBN under the Ways and Means provision of section 38 of the CBN Act in contravention of relevant laws.

They argued that the laws stipulate that the total amount the government could borrow shall not exceed five percent of the previous year’s revenue.

Recently, according to the plaintiffs, the Ways and Means debt of N22.7 trillion was decided to be converted into bonds (promissory note) contrary to section 38(3)(b) of the CBN Act.

The plaintiffs wanted the court to declare that the effect of securitising the ways and means debt would adversely affect millions of Nigerians, as well as rob them of the true worth of their savings and further drive Nigerians below the poverty line.

Delivering the judgment, Omotosho struck out the name of the national assembly from the suit, noting that the plaintiffs had breached the condition precedence of filing a pre-action notice on the legislature three months before filing the case.

The judge said though the plaintiffs claimed they filed the matter on behalf of the masses, the instant case was not a fundamental enforcement rights suit.

He said the claim that the suit was brought on behalf of the public was incomprehensible.

The judge added that the plaintiffs failed to show how the actions of the defendants affected them personally.

[TheCable]

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Engr. Chukwuemeka Woke as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority.

Engr. Woke is a seasoned engineer and politician. He had served as Chairman of Emohua local government area of Rivers State and was Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, for many years.

The President expects the new Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority to discharge his duties with integrity and in conformity with the highest standards of transparency, while working at harnessing and developing the water resource potential of the area, as well as ensuring that the Authority is a channel for holistic and integrated industrial, agricultural, and community development.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)