The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dec

  • Nissan may get chairman in Dec

    Nissan Motor Corporation may nominate a chairman within a month or two, before its next board meeting slated for around December 20, a source said, after the automaker ousted Carlos Ghosn as chairman.

    The nomination will be done by the Japanese automaker’s newly created advisory committee that includes the company’s three independent directors.

    The new chairman would hold the post “at least” until Nissan’s next shareholder meeting. No decision on whether to hold an extraordinary shareholder meeting has been made, the source added. The next regular meeting is expected in June 2019.

    Another special committee led by the independent directors to discuss improving governance based on third-party advice will then likely propose setting up a nomination committee to select a permanent chairman, said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. “It’s a two stage process,” the source said.

    “First we have to decide on a temporary chairman as soon as possible.” Nissan was not immediately available for comment on Friday, a public holiday in Japan. Nissan’s board voted unanimously to oust Ghosn, who was arrested on Monday over allegations of financial misconduct including under-reporting of his remuneration and personal use of company assets.

  • Fed Govt to end rice importation before Dec, says Ogbeh

    The Federal Government will stop the importation of rice before the end of the year to boost internal production of the commodity and meet foreign exchange earnings that can support economic diversification.

    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh spoke at the weekend in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, during a working visit to Ekiti State.

    He promised that the price of rice would crash within the next two weeks.

    Ogbeh also visited Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) Farm, where he spoke his ministry’s intention to supply the institution with 20 tonnes of rice seedlings in the next planting season to boost rice production.

    According to the minister, the Federal Government will sign a memoranda of understanding with Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) and Ekiti State government on the production of rice.

    Ogbeh said the recession has helped the Federal Government to think outside the box and had succeeded in bringing the deserved revolution to agriculture sector.

    ABUAD Founder Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) hailed the Buhari administration for bringing revolution to the country’s agriculture sector.

    He said the sector had been neglected by successive governments, describing the economic recession as a blessing in disguise.

    He said: “To support the Federal Government’s initiative, this university for the past three years have been holding annual Afe Babalola Agriculture EXPO (ABAFEX), where we give N1 million to the best farmer in Ekiti and N250,000 to the best in 16 local governments.

    “This year, we intend to hold Rice Summit with intention to expose Ekiti potentials in the production of the commodity.”

  • Osun council polls to hold before Dec

    Osun council polls to hold before Dec

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said local government elections will hold before December.

    The governor dropped the hint in Osogbo, the state capital, at a workshop for information officers.

    According to Aregbesola, this will spread good governance to the grassroots.

    He challenged information officers to promote state activities, especially in the rural areas.

    “What we have is a situation where most of our activities are under reported.

    “You must work hard to become information specialists that we desire to provide good information to the public,” he said.

    Aregbesola described the hues and cries following the state’s debt burden released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) as “insignificant to the achievements of his administration”.

    The governor said the financial credit incurred was judiciously utilised.

    He added that the report should not be overblown as justifiable projects have been executed.

    In their presentations, the resource persons, Sanya Oni of The Nation, Wale Adebisi of the Ola Oni Centre and a media aide, Sola Fasure, challenged information officers to be aware of new trends in their profession.

    They urged them to be more vibrant and resourceful to achieve better results.

  • Civil servants yet to get Oct, Nov, Dec salaries

    Civil servants yet to get Oct, Nov, Dec salaries

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) is spoiling for a fight with the Federal Goverment over the no-payment of October, November and December salaries.

    Its Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, told reporters in Lagos, that the government should use the N9.2 billion earmarised for stores to pay the salaries.

    “As we write, information reaching the union from informed quarters indicates that about 30 ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) will not pay December 2014 salaries to their employees. It is very unfortunate that since October 2014, the Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Works, Labour and Productivity as well as a host of other MDAs have not paid salaries to their workers,” he regretted.

    Lawal, who lamented that the reality on ground was that thousands of civil servants and their dependants would celebrate this year’s Christmas and New Year in sorrow, called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene on the matter and ensure that thousands of civil servants are paid their October, November and December salaries before the festivity  to put smile on their faces.

    “We call on the government to use the N9.2 billion earmarked to buy stoves for rural women to offset the October and November salary as well as that of December 2014. We cannot understand how N9.2 billion would be spent on stoves while workers who toil daily to keep the wheels of Government functioning cannot be paid their meagre salary,” he said.

    The labour leader recalled that last year, more than 40 MDAs could not pay December salaries to their workers and when the union raised the alarm, government officials were quick to deny the development prompting the association to publish the names of the MDAs that were involved in the non-payment of salary saga.

    According to him, based on this sad experience of last year, one would have expected that serious steps would have been taken to ensure that the ugly scenario did not repeat itself.