Breaking: WAEC issus Buhari certificate

West Africa Examination Council, WAEC has issued President  Buhari Senior School Certificate. This move is  to put to rest the  controversy surrounding the his certificate.

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Biafra: Amnesty international remembers 150 Biafrans killed by Nigerian forces

The international human right group Amnesty international today remembers the extrajudicial killing of Biafrans two years ago. The group expressed her displeasure in the handling of the civilian casualties in Nigeria.

 In her tweet, the body was quoted thus "on 24th Nov. will be two years since the release of our report showing Nigerian security forces, led by the military, embarked on a chilling campaign of extrajudicial executions & violence resulting in the deaths of at least 150 peaceful pro-Biafra protesters in the south east".

It will be remembered that since this report, the Nigerian government nor UN has called for a prob on the killing.

Oshomole is on his own ~ Rochas

The Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has said that the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adams Oshiomhole is on his own and does not enjoy the full support of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He revealed this to journalists after a meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Imo State which is one of the states suffering from the primaries disputes, Okorocha said the national chairman, does not enjoy the support of the President in the actions he has taken especially in his state (Imo).

He accused Oshiomhole of not giving some candidates who won the primaries ticket in the state but rather gives those who did not win the ticket.

“Oshiomhole is on his own in this whole thing, there is no presidency’s support for him to refuse candidates who won an election and give wrong candidates who didn’t win the election.

“It is not with the consent of the presidency, so he is on his own”.

Okorocha called on Oshiomhole to respect the rule of law and court orders.

“I also request that Oshiomhole should respect the rule of law and obey court orders where applied”

He said the party has lost 5 million voters who are angry with Oshiomhole’s handling of the party’s affairs.

According to Oshiomhole, the national chairman must be brought to order.

He also denied that he is set to move over to the SDP saying he cannot leave a house he built and gave the name APC.

Source: Channels

Army discovers illegal military training ground

The 20 Model Battalion of the Nigeria Army located in Serti, Taraba, said it had discovered an illegal security training camp in Serti locality.

Sani told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the Special Adviser on Security to Taraba Governor, Col. Agyo Wapan (retd), had been invited as part of an investigation on the issue.

He said that the discovery followed calls by concerned citizens, who disclosed that no fewer than 300 youths were being trained in a public primary school in the area.

He said that on the receipt of the calls, he promptly responded by visiting the site and found over 300 young men were undergoing military training.

The commander said that the training was being conducted by GS Security Services, a security outfit in the state.

He confirmed that he had filed a report to his superior on the development and for the further directive.

The security outfit is allegedly hired by the Taraba Government to train selected youths as Marshals.

Sani explained that his men had profiled the young men and dismantled the camp while awaiting directive from Army Headquarters.

Alarm on the illegal training camp was a sequel to an unusual influx of hundreds of young men from some local government areas into Serti, headquarters of Gashaka Local Government Area.

A resident of the area, Abubakar Mohammed, told NAN that they raised the alarm because of the frequent clashes of youths who were commonly used by desperate politicians to hunt their enemies.

“We suspect that the state government is training them, under whatever guise, to use them to disrupt the election process in 2019,” he said.

Contacted, Chairman of Gashaka Local Government Area, Alhaji Umar Mohammed, explained that the training was at the instance of the state government.

He said that 10 youths were selected from each ward to be trained as marshals who would subsequently be deployed to provide security in their areas.

Mohammed said that before the exercise, the military, police and the Directorate of State Service (DSS) were invited to a security meeting where the issues of uniform and other kitting of the marshals were agreed on.

He said that those being trained in Serti were recruited from Sardauna and Gashaka areas “with the full knowledge of stakeholders in each ward".

Amalgamation of Imo Professional Bodies in crucial meeting with INEC

The Amalgamation of Imo Professional Bodies and Associations held a crucial meeting with INEC at the commision's Port Harcourt  Road office on Thursday, 1st November 2018 towards the group's resolve of enthroning good governance in Imo State through mass mobilization, citizen participation in credible electoral processes and deciding who should govern them. It also used the parley to present a template that will regulate the choice of the amalgamation on who governs Imo State in 2019, to INEC having circulated same to the various political parties before their primaries.

The Amalgamation is made up of notable professional,sociocultural and civil society organizations and led by Chief Emeka Diwe.

In his response, the REC said:

 "What you have done shows that you are ready to decide what happens in your State"

INEC as an organization,  in her wisdom, adopted a policy of posting people to work in their geopolitical zones. Majority of the top staff of the commission, especially Resident Electoral Commissioners in South East are indigenes of the zone. This is to ensure that you look at your people who should know you and you know them, when you are working.

We are not happy with the "less concern" attitude of the electorates in Imo towards the issues that affect them. As at today, more than five hundred thousand persons are yet to collect their PVCs and this is giving the Commission serious concern.

Again, with what happened during the last party primaries, you people have a lot of work to do on your members and followers.  The masses have been so impoverished that they can be bought with 1000 naira to vote the wrong candidate.

As you are aware, the votes now count, that is why politicians now resort to vote buying.
INEC is the umpire and must be seen to be fair to all parties.
I commend the leadership of the groups here and urge you not to relent.

Present at the meeting were Leaders and representatives of the Association of Imo Indigenous Town Unions, Nigerian Bar Association(NBA), the Nigerian Medical Association(NMA), the Academia, Orluzurumee, Olu Owerri, Olu Okigwe, National Youth Council of Nigeria(NYCON), National Association of Nigerian Students(NANS), Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria (CYON), Amalgamated Traders Union, and members of the Imo NUJ.

Members of the delegation took turns to engage INEC on the need to ensure a level playing ground for all parties and maintain  the highest level of independence while carrying the Imo common masses along.

Minimum wage: Union strikes next week

The Nigeria Labour Congress has rejected the N22, 500 minimum wage recommended by the Nigeria Governors Forum, adding that an indefinite strike shall commence on November 6, 2018.

The President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said this at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

The NLC President said the NGF was unknown to law and thus had no right to make such a decision.

Wabba said, “Our attention has been drawn to a communiqué issued by the NGF after its meeting on October 30, 2018, claiming that governors can only pay N22, 500 as the new national minimum wage.

“First, we wish to state that the forum is not a negotiating body but merely a political organisation for the convenience of state governors.

“The tripartite committee from inception sent letters to each state government to send in their memoranda as their contributions to the new national minimum wage negotiating process. 21 states sent in their memorandum quoting figures.”

The NLC President noted that the initial demand of the union was N66, 500 and not N30,000.

He added that it was after negotiations that the organised labour decided to accept N30,000.

Wabba said if the government insisted on N22,500, the NLC would have no choice but to revert to its initial demand of N66,500.

He added, “The demand of organised labour is not N30, 000. Our demand is N66, 500. N30,000 is the compromise figure arrived at the end of negotiations by the tripartite partners – government, employers and organised labour. The new minimum wage was a product of intense negotiations that lasted for almost one year.

“The governors had six representatives on the Tripartite Committee – one state governor represented each of the geo-political zones. The representatives of the state governors were part and parcel of the work of the negotiating committee from beginning to the end.

“It is important to note that the national minimum wage is not an allocation to workers. It is a product of negotiation by the tripartite partners. The unilateral pronouncement by governors of N22, 500 minimum wage is an abuse of every known principle of industrial relations, labour laws, processes and international best practices.”

Wabba agreed with the NGF that only five per cent of Nigerians were salary workers.

He, however, urged governors to remember that salary workers were the biggest taxpayers whose services were critical to the development of the nation.

The NLC President added, “Our demand is that the constitutional, legal and morally right step to take at this point is for the Chairman of the National Minimum Wage Tripartite Negotiating Committee to submit the report of the already concluded national minimum wage negotiations to Mr President for transmission to the National Assembly for consideration and passage into law.

“We wish to reiterate our position adopted at our National Executive Council meeting of October 23, 2018, that any figure below N30, 000 will not be accepted by us.”

“We call on our members to continue to mobilise in preparation for the commencement of an indefinite strike on November 6, 2018, if by then necessary steps have not been taken to adopt the recommendations of the tripartite committee".

Members of the Economic Management Team again on Wednesday met at the Presidential Villa, Abuja over the new national minimum wage.

That was the second time they would be meeting on the matter this week, having met earlier on Monday on the same issue.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presided over the meeting that was held shortly after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council.

Those who attended did not speak with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.

The Presidency has yet to issue a statement on the meeting as of the time of filing this report.


Source: Punch.

Minimum wage: Labour rejects N22,500 goes back to N66,500 demand Says no more negotiation

THE organised labour on Wednesday rejected the N22,500 proposal by the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, as the new Minimum Wage. Briefing journalists at the Labour House, Abuja, President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba said with the new twist of things by the government, labour has gone back to its previous demand of N66,500.

Wabba said that the N30,000 which was the agreement at the end of the Tripartite Negotiation Committee meeting was a product of compromise.

He explained that 21 states responded through a proper memoranda at the initial stage of the negotiation and even the quoted figures. “There was public hearing and inputs were made before we arrived at N30,000. The demand of organised labour is not N30,000. Our demand is N66,500.”

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru.