A 19-year-old man arraigned before Mutawatawa magistrate on charges of having sexual intercourse with his 14-year-old sister in Uzumba, Zimbabwe, has been convicted.
It was gathered that in January 2023, the 19-year-old man decided to take things a notch up bizarrely as he chatted with his sister. He asked his sister to be his girlfriend. Strangely, the 14-year-old admitted to feeling the same way for her brother.
The two decided to hit it off and start dating. They decided to keep their relationship under wraps, knowing how much trouble it would attract if ever known.
During their relationship, the 19-year-old man convinced his sister to have sex with him. She agreed, and the two did the act on different occasions, both at home and in the garden. However, the girl later got pregnant and this was noticed by their grandmother.
Upon being questioned, she revealed her brother was responsible. The grandmother reported the case to the police, leading to the 19-year-old man’s arrest for incest. He appeared in a Mutawatawa Court, where the Magistrate sentenced him to 14 months in jail. Two months were struck off, and he will serve an effective 12 months.
Fresh facts about how Finidi George beat fan favourite Emmanuel Amuneke and other applicants to the Super Eagles job have emerged, The PUNCH reports.
Monday, the Nigerian Football Federation approved the recommendations of its Technical Committee to appoint Finidi as coach ahead of over 60 other local and foreign applicants.
Some of the other coaches who applied are US U-19 coach Michael Nsien, Spain-based former Katsina United coach Henry Makinwa, Sylvanus Okpala and Daniel Amokachi. Former Cameroon coach Antonio Conceicao and Dutchman Danny Bujis also reportedly applied for the job.
A member of the NFF Technical Committee, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said some stakeholders had tried to influence their decision in favour of their candidate.
He said Technical Committee members, however, resolved to stick to their guns and pick the best candidate for the position no matter whose ox was gored.
“Some of these people think they are the masters of the game, but they don’t know that some of us have been in this game for some time too. Do you know they set up a WhatsApp platform to decide and influence who will become the coach of the Super Eagles. But we snubbed them,” our source said.
“It could have been the other way round and we would still move on and support whoever the NFF picked.
“We know that some candidates that were not picked for the job would complain, that’s life for you. The important thing now is to support who is there and see how we can qualify for the World Cup. Now we have a manager, he’s going to coach the team, he has the desire to coach and he’ll definitely sit down with the federation officials to sort out his contract.”
On how they arrived at Finidi as the best choice for Eagles, our source said with just weeks to the crucial World Cup qualifiers against rivals South Africa, they needed someone who had an in-depth knowledge of the squad, and not a new coach who would come with a new philosophy alien to the players.
He added that Finidi, having served for 20 months under Peseiro, emerged the right man for the job, while his knowledge of domestic and continental football as current NPFL champions Enyimba also gave him the nod.
Our source added, “Finidi, with due respect to him, has been on ground, and he’s in tune with the dynamics of the modern game, and that for us is a big plus. He’s working with Enyimba, won a league title for them, has coached on the continent and he’s been busy coaching in recent years.
“At the national team level, he’s been with the Eagles as assistant and we know we have some tricky World Cup qualifiers ahead. A new coach might come in with tactics that the players will struggle to adapt to. We don’t need that now.
“Also, as a coach who understand the domestic league very well, his experience in this regard will come in handy when selecting players for the home-based players.”
The Technical Committee member added monetary considerations also played a role in Finidi’s choice for the job.
“Who will pay a foreign coach $70,000 in today’s Nigeria? The money is just not there,” our source added.
Meanwhile, some of the applicants have spoken on the process that led to the appointment of the new coach.
Even though Emmanuel Amuneke described the process as “fair”, he admitted that there was no interview to select the best candidate for the job.
“There was no interview (for the job), neither was there any talk about the job with the federation. There was no contact from the federation nor was there an offer to take the job. They have chosen a new coach, who is one of us, we just need to move on and support him,” Amuneke said.
When asked if he thought the process of selecting the candidate for the coaching role was transparent, US U-19 coach Michael Nsien, who also applied for the job, said, “It depends on people’s standards of process. There weren’t interviews, which I think is basic, it would give the appearance (that it was transparent) at least.”
Nsien, a former U-23 national team star, is positive Finidi will get a competent backroom staff to work with.
“Hopefully he is surrounded with good staff,” he said.
Another applicant, Sylvanus Okpala, who won the AFCON title in 1980 as a player and as an assistant coach in 2013, declined comments on the process that saw Finidi emerge as the winner but congratulated the former Ajax star.
He said, “The important thing is that Finidi has been selected and he is there now. All he needs is the support of everyone to excel, but the biggest support he can get is the one he gives to himself to be successful and take the Eagles to where they belong.
“I feel okay with Finidi’s appointment as the new Super Eagles coach because all of us cannot be there and obviously only one person will be appointed among us. I congratulate him and I wish him the best, hoping that he will take the Eagles to the next level.”
The naira declined to N1,370 against the dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday.
This represents a 1.48 percent depreciation from N1,350 traded on April 29.
Currency traders, also known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, put the buying rate of the greenback at N1,330 and the selling price at N1,370 — leaving a profit margin of N40.
At the official window, the local currency appreciated by 1.98 percent to N1,390 on April 30 — from N1,419.11 on April 29.
During trading, the exchange rate rose as high as N1,450 and as low as N1,200 according to data from FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees FX trading in Nigeria.
The naira devaluation has continued to pose significant challenges to firms, cutting deep into profit margins and eroding shareholders’ dividends.
On April 30, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, said the devaluation of naira created the “biggest mess” for the company in 2023.
“We are doing whatever it takes to make sure that at the end of the day, we will be paying dividends because if you look at our dividends last year, it was almost 50 percent more so we will try and get out of the mess,” Dangote said.
“The biggest mess created was actually the devaluation of the naira from N460 to N1,400.”
He said almost 97 percent of the companies, especially in food and beverages businesses, will not pay dividends this year due to the FX constraints.
Chess-in-Slums founder, Tunde Onakoya, has changed the conventional meaning of “area boy,” typically associated with street thugs, into a symbol of intellectual prowess.
Onakoya, addressing a TEDx Talks gathering at Nile University of Nigeria in 2023, revealed his background as an “area boy,” a clip of which gained online attention on Wednesday.
He explained that this identity inspired his unique attire, combining an indigenous cap and suit.
Onakoya shared his vision of using chess to unite children from diverse backgrounds, aiming to break down barriers between the affluent and underprivileged.
Inspired by this vision, he embarked on a mission to introduce chess to the marginalized youth in the slums, including those often stigmatized as “area boys.”
By providing chess boards and opportunities for these boys to learn and compete, Onakoya sought to empower them and foster camaraderie across socioeconomic divides.
Through this initiative, he aimed to demonstrate the transformative potential of chess in promoting inclusivity and social harmony within communities.
Onakoya said, “I am also an area boy; I mean, for a very long time, the term ‘area boy’ has been known to be a derogatory word that is being used to refer to the thugs, hoodlums and criminals in Lagos. But we’re able to redefine what that meant, and a lot of us became area boys for the sake of some people, and I’ll tell you that story.
“So, some 16 years ago, I was at home, I had just completed my primary school education, and my mom called me and told me that I would have to stop school because they just couldn’t afford tuition anymore, and I had to stay at home so my brother could go to school and that was going to be the end of education for me.
“I wasn’t a very brilliant kid in primary school; I mean, I could not even speak good English at the end of my primary school because the school I went to was a ‘Pako’ one where they taught in Yoruba, and we had to sit on the floor. So, I was really struggling, and my teachers would call me ‘olodo’. So it was the easy way out, okay, so no school, so I dropped out of school, and I was at home for two years after my primary school education.
“There was this barbing salon just on the other side of our street, and I would go there to play video games at the end of the day. Then, on one of those days, the barber just brought out a small plastic chess set, and I’d never seen a chessboard before.
“I was a very curious kid, so I asked what this was, and he said it was a chess set. I’d never seen one before, but I was fascinated by the way the pieces were carved, so I told him to teach me because I wanted to learn how to play because I would see him just sit down and talk to himself all right and it would say crazy stuff like well if you play this game you’ll be very intelligent, you’ll be very smart, and I told him to please teach me, and he said no I was too young and he didn’t teach me. So, I was just watching him play with his friends, and with time, because I was a very curious kid, I was able to pick up the rules of the game.
“I learned how to play chess by watching. At the time, it didn’t occur to me that I had made the most important decision of my life, but then it became clear that something had happened, and I went back to school; my mom had to make a sacrifice for me, and I returned.
“Fortunately, the secondary school I attended had chess as a subject, I had never seen that before. We learned chess as a subject and we wrote exams because I think the owner of the school then was the United Nations Ambassador to Kenya and he played competitively when he was younger and that was how I found the gift of chess.
“I kept playing, and I got really good, and my coach discovered that I was a really good, gifted child. I remember my coach telling me that I was gifted, and I believed it. That was the first thing that I learned as a kid who grew up in poverty in the slums of Ikorodu in Lagos. I found an identity, and it wasn’t just any identity; it was an intellectual identity. I began playing professionally, and I was ranked one of the top players in Nigeria, and I finished school in 2015.
“I won a lot of tournaments. I won the Trevor and Chess Challenge, the national friends of chess. I was a really strong player who wanted to become a grand master. I started teaching chess to private schools just like I’d learned, and I’d never thought of it before. But in that period when I thought of teaching chess to children, it made me realize that chess was an important educational resource for children who struggled with their self-esteem and everything else.
“I had challenges with teaching the boys who had never been to school, but believe me, they learnt at an incredible pace. What would take a master a year to learn was learnt by them in a month.
“They beat the other kids from rich schools and won trophies at national and international levels. They even got the toast of notable people to play with them, including the former Manchester United captain, Patrice Evra.”
Recall that on Wednesday, April 17, Onakoya began his efforts to break the chess marathon record of 56 hours, nine minutes and 37 seconds, held by two Norwegians, Hallvard Haug Flatebo and Sjur Ferkingstad, since 2018.
To achieve that, Onakoya had to partner with an American chess champion, Shawn, which was Martinez, in accordance with the Guinness Book Of Records’ requirement.
The aim of the 29-year-old chess player was not only to break the record but to raise $1 million for the education of marginalized children.
During his efforts to break the record in Times Square, he vomited a couple of times and was urged to give up due to his failing health, but he insisted on continuing.
Tunde Onakoya succeeded in breaking the record and even surpassing the 58-hour mark he set for himself as he set a new landmark of 60-hour at about 12:40 a.m. (04:40GMT) on Saturday, April 20, 2024.
The new record holder said he attempted to raise funds and awareness to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged children across Africa.
Coastal Highway: Payment Of N2.75bn Compensation Done Out Of Sympathy For Those Who Voted Tinubu- Umahi
AFOLABIThe federal government has begun payment of N2.75bn compensation for owners of properties affected by the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
The compensation was flagged off on Wednesday with 10 beneficiaries, according to the Minister of Works, David Umahi said at a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos.
The beneficiaries are: Olaotan Olamuyiwa of Checkmate; Kemi Osinibi of Landmark Kids Club by Maxtivity; Mide Adegbite, Peter Oladipupo of FX Lounge; Bukola Oloko, Abiodun Oguntunde of Xchange Lagos; Dapo Oniru of Moist Beach; Mustapha Olatunji of G12 Beach; Dr Bashir Oshodi, and Bestrock.
Umahi said the N2.75bn covers compensation for property owners affected by the demolition necessary for the construction of channel 0 to channel 3 of the coastal highway.
Umahi said the compensation was out of sympathy for president Bola Tinubu’s supporters.
“To show sympathy for people who voted for Mr. President, we would do everything possible to pay the human face compensation.” the Minister said adding “Today, we are paying over N2bn in compensation just from channel 0 to channel 3.”
Umahi said the remaining beneficiaries will be directed to the Secretariat of the Compensation Committee for payment.
The minister said, “All tenants within the Landmark premises, today, have all been shortlisted and they will get the alerts by 2:00 pm.
“Most of them are here and that closes the politics of Landmark.
“The committee will be sitting from 2:00 pm so that you will sign your documents in the form of indemnity and you will get your alert tomorrow before 2:00 pm.”
Sola Sobowale, a veteran in Nigeria’s Nollywood movie industry, has recounted her ordeal while working as a caregiver in London, England.
The 58-year-old actress, noted for her acting prowess in movie scenes, made the revelation during her interview on the ‘Teju Baby Face Show’ on Tuesday.
The thespian said she left Nigeria in 2004 and returned 12 years after for the audition of a movie.
While the show host asked why she referred to herself as ‘elevated omo odo,’ literally meaning ‘a glorified servant,’ the talented actress gave the narration in the form of a person who, after facing the struggles of life in many forms, was then fortunate to have conquered all obstacles.
She said, “Oh yes. It was after Toyin Tomato – Super Story that I left (for London). I left Nigeria totally in 2004 and I didn’t come back until I came for the audition of the Wedding Party in 2016.”
After featuring in the popular television drama series, ‘Toyin Tomato’ in the early 2000s; the popular actress took some time off the screens and decided to work in an unrelated role in London.
“When I started work in that office, there were Nigerians, Jamaicans, Ghanaians, and all of them know Sola Sobowale. But it was confusing because my tag read ‘Olu,’ and not Olusola,” the award-winning actress stated.
She recalled how a Nigerian man (Seye Fadipe) had walked up to her and said she looked familiar, but she refuted it. However, at a later time, the man advised her to return to acting after she had admitted that she was the same ‘Sola Sobowale’ he used to see on the TV.
Sobowale said, at that time, she worked as a caregiver, saying she would “wash, carry, clean…you’ll do everything. That was what I was doing,” adding that she would later obtain her National Vocational Qualification certificate levels 2, 3 and 4, up to the level of a team lead.
Speaking further, the veteran actress noted that “there’ll be a time that the noise, the energy that Sola Sobowale had” will be no more.
The actress stated, “When I started this ‘elevated omo odo’ thing, I started from the grassroots. Then, I went to the college. I got my NVQ 2,3,4, to a team leader.
“I believe in dignity in labour. There’s no job I won’t do to put food on my table, to provide for my children, except prostitution and fraud.”
When further asked how she managed to conceive and implement an upcoming movie project in the Indian movie industry – Bollywood, she said, “It’s the grace of God. When you’ve grace, you have everything, and that’s what has been working for me.”
She recalled that she struck up a movie project with an Indian lady (Amsha) when the popular movie streaming platform, Netflix, first came to Nigeria.
The host, Teju, featured alongside Sobowale, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Bukky Wright, among others in a 1998 thriller movie directed by Tade Ogidan, titled ‘Diamond Ring.’
Another Nollywood actress, Doris Simeon, had said she was not ashamed of doing menial jobs in the United States of America, because she needed to pay her bills.
Simon said, “It was not easy starting all over, because in this place, only the tough will last. If one is lazy, one will be hungry. People who have been here for 20 to 50 years don’t find it easy, because with the kind of system they have, one cannot avoid paying bills. If one does not work, one won’t eat, and one won’t be able to pay bills.”
[Punch]
It is now obvious that the euphoria that greeted the inauguration of oil exploration in Kolmani oil field in 2022, by then president Muhammadu Buhari is becoming short lived, more like sound and fury signifying nothing.
From all indications, work has stopped at the field. No exploration activity is presently going on. Yet neither the federal government through the ministry of Petroleum Resources nor the NNPCL, the state-owned oil company, have provided reasons for the deplorable situation.
Most Nigerians, especially residents of Bauchi and Gombe states who are the immediate beneficiaries of this exploration, believe the government ought to explain why exploration activities have since been halted at the Kolmani oil field.
As a newspaper, we are of the opinion that the federal government is in a position to tell Nigerians why work is not ongoing at the Kolmani oil field that is projected to yield 120,000 barrels of oil per day, has a gas processing plant capacity of up to 500 million standard cubic feet per day, a power plant of up to 300-megawatt capacity and a fertiliser plant of 2,500 tons per day?
Experts claim that there is evidence suggesting that there are over one billion barrels of oil reserves and 500 billion Cubic Feet of Gas within the Kolmani area. Because it was scheduled to comprise upstream production, oil refining, power generation and fertiliser, the Kolmani project is widely believed to have enormous benefits for the nation.
We are persuaded to argue that with all the loud noise about electric vehicles and transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy, petrol is and will for decades to come, remain relevant. This fact makes it imperative for the federal government to either resume work on the oilfield or provide cogent reasons why work on the Kolmani oil field has been halted.
As a newspaper, we find it difficult to understand why work on an oil and gas field that attracted $3 billion investment and marked a culmination of the long years of search for oil and gas in the Upper Benue Trough should halted. Except if we are to believe that it is being preserved as a strategic reserve. Still, we think the nation has a right to know.
This oilfield, with all its potential, is seen as a way opener for energy, financial and food securities with far reaching positive impacts on the nation’s economic development. Based on the Production Sharing Contract (PSC), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) will serve as the concessionaire of the blocks while the duo of the NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL) and New Nigeria Development Company Limited (NNDC) are the contractor parties.
This is an initiative that is expected to come with it the establishment of a refinery, fertiliser plant, power plant and associated oil and gas processing facilities all of which will undoubtedly boost energy security for Nigeria while also providing jobs opportunities for many.
The Kolmani Integrated Development Project of Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPLs) 809 and 810 at the Kolmani field site, overlaps Bauchi and Gombe States and is a novel partnership that will see the trio of Africa Oilfield Movers Ltd consortium, New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) and NNPC E&P Ltd (formerly NPDC) producing and monetising the field.
In another phase of the project, there would be a downstream oil terminal/depot for offtake and distribution of the white products coming out of the refinery and further development of the integrated project. Reflectively, what culminated in the discovery of oil at the Kolmani field started in the 1990s when Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPLs) 809 and 810 were initially awarded to Shell and Chevron respectively as part of their frontier obligation under the Production Sharing Contractual (PSC) Agreement on Oil Mining Licenses (OMLs) 118 and 132 for consolidated cost recovery.
The fact that though the nation relies heavily on proceeds from crude sales, current oil output is below the 2024 budget target of 1.78 million barrels per day (mbpd). This underscores the need for concerted efforts to intensify oil production in Kolmani and Ebenyi-1 oil wells located in Gombe and Nasarawa states respectively.
Therefore, with all the expected benefits, there is the need to resume work on the Kolmani oil field. And if there is a cogent reason why work cannot continue, the government should come clean by offering full disclosure to Nigerians.
[Leadership]
The President of the Trade Union Congress has said that increasing the workers’ maximum will not increase inflation.
The President of Trade Union, Festus Osifo, clarified this in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday.
He noted that increased revenue allocation to the state government since May last year is sufficient incentive to review an upward review for the worker’s minimum wage.
Osifo said organized labour has proposed an N615,000 minimum wage for workers.
“If you look today, from May 2023 to date, revenue from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee to the state government has tripled.
“This means the state government has more money to build roads and schools to purchase other items. The most critical aspect of production is labour. It is for you to take part of the money and pay workers. That won’t increase inflation because the money will be spent anyhow; if you don’t give it to workers, it will be spent on other projects.
“Giving workers what is due them won’t necessarily increase inflation,” he stated.
His statement comes as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 2024 International Workers’ Day amid untamed economic hardship.
Meanwhile, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s inflation soared to 33.22 per cent in March
The corpse of Precious Ofurum, the sound engineer who died in the boat mishap that also claimed the life of Nollywood actor, Junior Pope, has been exhumed for burial in Rivers State.
On April 10, Precious, Junior Pope and three other crew members lost their lives in a boat mishap in the River Niger, Asaba, Delta State.
They were travelling to a movie location.
Following the accident, Precious was buried by the riverbank because his family could not meet the requirements to transport him back home.
But, Precious’ mum pleaded with the Rivers State Governor, Sim Fubara to assist in bringing her son’s body back home for a proper burial.
However, in a video shared on his Instagram page, Movie Producer, Stanley Nwoke, showed people preparing the remains of the late sound engineer inside a white coffin for the trip to Rivers.
The filmmaker said Precious’ family, alongside members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, attended his remains’ exhumation on Tuesday.
Stanley also shared another video of the sound engineer being laid to rest in his hometown in Rivers.
The chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has described the devaluation of the naira from ₦460 to ₦1,400 as the biggest mess of the year 2023.
According to him, the devaluation had a great impact on the company’s performances.
Naija News reports he made the submission on Tuesday while speaking to attendees at the yearly general assembly of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc.
Dangote, who said his outfit is working hard at getting out of the situation, added that many other companies, particularly those in the food and beverages sector, have also been impacted and may face challenges in distributing dividends.
“We are doing whatever it takes to make sure that at the end of the day, we will be paying dividends because if you look at our dividends last year, it was almost 50 percent more so we will try and get out of the mess,”
“The biggest mess created was actually the devaluation of the naira from N460 to N1,400.
“You can see almost 97 percent of the companies, especially in food and beverages businesses, none of them will pay dividends this year for sure but, we will try and get out of it as soon as possible.
“We want to see that at the end of the day, no matter how small, we will be able to pay some dividends, especially if there is a rebound of the naira,” he said.
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A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state, Olugbenga Edema, has charged Nigerian workers not to settle for a ₦70,000 minimum wage and suggested raising the country’s minimum wage to ₦250,000 monthly.
Naija News reports that Edema, who was once a governorship aspirant under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, made this call in a speech addressing the economic challenges faced by workers across Nigeria, especially in light of the May Day celebrations.
Highlighting the hard work and dedication of Nigerian workers, Edema expressed concern over the adequacy of the current minimum wage amidst escalating living costs.
“On this May Day, we must recognize our workforce’s invaluable contributions. It is crucial that we reflect the harsh economic realities in their wages to ensure their welfare,” he stated.
Edema’s proposal comes at a time when discussions around wage adjustments have become increasingly urgent among labor circles.
He criticized the existing ₦70,000 minimum wage as insufficient, arguing that it does not align with the economic pressures that workers endure daily. According to him, no worker should settle for such an amount when the cost of living continues to rise dramatically.
The governorship aspirant outlined that the proposed ₦250,000 minimum wage, calculated at the rate of ₦1,250 to a dollar, is necessary to provide a decent standard of living and keep up with the economic realities faced by the country’s workers.
Sixteen passengers were burnt beyond recognition in a fatal road accident that occurred along Enugu-Egwegbe-Nsukka road in Enugu State.
The accident occurred Tuesday around 5:20pm, and involved an 18-seater white-coloured Toyota hummer bus with a Bauchi State commercial registration number DAS 215 XA, with the inscription “Masha Allah”.
The accident was attributed to high speed and loss of control, forcing the vehicle to plunge into the fence of Maduka University.
The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, confirmed the incident.
He said, “A preliminary investigation reveals that the vehicle unfortunately burst into flames burning beyond recognition. The sixteen deceased individuals were taken to the hospital and confirmed dead.
“However, two other passengers were rescued alive and taken to the hospital for medical attention by police officers, soldiers and public-spirited citizens, who immediately responded to the incident.”
THE WHISTLER reports that the vehicle, loaded with edible vegetables, other food items, and the luggage of the passengers, was heading towards Nsukka from the Enugu axis of the road.
The PPRO said, “The actual point of take-off and final destination of the vehicle have not been ascertained. Nonetheless, the items have been recovered by the Igbo-Etiti Police Division.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, in company of officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, visited the scene, and described the accident and the carnage therein as sad.
He commiserated with the yet-to-be-traced family members, friends, and associates of the deceased, and called on individuals that can help in identifying the victims or with information to trace the family members of the deceased to come forward with such information.
No fewer than 7800 unverified civil servants might lose their April salaries in Jigawa State.
Naija News understands that this is due to the verification and enrollment of state and local government workers into the integrated personnel Payroll Management System (IPPMS) in the State.
However, reports have indicated that the exercise is characterized by challenges where workers are subjected to injuries during the rushed and ill-organized data capture exercise.
The verification process is also marred by alleged extortion of various sums of money from workers.
The development was disclosed in a communique released after the Joint Emergency State Executive Council (SEC) of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) convened to address the pressing issues by the NLC chairperson Sanusi Alhassan, by the council.
The NLC urged the state government to consider the problems and pay the unverified workers their salaries using the old system until they are successfully captured and verified in the system.
However, the state Deputy Governor, Aminu Usman said the unverified workers are 7783 and out of them 4496 who are J-teach workers have already been screened by SUBEB.
He said the remaining permanent and pensionable workers will also be screened soon.
According to him, ”As I am speaking to you now all these workers have already received their salaries because we have to use the old system to pay them their salaries.”
Human rights lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, has lashed out at President Bola Tinubu for appointing the worst set of ministers since 1999.
Adeyanju said Tinubu’s government lacked one credible person that can speak and Nigerians will believe.
His comment is coming when the presidency released a statement announcing that A.P Moller-Maersk shipping company had pledged to inject $600 million into the Nigerian seaport industry.
This was after President Tinubu’s discussion with Robert Maersk Uggla on April 28.
“Danish shipping company, A.P Moller-Maersk plans $600m investment in Nigeria. Danish shipping and logistics company A.P Moller-Maersk has disclosed a planned investment of $600 million in Nigeria to accommodate more container shipping services in Nigerian ports,” Onanuga wrote on X.
Onanuga, who had posted it on his X handle, later deleted the post from his micro-blogging site.
Also, Maersk officials have confirmed that no such agreement is in place and no deals have been signed with the Nigerian government.
Amid the controversy generated, Onanuga explained that no agreement or deal was signed between the Nigerian government and the shipping giant, Maersk.
However, posting on X, Adeyanju wrote: “The Tinubu government does not have one credible person that can speak for it and Nigerians will listen or believe them.
“The government is filled with folks that lack credibility and the worst set of ministers since 1999.”