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Tag: NEC

  • Presidency, govs row over NEC, Council of State meetings

    Presidency, govs row over NEC, Council of State meetings

    •Abati: Jonathan has not violated any law

    A fresh disagreement is brewing between the Presidency and the 36 State governors on the state of the nation.

    The point of disagreement is the refusal of the central authorities to convene a meeting of the Council of State to address some pressing national issues and the irregularity of the meetings of the National Economic Council (NEC).

    The last NEC meeting took place last September 2013 instead of the adopted monthly system.

    The governors believe that President Goodluck Jonathan has relegated them and statutory bodies as recognized by the 1999 Constitution to the background, relying more on his Economic Management Team (EMT).

    But the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati said his principal has not committed any constitutional breach.

    He said there is no fixed time or frequency in the Constitution for NCS and NEC to meet.

    It was gathered that the governors are unhappy with the Presidency for its refusal to convene a meeting of the Council of State to advise the President on the myriad of socio-political problems facing the country.

    These include the political tension in the country; growing intolerance among political parties; the ongoing mutual suspicion between the President and some governors; the proposed National Conference and the extension of the State of Emergency in three states in the North-East.

    The rest are: the crisis in Rivers State; fresh security challenges in Plateau, Borno, and Yobe with attacks on military formations; disagreement between the President and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on the state of the nation; proposed constitution amendment; the state of the economy, especially accruing revenue from oil and global challenges in the industry, and preparations for the 2015 poll which may dominate the third and fourth quarters of the year.

    Investigation revealed that although the President has been consulting with past leaders and governors individually as the need arises over the last one year, the governors believe a Council of State session would have been better.

    It was learnt that some members of the Council of State and governors have had to depend on their colleagues to seek clarifications on some policy matters.

    Sources said that the crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and the attendant gain by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) are partly responsible for the non-convening of the statutory meetings.

    The Presidency fears that the polarization of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) may affect the deliberations of the Council of State and NEC along partisan interests hence the non-convening of the meetings.

    A governor, who spoke in confidence, said: “We are not comfortable that the President has been relying more on his Economic Management Team (EMT) than constitutional bodies.

    “For instance, I think there was only a Council of State meeting in March 2013. It means the President did not table some burning national issues before elders and governors for their input.

    “Yet, the EMT is unknown to the nation’s constitution. It is only a group designed to be a vehicle for policy direction for the Federal Government.

    “And in the last four months, there was no NEC meeting. By implications, we were kept in the dark on vital issues like the 2014 Budget.”

    Another governor said: “We have a lot of national issues begging for attention, we should not wait for the international community to talk to us before we convene the Council of State session.

    “You can see that the US has issued a statement on the killing of women and children in Plateau State. Do we need more reminders from outsiders before we sit as a team to address this challenge?”

    A third governor said he was worried about the situation in Rivers State.

    He said: “The Rivers crisis is a threat to the nation’s democracy; it is what the Council of State could wade in. We should not behave as if we are running elected dictatorship in the country.”

    However, when contacted Abati, said, “No part of the laws on the Council of State or NEC has been violated by the President and Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

    “The time and frequency of such meetings are not defined in the constitution. When the President deems it fit, he would invite them. If the government holds it twice or quarterly in a year, he will be in order. They should not jump the gun.

    “Section 5 of the Third Schedule (Part 1 ) to the 1999 Constitution deals with the Council of State. It makes it clear that it is an advisory council. So, members of the council can address the President when requested to do so. Even at that, I think the Council of State met twice in 2013.

    On the NEC meeting, Abati said: “The Council sat nine times in 2013. If you compare the number of NEC meetings with previous administrations, it is a record which no one has beaten.

    “Those four months you are talking about (when NEC was not held) coincided with public holidays and festive periods. Also, some governors had official schedule outside the country.”

  • NUPENG to protest unfair practices

    NUPENG to protest unfair practices

    THE Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has threatened to protest alleged unfair practices by employers in the oil and gas industry.

    Its President, Comrade Igwe Achese, spoke at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of NUPENG, which held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    He said: “The nation-wide rally is to protest, particularly, casualisation of workers and resistance to unionisation of the workforce by recalcitrant management who have continued to outsource virtually all cadres of job in the oil and gas industry.

    “We shall be demonstrating in all the state capitals to let Nigerians know the unbecoming attitude of some employers to job insecurity in the country.”

    Achese, who said Chevron and ExxonMobil, are the worst promoters of unfair labour practices in the industry, lamented that despite appeals the oil giant had continued to sack workers in its employment.

    He said the union had made entreaties to Chevron management and written protest letters to vital arms of the government to prevail on the company to stop its unfriendly labour practices, yet it did not listen.

    “For fear of the unknown, some workers are signing letters banning them from joining the unions, which violate their rights of association as enshrined in the country’s constitution. We have said there will industrial action against Chevron if the trend persists,” he said.

  • ASUU calls off strike

    ASUU calls off strike

    Life is set to return to public universities after 169 days of a teachers’ strike.

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called off its industrial action yesterday.

    This followed a marathon meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the union at the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, Niger State.

    ASUU National President Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge said: “NEC resolved to suspend the strike embarked upon on the 1st July 2013, with effect from Tuesday December 17th, 2013 and directs its branches to resume work forthwith”.

    He said the NEC considered the reports from National Secretariat and various branches and resolved to accept the resolutions signed between ASUU and the Federal Government on December 11. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as witnessed the ceremony.

    In suspending the strike, the union will facilitate the inauguration of the Implementation and Monitoring Committee on the Report of the NEEDS Assessment of Nigerian Universities and ensure faithful compliance to the report.

    Fagge said NEC wanted areas in the ASUU-FGN agreement of 2009 that require policy and legislative steps to be promptly addressed for the challenges facing the system to be effectively tackled.

    He added that the union hoped that all the provisions of the extant agreements for the revitalisation of the University system will immediately focus on the policy and legislative needs.

    Fagge appreciated the understanding and support of students, saying teachers have resolved to go the extra mile to cover the five months lost.

    Assuring parents and students, the ASUU President said: “We have undertaken

    to go back to the classroom, laboratories etc, to do our best for our students, their parents and our country.

    “We are going back to rekindle the motivation and aspiration in our members to strive to encourage our students to excel, all in expectation that government will sincerely honour its own part of the bargain.

    “We are returning to classes with the firm hope that parents will take actual interests in their children’s conditions of learning and living. We expect parents to actively demand better funding, better living conditions, better laboratories, better freedom for their children, in order to get on all-round education that will enable them compete with the rest of the world.”

    The ASUU President said: “It is our hope that government will honour these resolutions as signed. That nobody shall be victised in any way whatsoever for his/her role in the process leading to these resolution and agreement”.

  • ASUU to announce decision today

    ASUU to announce decision today

    Striking universities teachers will today announce their decision on whether to end the almost six months old strike.

    They stated this last night after a marathon National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Federal University of Technology, Minna.

  • $49.8b ‘missing’ oil money: Governors insist on probe

    $49.8b ‘missing’ oil money: Governors insist on probe

    Sambo postpones NEC meeting

    Vice-President Namadi Sambo shifted yesterday the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting fixed for tomorrow.

    But governors are planning a meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) for tomorrow to demand answers to the nine posers they have raised on the state of the economy.

    Consultations were on yesterday on the need for a emergency session of the NGF in Abuja.

    The governors are likely to hold a briefing in Abuja after the NGF session.

    They were determined to find out at the NEC session how about $49.8billion oil sales proceeds was not remitted to the Federation Account between January 2012 and July 2013. The governors may insist on a probe, it was learnt.

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi raised the alarm over the “missing” fund in a memo to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The postponement of the meeting was contained in a notice titled “Cancellation of 9th (53rd) NEC meeting” from the secretariat in the Office of the Vice-President.

    It reads: “Please, I am directed by the Vice-President and Chairman of the Council to inform Your Excellency that the NEC meeting scheduled for Thursday, 12th December 2013 has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

    “A new date will be communicated to you.”

    No reason was given for the postponement. A source said the shift followed security reports on the likelihood of the governors creating a scene on the nine posers they raised for the Presidency to address.

    A governor, who pleaded not to be named, said: “We have got a notice on the postponement of the NEC meeting due to unexplained unforeseen circumstances. We know that the shift was based on fears by the Presidency because certain matters on the state of the economy are now in the public domain.

    “The revelation on the alleged diversion of $49.8billion from the sale of oil has caused more tension among the governors. For the CBN Governor to have confirmed that only 24 per cent of the revenue from oil proceeds was remitted into the Federation Account is scandalous.

    “The issue at stake is beyond party leanings. We are all disturbed by this disclosure from the CBN Governor in a memo to the President.”

    Another governor said: “Sambo was being “tactical” in shifting the meeting because President Goodluck Jonathan is away in South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s burial and he will not want the NEC meeting to degenerate to an embarrassing level for the government in the absence of the President.

    “They are trying to device means of managing the situation in a manner that there would be a soft-landing bend for the Federal Government. We are however wiser than that,” he added.

    The governors plan to meet on these nine issues and come up with a position on the state of the economy.

    Another source said: “They can postpone NEC meeting; they cannot stop us from talking on how the economy is being run. Why will the Federal Government present 2014 Budget without consulting NEC? Why will NNPC not remit $49.8bilion oil proceeds and the government is keeping quiet?

    “In 1980, we were talking of missing N2billion but now it is $49.8billion that cannot be traced. Someone needs to talk to the governors if we are truly practising Federalism.”

    The posers raised are:

    •Was $50billion oil money not remitted to the Federation Account? Where is the money?

    •Is Nigeria broke or not;

    •Why was the NEC consulted before the 2014 budget was presented to the National Assembly;

    •How much has Nigeria earned from its oil sales in 2013 and what percentage of the budget is funded by these receipts?

    •Is it really true that $5b is missing from Excess Crude Account

    •How much oil does the country produce per day?

    •Clarification that the benchmark price for oil in the 2013 budget is $79?

    •Is it a fact that crude oil was sold at prices that hovered around $110 throughout the year?

  • In memory of Festus Iyayi

    Forget the trauma university education in Nigeria is currently going through, no thanks to the ongoing strike action by academic staff and Federal Government’s reluctance to meet the lecturers’ demands fully.

    Pocket your anger, if you have any, towards the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian University (ASUU) and Abuja for the near five months forced stay-at-home they have jointly imposed of the hapless students.

    Look instead at the contributions of ASUU over the years to Nigeria’s development and the calibre of its leaders and you’ll appreciate what a tragic loss the death of one time ASUU president Professor Festus Iyayi is to the nation.

    Death as the saying goes is a necessary end and will come when it will. But while no one can say exactly where and when he/she would take his/her exit from this world, it is always painful when the death is self-inflicted or avoidable/preventable so to speak.

    In the case of Professor Iyayi, he did not invite death on to himself but death was visited on him by a driver in the unnecessary long and reckless convoy of Kogi State Governor, Captain Idris Wada Tuesday last week along the notorious Lokoja-Abuja Highway. He was on a mission along with his ASUU colleagues to Kano for the union’s NEC meeting to see how the crisis bedevilling Nigeria’s university system can be resolved and bring the students back to school.

    One of the best known ASUU leaders of his generation, Iyayi together with the likes of current Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Attahiru Jega perhaps best epitomised the struggle for a better university education in Nigeria that ASUU is known for. Even if not a few Nigerians would raise questions over ASUU of today, (Federal Government’s sometimes irresponsible action notwithstanding) the contributions of the likes of Iyayi and the direction he took the ASUU of his era should serve as a guide to those presently at the helm at the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities.

    His death, though painful, should bring all concerned in the protracted negotiation between ASUU and the Federal Government to their senses and act in the best interest of the nation. No meaningful negotiation is achieved if the parties stuck to their guns; the game is called give and take. That’s why it is called negotiation. I think we have gone beyond the level of apportioning blame; both parties would definitely have something to say to justify their different positions. But if the two parties truly have the interest of the nation at heart it shouldn’t be difficult to reach an implementable agreement and remaining faithful to it.

    Iyayi would have died in vain if this strike should continue beyond this moment or happens again in the near future over the same issue of funding of our university system and remunerations for the academic staff. Those involved on both sides should act responsibly now.

    And for Professor Iyayi to sleep well, those who caused his death should be punished. But I doubt if the driver of the convoy car that recklessly overtook the rest of the vehicles in the governor’s convoy and caused the crash involving the bus in which Iyayi and other ASUU officials were travelling would be punished. He is the driver to a ‘big’ man so to speak, and people like him are rarely punished for any offence committed while on duty. This is Nigeria where impunity like this happens.

    But if we are in the same country and operating under the same law, then nobody should be above that law. I hasten to bring to your notice the story of one citizen Sulaiman Awwal from Kogi State that appeared in this newspaper last week and the kind of ‘justice’ the system meted out to him to justify the call for the punishment of the government driver that killed Iyayi.

    Awwal, a fire prevention consultant was released from Agodi prison in Ibadan last week after 11 months awaiting trial in jail for the offence of manslaughter. How did he find himself at this notorious jail? Well, according to Awwal, he was driving from Saki in Oyo State to Ibadan the state capital on January 7, this year when an aged woman ran across the road around Moniya on the outskirt of the city and he knocked her down with his vehicle.

    The villagers came out and mobbed him as he tried to rescue the woman and they handed him over to the police. Death came for the woman as she was being taken to hospital. Three days later Awwal was charged to court for manslaughter and remanded at Agodi prison by the Magistrate. He was there until Monday last week when the family of the deceased applied to the court to discontinue the case and the Magistrate duly struck out the case.

    Don’t ask about his experience in prison, it was horrible. The concern here is what took him to prison? The vehicle he was driving had an accident and one person was killed by him in the process, the same way one of the drivers in Governor Wada’s convoy drove recklessly causing the death of Professor Iyayi. Shouldn’t that Wada’s driver be charged with manslaughter?

    Well, if the Attorney-General and chief law officer of Kogi State would act in accordance with the demands of that office, yes the driver should be so charged. But would he? Let’s wait and see.

    The death of Professor Iyayi in the hands of Governor Wada’s driver should finally draw Federal Government’s attention to the recklessness and lawlessness of drivers of government vehicles especially those who drive dignitaries including State governors, ministers, police and military chiefs and even local government chairmen.

    When these drivers are on the road, especially when they are driving their bosses, often in a long convoy, they drive as if they are on a mission to commit suicide and any motorists unfortunate to stand in their way albeit legitimately, often have sad stories to tell. They drive without regard for traffic rules and regulations. Most times they drive above the normal speed limit and officers and men of the Federal Road Safety Corps are often helpless to act.

    It is about time they are told and shown that they are not above the law and making an example out of the Kogi State governor’s driver would go a long way in letting them know that the immunity from prosecution extended to their bosses (governors) by the constitution does not cover them.

    Beyond this however, the mentality of our public officers especially the political leaders that they are superior to the rest of us has to change. They enter the road blowing sirens to scare the rest of us out of their way; and woe betides that person that stands in their way. Many have gone the way of Professor Iyayi in the process and nothing happened to either the offending driver or his boss. This is part of the culture of impunity that we carried over into this political dispensation from the military era of the past. We have to purge ourselves of all the evils of the military era and embrace the rule of law and accept equality of all Nigerians for this nation to move forward. This is the only thing that can atone for the killing of Professor Festus Iyayi who died in the struggle to make our country especially university education in this country better.

    May his soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.

     

  • ASUU chief Iyayi dies in Kogi governor’s convoy accident

    ASUU chief Iyayi dies in Kogi governor’s convoy accident

    •Falana to push for trial

    Festus Iyayi, a University of Benin (UNIBEN) professor, writer and rights activist, is dead. The unionist died yesterday in an accident involving the convoy of Kogi State Governor Idris Wada. He was 66.

    The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) between 1986 and 1988 was in a three-vehicle lecturers’ party travelling to Abuja enroute Kano.

    The accident occurred at about 11am at Banda village on the Lokoja-Abuja Road.

    The lecturers were heading for Kano for today’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of ASUU where a vote on whether to end the on-going university teachers’ strike or not is to be taken.

    Wada was travelling in the opposite direction. He was returning from Abuja after an engagement in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    This is Wada convoy’s second fatal crash in one year.

    On December 28, last year, his convoy crashed on its way to Lokoja from Ayingba, Kogi State.

    Wada’s Aide-de-Camp (ADC) died on the spot. The governor’s leg was broken. Other officials suffered varying degrees of injuries.

    ASUU’s National Welfare Secretary and Head of UNIBEN’s Foreign Language department, Dr. Ngozi Iloh is injured. She was unconsciou. UNIBEN ASUU Chair Dr. Tony Moye-Emina and the bus driver were also injured.

    Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Kogi State Sector Command Mr. Olakunle Motajo said preliminary investigation revealed that there was wrongful overtaken by the governor’s convoy. He said investigation had started.

    Iyayi’s body, according to Motajo, had been deposited at the Kogi State Specialist Hospital’s morgue. The injured are also receiving treatment in the hospital.

    ASUU President Nasir Fagge describe Iyayi’s death tragic.

    A member of ASUU, Dr. Sunday Abada, in the ill-fated ASUU delegation, recalled how the accident occurred.

    Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone yesterday, he said:

    “About 15 union members from various institutions, moving in a three-vehicle convoy, were on their way to Kano to participate in the NEC meeting scheduled to hold in Bayero University, Kano (BUK) today.

    Abada, a senior lecturer of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said: “We were on our way to Kano State for our NEC meeting holding tomorrow (today) when a vehicle in the convoy of Governor Idris Wada on full speed left its lane and collided with the vehicle conveying our members along the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway. Prof Iyayi died on the spot.

    “It was later, at 4pm, the govenror led a group of reporters to the Specialist Hospital where the remains of Iyayi are deposited. We had to chase him away because we discovered that he was trying to politicise the incident. But I can confirm to you that only Iyayi died in the accident; the other victims are receiving treatment at the Specialist Hospital.”

    Abada said today’s NEC meeting could be put off because “ASUU is very interested in the welfare of its members”. He said the recklessness of drivers attached to Wada’s convoy could prolong the strike, noting that the lecturers stuck to all road safety measures as they drove on the highway.

    Injured Monye-Emina, who spoke to our reporter in a soft voice, said the governor’s convoy was on full speed. “The governor’s vehicle left its lane and rammed into our union vehicle. The impact made our bus to somersault several times. It was by the grace of God that I survived but we lost Prof Iyayi and I learnt Dr Iloh is critically injured,” he said.

    The Kogi State Government, in a statement on the incident said the governor’s convoy was “on a speed of 80 kilometers per hour when a bus collided with the escort van”. “Sadly, in the storm, it was discovered that a renowned academic and respected human rights advocate, Prof. Festus Iyayi, who was in the other vehicle, died in the accident. There were other victims with varying degrees of injuries from both sides.

    “The victims were immediately evacuated to the State Specialist Hospital in Lokoja on the governor’s directive. The injured are responding to treatment.

    “The Governor has ordered full scale investigation into the matter and paid a visit to the injured. Capt. Wada sympathised with the victims and their families. He wished the deceased a peaceful repose of his soul.”

    Lagos Lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) said last night that he would push for the prosecution of the driver who drove the governor’s convoy’s vehicle.

    But, he stressed that the Nigerian state killed Iyayi. “The trip would not have been necessary, if the President did not wait till now to resolve the ASUU matter. If the train had been working, may be they would have gone by train,” Falan said.

  • Only PDP NEC can suspend Baraje, Oyinlola

    Only PDP NEC can suspend Baraje, Oyinlola

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Adamawa State Chief PP Elisha, has debunked the alleged suspension of the national secretary of the PDP Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, factional Chairman Abubakar Kawu Baraje and others as announced by Chief Olisa Metuh as a nullity.

    Elisha, who is also the secretary of the PDP in Adamawa State, said the suspension contravened the PDP’s constitution.

    According to him, any member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of PDP can only be disciplined by NEC, according to Section 57 [7] and Section 58 [3].

    Section 57 [7] states: “Notwithstanding any other provisions relating to discipline or suspensions, no executive committee at any level, except the National Executive Committee [NEC] of the PDP, shall entertain any question of discipline or suspension as may relate or concern a member of NEC, provided that nothing in this constitution shall prelude or invalidate any complaints submitted through the NWC to the NEC concerning any person whatsoever.”

    Section 58 [3] said: “Notwithstanding any other provision relating to discipline, no executive committee at any level, except NEC, President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Special Advisers, or members of any of the legislative houses.”

    Elisha said based on the provisions, only NEC can suspend Oyinlola. He urged party faithful to disregard the suspension.

  • Yoruba group in North America supports National Conference

    The National Association of Yoruba Descendants in North America (Egbe Omo Yoruba) has thrown its weight behind the proposed National Conference.

    The decision was reached after its 4th quarter National Executive Council (NEC) meeting which held on recently in Missouri, the United States.

    In a communiqué issued after the meeting, the group said, “It’s imperative to restructure Nigeria to ensure the enthronement of federalism.”

    The group reiterated “the Yoruba’s right to self-determination as guaranteed by the United Nations charter on people’s rights.” It also urged that the conference resolutions should be affirmed through a referendum by the people.

    It also urged the Dr. Femi Okunronmu-led Advisory Committee for the National Dialogue to extend its consultation with the Yoruba in the Diaspora for its perspectives on the conference.

  • TUC, FMBN partner on 3.5m housing scheme

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has said it will partner and work with Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) on the National Housing Fund (NHF) for the provision of minimum of 3.5 million housing units of various ranges for workers in the next 15 years. This will also be in collaboration with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). The housing scheme has the necessary infractructure.

    In a communiqué signed by the TUC National President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, after its National Executive Council (NEC) in Kaduna, the Congress said good and affordable shelter is a critical issue of major interest to workers, adding that there was need to provide good shelter for every worker.

    The TUC decried the situation where many workers who religiously contributed to previous housing schemes of the Federal Government did not get the houses or any refund of their contributions. The Congress was particularly bitter by the fact that most records of such contributions were not properly kept by the project operators which include both the federal and state governments.

    TUC lamented the high-cost of the houses which made the houses to be essentially beyond the reach of the average worker.

    TUC said it will give the FMBN a trial period of one year to show substantial commitment to the project, threatening to back out of the project should the bank show any sign of unseriousness.

    “That the TUC and NLC must be fully carried along from start to finish of the project. That is, from conceptualisation to planning, costing, building supervision and allocation of the houses. To this end, the TUC insists that the labour centres must be duly represented in the boards of the FMBN, NHF and other relevant bodies involved in housing projects for workers.

    “FMBN must render monthly progress reports on the project to the two labour centres and ensure that all pre-existing, present and future records of NHF contributions made by workers are duly updated and made readily and easily accessible to the contributors,” the communique read in part.

    It added that full refund of contributions plus accrued interest thereon shall be immediately made to workers who were wrongfully denied the houses under previous schemes.

    The communique noted: “That relevant portions of the law be reviewed to compel employers to be more transparent and accountable to their workers on matters relating to remission of contributions to the NHF on behalf of the workers as and when due.”