The Nation Newspaper

Tag: resume

  • We’ll resume operations soon, says Capital Oil

    We’ll resume operations soon, says Capital Oil

    Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited yesterday said its fuel depots in Lagos and across the country would soon be re-opened.

    A statement issued in Abuja by the spokesperson of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the oil marketing company, Mr. Nick Hayes, said: “The depot was shut in the early hours of Friday, November 16, 2012, in obedience to a court order granted to Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) by Justice A. Abdul-Kafarati of the Federal High Court Abuja, to temporarily take over the assets of the company.”

    He said the CEO of the company, Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, embraced the dialogue option as he was becoming worried and touched by the hassles Nigerian masses were going through.

    The statement reads: “Before the development, fuel supply situation has been epileptic with the attendant long queues at the fuel stations occasioned by persistent scarcity of the product in the country. It was therefore, not surprising that the situation worsened when Capital Oil depot was shut as over 224 trucks with about 8,151,270 liters of PMS belonging to the NNPC, were trapped in the premises of Capital Oil and Gas Ltd.

    “That singular development impacted negatively to the economy of the nation by adding to the difficulties faced by transporters , commuters and other users of PMS in the country.

    “Capital Oil and its CEO, Chief Ifeany Ubah are comfortable with the responsible and mature steps AMCON is currently taking rather than the antagonistic and devious approach of the Access Bank PLC and one of it’s directors, Cosmas Maduka in the matter. It is hoped that the federal government will back AMCON in this latest development, as that to a large extent will ensure steady supply of the much needed PMS to end users and restore confidence in the current government.”

    Explaining why the company decided to re-open the shut depot, Hayes said some well-meaning Nigerians held several mediatory talks with top management of the company aimed at considering the plight of motorists who suffer the effects of the closure of the facility directly. He also disclosed that AMCON has also soft-pedalled and has now chosen to accept a negotiated settlement of the issues at stake.

    Human rights activist and member of the Coalition of Human Rights Groups, South South, Joseph Udoh, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure Capital Oil comes back on stream.

    Udoh, in a statement, said: “This illustrious business should not be taken over by force and handed over to greedy corporations who will return Nigerian downstream sector to the dark ages of fuel scarcity. We urge the President to take a closer look at the development and like his U.S counterpart, President Barrack Obama, who in his recent election debate stated clearly that he believes in the drive and ingenuity of American entrepreneurs, President Jonathan should call a truce and rather, encourage Ifeanyi Uba and indeed other genuine entrepreneurs like him.

    That way, we will be growing our private sector and creating the much needed jobs for our teeming unemployed youths.”

  • Flying Eagles resume camp in Jan.

    Flying Eagles resume camp in Jan.

    National U-20 head coach John Obuh has revealed to SportingLife in Abuja that his team will resume camping in January for the Africa Youth Championship holding in Algeria in March next year.

    According to him, he expected the team to begin camping this month to enable them fine tune themselves before the christmas and new year holidays.

    He said: “This becomes necessary if we consider that bulk of players are drawn from the local league, and the league is not on, and there is no possibility that it would start now.

    “So we wanted to begin now, play some friendly matches, before resuming fully in January. But the way things are now, and the league may not start so soon, it would have a serious negative effect on us, and that means we have to start off possibly by the 2nd January to enable me do something before the AYC, you know the AYC is very difficult to play. I prefer the World Youth Championship than the Africa Youth Championship.”

    He said that the weather condition in Algeria as at that time would determine his choice of camping site. “We would have to start at home first, but Abuja is entirely out of it, we would look for a remote area that has all the facilities we need , before moving out of the shores of the country,” he said.

    “Before, we would go for our final preparation, we would take a look at the quality of friendly matches we would get, and what other countries that are in our group are doing, and moreover the character of play of our players before finally taken a decision.”

  • Ekiti council workers fail to resume work

    Contrary to expectations, striking council workers in the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State yesterday failed to resume work.

    The workers have been on strike for over two months over the non-payment of the N19,300 minimum wage and the Consolidated Health Salary Scale (CONHESS)/Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS) to health workers.

    At the weekend, the Commissioner for Labour, Productivity and Human Capital Development, Mr. Wole Adewumi, announced that the workers had agreed to resume work.

    When reporters went round local government secretariats in Ado-Ekiti, Ikere-Ekiti, Irepodun-Ifelodun and Ekiti Southwest, their gates were locked. Fetish objects doused in palm oil were placed at the entrances to the councils.

    The Caretaker Chairman of Irepodun-Ifelodun council, Maj. Tajudeen Awe, said he was surprised that the workers placed fetish objects at the councils’ entrances in “an age of enlightenment”.

    Awe said: “It is not wrong for the workers to agitate for improved pay and conditions of service, but there has to be decorum and procedures to follow in seeking such.”

    At Ikere Ekiti, the Council Chairman, Mr. Kayode Adekamimo, and other officials were supervising work on a road within the secretariat premises.

    Adekamimo said a few workers reported for work at 8am, but later left.

    He urged the workers to suspend the strike in the interest of the people.

    In a statement, the Chairman of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Mr. Oludare Famoofo, said the union’s position was misinterpreted.

    He said until issues that led to the strike are resolved, the workers would not resume.