The Nation Newspaper

Tag: embark

  • FRSC to embark on “Operation Show Your Driver’s Licence’’ in Lagos

    FRSC to embark on “Operation Show Your Driver’s Licence’’ in Lagos

    THE Lagos State Sector of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) plans to embark on an “Operation Show Your Driver’s Licence’’  soon, according to the sector commander ,Mr Hyginus Omeje. The aim is to encourage owners of the 56, 767 driving licences currently lying uncollected in FRSC offices across the state to go and pick them. “We are embarking on this assignment so that motorists will come to our office to collect their driving’ licences. There are 56,767 licences yet to be collected by their owners,” he said.

    “We have sent SMS to their owners that their licences are ready for collection but they ignored our messages. The fine for a motorist driving without a valid licence is N10, 000 and the offender must produce the licence within 24 hours,” he added. Omeje said that if, after 24 hours, such offender could not produce a valid licence, his vehicle would be impounded. He said that in such situation, it would be assumed that the driver was not licensed to drive.

  • CIIN to embark on membership drive

    The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), is set to  mobilise workers in insurance institutions to register with it in the next one year,  its President, Mrs. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, has said.

    Mrs. Ashaye, who spoke at the CIIN Elders’ Forum in Lagos, said this was  aimed  at enrolling about 3,000 members.

    She said the Institute is in talks with the National Insurance Commission on the matter.

    The president also said the creation of insurance awareness by the institute through enlightenment and education, was one of the critical strategies for rekindling Nigerians’ interests in the industry’s offerings, saying there was an information gap among the profession, industry and the public.

    It was against this background, she noted, that the institute  decided to address the information gap through public enlightenment and education.

    She said  the institute had embarked on regular advocacy, enhanced insurance awareness, members’ con-tinuing professional development, among others.

    She said: “Since I took over the mantle of leadership six months ago, our institute and profession had made modest progress  The regular advocacy  initiative involves reaching out to key stakeholders, policy makers, including top government functionaries to persuade them to create an enabling environment for insurance to thrive in their domains and also for them to embrace the insurance philosophy.

    “Without doubt, the creation of insurance awareness through enlightenment and education is one of the critical strategies for rekindling the interest of stakeholders in the industry’s offerings. As part of the quick wins and the dire need to inform our members of happenings in the institute, profession and the economy, the council, under my leadership launched its CIIN Monthly Newsletter.  Electronic copies of the September 2017 maiden edition were emailed in September 2017 to all financial members of the institute.

    “We have taken the insurance awareness campaign to the youth. Our desire is to catch them young and imbibe in their consciousness the crucial roles insurance plays in human endeavours. As part of this initiative, the council has developed a roadmap to drive the institute’s proposed partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The pilot edition of the programme kicked off at the Lagos State NYSC Camp during the November 2017 Orientation where a career talk was organised for the benefit of corps members.

    ‘’A CIIN Enquiry and Help Desk was also on ground throughout the duration of the orientation exercise where corps members were intimated on the concept of insurance and its benefits both as a profession and as a career. Also, a four week Insurance proficiency course organised for the Youth Corps members will commence on Saturday 20th January, 2018. This initiative, which is designed to help attract young Nigerians into the insurance profession, will be replicated and sustained in other states of the Federation until it achieves a national spread.’’

  • Benue to embark on staff audit

    Benue State government is to carry out an audit of its workforce before the payment of June salary.

    Governor Samuel Ortom, who spoke yesterday when the forum of former local government chairmen visited him at the Benue Peoples House, said the exercise became necessary following the need to flush out ghost workers.

    He said financial leakages would be blocked to ensure prudence.

    The governor said his administration would use the loan it would obtain to pay two months salaries.

    Ortom said his government would also use the loan to tackle challenges, such as accreditation of programmes at the College of Health Sciences of the Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, take-off of the House of Assembly and other government business.

    He told members of the forum that his administration would follow due process in its dealings, stressing the need for them to cooperate with it to succeed.

  • Dolphins’ players to embark on strike

    Dolphins’ players to embark on strike

    Players of Glo Premier League club, Dolphins FC have finalised plans to embark on an indefinite strike action.

    The players said they want to take the drastic step to force home demands for the payment of their signing-on fees for the 2012/13 football season.

    Striker, Ifeanyi Egwim, who was one of the most vocal of the agitators, said the players are in dire straits financially and insisted that only a strike could compel the sponsors to offset the debts.

    Another member of the team, Victor Ezuruike said Egwim had echoed the sentiments of all of the club’s playing staff. He revealed the players had resorted to borrowing money to pay their bills and hoped things would return to normal soon.

    “We have not been paid our signing-on fees from last season and we have run out of patience. We are going on strike any moment from now,” he told supersport.com on Tuesday.

    The attacker said he was not making a unilateral decision but revealed that the players had a meeting and decided that embarking on a strike was the best option to take.

    “I am not speaking for myself. I am speaking on behalf of the team,” he said.

    Ezuruike added that the players would go on strike because they have faced so much hardship in recent months.

    “What (Ifeanyi) Egwim said is true. We are going to go on strike so that we will be paid. We have families. People depend on us and if we can’t provide for them, why should we call ourselves breadwinners? This is unacceptable and we have to do what we have to do,” he said.

    Players of Dolphins went on strike several times last season to press home demands over unpaid financial entitlements.

  • ASUU to embark on internal cleansing

    ASUU to embark on internal cleansing

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is to beam a searchlight on the activities of its members, with a view to ensuring that they conform to world’s best standards in education service delivery.

    The union President, Dr Nasir Fagge, who spoke at a leadership training workshop, said ASUU frowned at the academics, who did not live up to the standards set by the union.

    The workshop was organised by the Ibadan zone of the union.

    Fagge said for the union to achieve the goal of building the country and safeguarding the education sector, ASUU members must rededicate themselves to the positive leadership values.

    According to him, “given the context of the encroachment of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank into the educational sector, we have no choice but to strengthen our commitment and faith in ASUU as our bastion of resistance.”

    Fagge said as a union of integrity and intellects, it would ensure that lecturers were exemplary role models to the students as well as defend the principles of the teaching profession.

    “As we continue to deepen our struggle to reposition our universities to be internationally-competitive, we must continue to focus the searchlight on ourselves,” he said.

  • RATTAWU to embark on warning strike

    The Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), is set to embark on a three-day warning strike next week over the decay in the sector and failure of government to uplift the welfare of the staffs.

    In a letter addressed to the Minister of Information, signed by the Union’s President, Dr. Yemisi Bamgbose,  the union drew attention to the pathetic situation in the broadcast sector, most especially in the government-owned electronic media both at the Federal and State level.

    “The National Executive Council (NEC) of the union  unanimously agreed that the sector is in comatose. There is massive and unprecedented infrastructural decay that has culminated into abysmal signal output. The Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), which are supposed to be the arrowhead, pacesetter and flagship of broadcasting in Nigeria are shadows of themselves for some time now.

    “Many NTA and FRCN stations located in the state capitals have seized to operate due to equipment decay and lack of funding. At least, all the NTA community stations located at senatorial districts across the country are yet to be energised and those energised have packed-up. These have affected creativity and talent which are the hallmarks of media practice.

    He said at the state levels, most of the state-owned radio and television stations are synonymous to the famous Ikeja Police College, neglect and can be best described as museum centres where antiquities are kept. What you only see are moribund, out-dated and dilapidated equipment that are out of the memories of the manufacturers,” the union said.

    The union said the shrinking economy coupled with high running cost of broadcasting station is shattering the hopes and aspirations of investors in the private broadcast sector, adding that the epileptic power supply has made the broadcast industry both public and privately owned to depend heavily on diesel of which, the cost is not only very high but business unfriendly.

    On the welfare of staff, the union said it is unfortunate that the media practitioners are the least paid among other professions in Nigeria.

    “A comparative analysis of the sector with others clearly showed that media workers, welfare is abysmally low and ridiculous.

    “It is unbelievable the treatment meted out to the NTA Retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme. It is very sad that those that retired in that organisation received low gratuity and monthly pension as compared to their counterparts in the main stream of the civil service.

    These are people that have served this country with all their energies, strength and indeed with all they have.

    “Although they are no longer in active service but as a responsible Union, RATTAWU cannot fold its arms while those who have served meritoriously without blemish are left suffering for no fault of theirs,” it stated.

    It stated that adequate attention should be given to the issue of amending the constitutional provision that vests the right of collection of radio and television licence fees on the Local Government without provision for distribution.