The Nation Newspaper

Tag: May

  • Nasarawa council election to hold May 26

    Nasarawa council election to hold May 26

    The Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC) has slated May 26 to conduct local government elections.

    The Acting Chairman, Aliyu Mohammad Dogara, in a statement yesterday, said: “NASIEC, by virtue of the law establishing it, and pursuant to paragraph 3 part II of the third schedule of the constitution (as amended), has concluded arrangements to hold its local government elections on May 26, 2018.

    “All political parties are hereby requested to begin preparations for the elections while arrangements are being made by the commission to invite them for a meeting.”

    Dogara said the collection and submission of forms would be at the headquarters of the commission in Lafia, adding that a comprehensive time table would be available soon.

  • Rivers police arrests 80 suspects in May

    Rivers police arrests 80 suspects in May

    The Rivers  Police Command arrested 80 suspects across the state in May. Commissioner of Police Ahmed Zaki disclosed this when he paraded the suspects to media men in Port Harcourt, the state capital, yesterday.

    Some of the suspects were women who are being held for child trafficking and other fraudulent acts.

    A breakdown showed that 31 of the suspects are being held for armed robbery, 16 for cultism, 13 are being investigated for kidnapping, amongst others.

    The CP also said 1,275 life cartridges and 386 ammunitions were recorded in the period under review, just as a total of 31 assorted guns, 8vehickes, television sets, laptops, phones among others were recovered from the suspects.

    He expressed confidence on the ability f the latest measures mapped out by the command to curb crimes and criminality in the state and appealed to the people of the state for more supports and cooperation by divulging useful information of the criminals to the Police.

    He said: “It is obvious that the rate of crime in the state and ita environs have reduced very drastically. This to a reasonable extent because of the new measures introduced by the command.

    “The measures include, increased aggressive patrol, raiding if criminal hide outs and black spots, intelligence-led policing, community policing partnership with the members if the public and the sectorization of the command with top ranking Police officers in the command heading each of the sectors. I also head one of the sectors.”

    According to him the essence if the approach was to ensure effective patrol and monitoring of the state aimed at preventing crimes and arresting criminals.

    He reiterated the commitment of the command under his watch to raid the state of crime and appealed to the public to increase the tempo of leaking information to the Police, fir a more peaceful and developed state.

  • Osinbajo, May, Trump, others condemn Manchester blast

    Osinbajo, May, Trump, others condemn Manchester blast

    ACTING President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday joined other world leaders in condemning terrorist attack in Manchester, United Kingdom (UK).

    Other leaders who flayed the explosion that rocked a concert hall yesterday are: British Prime Minsiter Mrs. Theresa May, United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Queen of England Elizabeth II, among others.

    In a statement by his spokesman Laolu Akande, Acting President Osinbajo described the terrorist attack on innocent people in Manchester as despicable.

    The statement reads: “On behalf of the people and Government of Nigeria, Prof Osinbajo expresses heartfelt condolences and solidarity with the government and people of the United Kingdom in this period of grief.”

    Describing the attack as a dastardly act and heinous crime, Osinbajo assured Prime Minister May that the prayers and thoughts of Nigerians were with the British people as they mourned the victims, many of the them young people.

    It further reads: “Acting President Osinbajo is confident that light of the civilised world will always prevail against the darkness of depravity, and he trusts that Britons and citizens of other nations across the world will continue to show resilience and courage in the wake of such terrorist crimes.

    “He prays that God Almighty will comfort the bereaved families and also wishes a speedy recovery for the injured.”

    Mrs. May said security services were working to see if a wider group was involved in the attack, which fell less than three weeks before a national election. Campaigning was suspended as a mark of respect.

    She spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and several other foreign leaders yesterday about the attack, her spokesman said. She also visited the police headquarters and a children’s hospital in Manchester.

    The White House said Trump had agreed with May during their telephone conversation that the attack was “particularly wanton and depraved”.

    Macron and senior French ministers walked to the British embassy in Paris to sign the condolence book.

    Mrs. Merkel said it “will only strengthen our resolve to…work with our British friends against those who plan and carry out such inhumane deeds”.

    The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council condemned “the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack” and expressed solidarity with Britain in the fight against terrorism.

    Queen Elizabeth held a minute’s silence at a garden party at Buckingham Palace in London.

    Manchester remained on high alert, with additional armed police drafted in. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said more police had been ordered onto the streets of the British capital.

    Police raided a property in the Manchester district of Fallowfield where they carried out a controlled explosion. Witnesses in another area, Whalley Range, said armed police had surrounded a newly built apartment block on a usually quiet tree-lined street.

    Yesterday evening, thousands of people attended a vigil for the dead in central Manchester.

    British police do not routinely carry firearms, but London police said extra armed officers would be deployed at this weekend’s soccer cup final at Wembley and rugby at Twickenham. Security would be reviewed also for smaller events.

    In March, a British-born convert to Islam, ploughed a car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge, killing four people before stabbing to death a police officer who was on the grounds of parliament. The man was shot dead at the scene.

    In 2015, Pakistani student Abid Naseer was convicted in a U.S. court of conspiring with al Qaeda to blow up the Arndale shopping centre in the centre of Manchester in April 2009.

  • Cross River workers get May salaries on May Day eve

    Cross River workers get May salaries on May Day eve

    Cross River State workers yesterday  evening received alerts of payment of their salaries for this month.

    The payment, which was made on the eve of this year’s May Day celebrations, is coming a day earlier than last year’s when Governor Ben Ayade ordered payment of May salary on the first day of May.

    Ayade has made salary payment one of his administration’s cardinal objectives with workers getting paid early every month.

    The payment of salaries for  May is coming barely a week after the payment of May salaries.

    During the celebration of Workers’ Day last year, the ceremony became frenzied as shouts of “alerts” rent the air once workers began to receive bank alerts regarding the payment of their salary for the month which was just beginning.

  • FAAC: Oyo, Lagos, others shared N76,349b in May’

    The Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) last monthsaid it shared a total of N76,349,365, 060.79 to the 36 states of the federation.

    Lagos got the lion’s share of N6,082,690, 933.64 while Oyo State  got  N2,105,441,605.75.

    The allocations were shared in June as revenue collections accrued to the account in May.

    Lagos was closely followed by Rivers which collected N4,354,473,497.62, including the 13 per cent share of derivation and Value Added Tax (VAT) allocations.

    The total net allocations were made after deductions from contractual and other obligations by some of the states including Bayelsa, Bauchi and Benue.

    Abia got N1,923,982,456.53 while Adamawa had N1,828,758,173.61 with Akwa-Ibom collecting N6,847,573, 681.87,  as Anambra got N2,116,807,667.14 during the period;

    The figures further showed that Bauchi State made N1,965,255,213.47;Bayelsa, N2,816,868,014.70; Benue, N1,534,960,334.09; Borno, N2,147,600,578.02 and Cross River, N804,060,982.38 in June.

    According to the  News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Delta received N2,890913, 486.26 after deductions from some contractual obligations while Ebonyi got N1.843,573,739.61 from the Federation Account.

    Edo, which also collected allocations from the 13 per cent derivation account, had a total of N1,162,645,899.11 as Ekiti got N903,602,952.88 from the account.

    Enugu got N2,003,137, 942.20;  Gombe had N1,237, 565,490.87; while Imo got N1,872, 879,765.17 from the revenues realised by the Federal Government.

    Jigawa also had its own share of N2,339,773,705.98, Kaduna got N2,537,735,912.75; Kano-N3,233,171496.48 while Katsina State made N2,397, 831,082.43.

    Kebbi received N1,978,817, 185.53; Kogi-N1,800,713, 440.93; Kwara, N1,554,650, 906.93; Nasarawa, N1,738,115 545.39 and Niger, N1,795,229, 811.70 as allocations for May.

    Ogun realised N935,421, 032.61; Ondo, N1,765,753, 396.69; Osun, N2,105,441, 605.75; Plateau-N1,033,584, 304.35 with Sokoto making N2,165,593,899.10 just as Taraba got N1,712,426,074.23.

    Yobe, without record of contractual obligation, made N1,999,612,020.31 while Zamfara which had deductions from some obligations, got N1,242,750,215.67.

    The FAAC is responsible for the distribution of revenue accruing to the  Federation Account among the federal, states and the local governments.

  • May names six as cabinet members

    May names six as cabinet members

    AFTER her endorsement by Queen Elizabeth II as United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Prime Minister,  Mrs. Theresa May yesterday settled down to government business. She named six Secretaries as members of her cabinet.

    Mrs. May, a former Home Secretary is UK’s second ever female Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher to rule UK.

    She travelled to Buckingham Palace to officially accept the Queen’s invitation to form a new government following the resignation of David Cameron, who bowed out of office 13 months into his re-election as prime minister.

    In his farewell statement outside Downing Street, Mr Cameron said Mrs. May would provide “strong and stable leadership” and wished her well in her negotiations with the European Union (EU).

    Before Mrs May’s visit to Buckingham Palace, the Queen had accepted Mr Cameron’s resignation as prime minister.

    Mrs May, 59, suddenly won the Conservative leadership contest after rival candidate Andrea Leadsom pulled out on Monday (July 11).

    One of her first tasks will be to pick a new ministerial team.

    In her first speech as Prime Minister, Mrs. May pledged to fight ‘burning injustice’ and take on the ‘privileged few’.

    The immediate past Home Secretary pledged to “build a better Britain” in the speech that was heavy on themes of social justice.

    She was billed to appoint the first few key members of her cabinet last night.  The other appointments will come later.  Her words: “The Government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours.

    When we take the big calls, we’ll think not of the powerful, but you, when we pass new laws, we’ll listen not to the mighty, but you, when it comes to new taxes we’ll prioritise not the wealthy, but you.

    “As we leave the European Union (EU), we will forge a bold new positive world for ourselves, and we will make Britain a country that works for everyone of us.

    “That will be the mission of the government I lead, and together we will build a better Britain.”

    The 59-year-old May was invited to form a government by Queen Elizabeth II in a private audience at Buckingham Palace after Mr Cameron resigned.

    She arrived at the palace in a ministerial car with her husband Philip May, having set off from the House of Commons after Mr Cameron was officially accepted by the Queen. Mr Cameron advised the Queen to appoint the former Home Secretary as his replacement.

    A spokesperson for the Palace said: “The Queen received in audience Theresa May and requested her to form a new Administration.”

    In a brief address outside Downing Street before he resigned, Mr Cameron said: “It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve our country as Prime Minister over these last six years and to serve as leader of my party over 11 years.

    “And as we leave for the last time, my only wish is continued success for this great country that I love so very much.”

  • May Day lamentations

    •If it’s time for workers’ welfare, it is also time for productivity

    Ordinarily, the annual Workers’ Day rallies commemorated across the globe on May 1 have most often been an occasion in Nigeria for the celebration of labour, with government identifying with and participating in the event across the country. May Day usually afforded an opportunity for chief executives of governments, both at the federal and state levels, to listen to the demands and grievances of workers while also explaining existing or articulating new labour policies.

    It is perhaps not surprising that this year’s May Day commemoration took a different turn across the country as neither President Muhammadu Buhari nor most of the 36 state governors bothered to attend the rallies personally. This is certainly not unconnected with the current severe downturn in the country’s economic fortunes, with workers being owed several months arrears of salaries. Many of the political leaders might, therefore, be unwilling to contend with the likely unsavoury reactions of workers to their present pitiable plight, thus their absence at the various venues of the event.

    In the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, for instance, President Buhari was represented at the rally by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige. National officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) regretted that the President missed such a unique opportunity to listen directly to, and interact with the workers. This was partly because Dr Ngige was obviously not in a position to speak on workers’ demand for a new minimum wage of N56,000.00. He therefore kept mum on the issue.

    For most of the states, it was lamentation galore by frustrated and angry workers who made demands and issued threats on the non-payment of their wages as well as the unbearable cost of living. One of the few governors who graced the occasion, Mr Umaru Tanko AlMakura of Nasarawa State did so in a rather dramatic fashion as he appeared wearing all-black attire symbolising a mourning. His reason was reportedly to decry the attitude of workers to his government, which he perceived as unfriendly to a government not deserving of opposition from the unions.

    Adamawa State Chairman of the NLC, Dauda Maina, for instance, revealed that almost half of the state’s workforce has not been paid their salaries for over four months. In Plateau State, representatives of organised labour demanded immediate payment of the five months salaries owed civil servants of tertiary institutions as well as the four-month salary arrears of primary school teachers.

    The Ndigbo Unity Forum Owerri, Imo State, issued Governor Rochas Okorocha a 60-day ultimatum to pay workers their outstanding salaries and allowances. And in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the labour leadership commended Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s impressive infrastructural development but insisted this must be complemented by human capital welfare to address the poverty of the workforce.

    With the exception of Edo State, where Governor Adams Oshiomhole personally announced an increase in the minimum wage of civil servants from N18,000 to N25,000 ‘with immediate effect’, it was a litany of workers’ woes almost everywhere else. But then, can the economy of Edo State be isolated from that of the nation? Is Oshiomhole’s new minimum wage offer to the state’s workers sustainable and is it the way forward?

    All said, we believe that there is no alternative to elected political leaders frankly discussing labour welfare and productivity with the workers. Keeping a distance from labour cannot be an appropriate response. If political leaders demonstrate a willingness to curtail their perceived opulent and ostentatious lifestyles, it is unlikely that organised labour will be unreasonable in its demands.

  • Ayade shocks workers with May salary on first day of month

    Ayade shocks workers with May salary on first day of month

    •Edo raises minimum wage to N25,000
    •Borno celebrates in open air after six years
    •Low-key celebration in Yobe

    Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade yesterday stunned workers when he announced the payment of salaries for the month of May on the first day of the month.

    A mild drama immediately ensued when the workers who were at the U.J. Esuene Stadium for the May Day celebration began to receive salary payment alert from their various banks.

    Unable to contain their excitement, the workers shouted  “alert, alert”.  The workers praised the governor.

    Before now, the governor had paid salaries between the 13th and 20th day of each month.

    Ayade told the workers, who named him the “Best Labour Friendly Governor in Nigeria”, that his administration had a duty to give workers a sense of dignity.

    “We must create opportunities for labour to feel a sense of dignity. If you are truly a Christian, you must know that as you care for your kids, you must care for labour,” he stated.

    Workers in the Edo State civil and public yesterday got cheering news during the May Day celebration.

    In Edo State, workers’ salaries were increased by 45 per cent. The minimum wage is now N25,000.

    The workers, especially members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) who were in pensive mood at the beginning of the rally, danced and sang praises of Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

    Members of NULGE who wore black clothes to lament non-payment of many months salaries stormed the rally with placards demanding intervention in the payment of their salaries.

    They initially sang songs to disrupt the governor’s speech but later calm down to listen to Oshiomhole.

    Placards carried by the local government workers reads: “Can we celebrate in hunger”, “May Day: Nothing to celebrate”, “Release our bailout fund”.

    Oshiomhole told NULGE members that he had taken several difficult steps to ensure that their salaries were paid.

    Among the steps taken were his decision not to appoint caretaker committee for the local councils, sack of members of the pension board and removal of workers illegally employed.

    Oshiomhole said the unexpended funds from the federal government bailout loan to the local councils would be released to the council workers for payment of their salaries.

    He said he had approved promotion for civil servants in the state as his administration would not leave any promotion arrears for his successor.

    Oshiomhole also released N200m to the labour movement for the construction of the Labour House.

    It was different strokes for Borno and Yobe states yesterday in respect of the celebration of the Workers’ Day.

    While the May Day rally was held in an open arena for the first time in six years in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, the ceremony was downgraded in Yobe because of security concerns.

    The May Day celebration in Maiduguri was held with pomp at the Ramat Square although under a tight security.

    The state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Titus Abana, noted that civil servants have every reason to celebrate taken into consideration the crises ravaging the state in the past seven years.

    He observed that the celebration of the workers day for the first time since 2009 in an open space is a clear manifestation of the gradual return of peace.

    The occasion was reduced to a low-key one in Yobe State on grounds of  a security alert of a possible Boko Haram attack that would have disrupted the event which was planned to take place at the August 27 Stadium.

    The Yobe State chapter of the NLC had concluded arrangements to celebrate the day in a grand style until the last minute when they were advised by security agents to shelf the event at the Stadium and reduce it into a small gathering which was eventually held at the Conference Hall of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Yobe State.

    “For the past three years, we have not celebrated May Day in open air so we thought that with the improved security in the state, we were going to celebrate the event in a grand style. We had all our arrangements going on smoothly until we got an advice from security operatives not to hold the event as we planned,” Yobe State NLC Chairman Lawan Ibrahim said.

    Presenting his demands to Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, who was represented by his deputy Usman Durkwa, the NLC Chairman, urged the government to place top priority to workers’ welfare.

    According to him, the 18, 000 minimum wage is being implemented in 23 local government areas of the state, while the four other remaining local governments areas of Askira /Uba, Biu, Hawul and Chibok are yet to benefit from the minimum wage  due to peculiar security circumstances of the respective  local government areas.

    He urged the governor to also pay special attention to primary school teachers in the state whom in his opinion have suffered more  from Boko Haram attacks.

  • Refurbished Ilupeju Library reopens May

    The renovation of the Ilupeju Public Library, shut on February 8, has been completed.

    The library, which was refurbished by the Lagos State government in partnership with Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc, will open to the public next month.

    The renovations included an overall upgrade of the structure and provision of facilities such as computers and a solar powered inverter to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the facility.

    In a statement signed by Mr Tajudeen Lawal, Director,  Lagos State Library Board, Special Adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh, noted that the pact with the insurance firm was in line with the government’s ‘Adopt A Library’ initiative, which is part of efforts to make knowledge accessible to Lagosians.

    He stated that the initiative falls under a tripod pillar of Access to Knowledge, which also includes Project 350, a public/private-partnership initiative to build and upgrade libraries and ICT Centres in secondary schools across the state; and the creation of an online library which will serves as an education portal and a repository of knowledge.

  • 141,368 jobs created between May, August

    A total of 141,368 jobs were created in the second quarter. This represent a 69.9 per cent reduction from the 469,079 jobs recorded in the preceding quarter.

    In a report made available to The Nation by RTC (Resources and Trust Company) Advisory Service (a private economic consulting firm in Lagos), and signed by the Senior Consultant/CEO,   Opeyemi Agbaje, there are now 19.6 million people either unemployed or under-employed persons in the second quarter compared with 17.7 million in the first quarter.

    The report said the Nigerian economy has experienced a sharp economic downturn over the last two quarters and the domestic manufacturing sector is now in recession. It however, said  that the economy is expected to pick up with time.

    “We observe that the economic costs of the absence of an Economic Team and coherent policy in terms of lower growth, declining manufacturing performance, declining Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), rising inflation, increasing unemployment, declining capital market performance and low job creation, have been quite severe. In terms of personnel and appointments, we note that the President has made some good selections as well as several controversial ones.

    The Report said a full macroeconomic review was carried out, based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which showed that real GDP lowered to 2.35 per cent in the second quarter from 3.96 per cent in first quarter.

    “Oil sector output declined by 6.79 per cent while non-oil output grew slightly by 3.46 pr cent. Five sectors namely mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, accommodation & food services, and public administration recorded negative growths.

    “Manufacturing sector output growth in particular worsened from -0.7 per cent in first quarter  to -3.82 per cent in second quarter. This was largely attributed to oil refining, other manufacturing and food, beverage & tobacco.

    “Nigerian economy has experienced a sharp economic

    downturn over the last two quarters, and the domestic manufacturing sector is now in recession. A slide to an actual economic recession may still be averted by sound policy and economic leadership,” the reports said.

    The reports also reveal that within the  manufacturing, the falling sub-sectors include beverages and tobacco (-5.9 per cent); textile, apparel and footwear (-3.17 per cent); electrical and electronics (-0.38 per cent); motor vehicles and assembly (-0.48 per cent); and other manufacturing (-6.40per cent).

    In addition to manufacturing, other poorly-performing economic sectors include oil and gas, electricity, hotels and restaurants (accommodation and food services) and public administration.