Tag: threat

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said the Federal Government’s threat to implement its ‘no-work, no-pay’ policy cannot stop its ongoing strike.

The union described the policy as an “obsolete familiar threat”.

In a statement yesterday, titled: ASUU: On Government’s Threat of No-Work, No-Pay, by its Chairman of the University of Ibadan (UI) chapter, Dr Olusegun Ajiboye, said members of the union have resolved to pursue the strike.

The statement said ASUU members are using the action to defend the integrity of the university system in Nigeria and save it from universal mockery.

Dr Ajiboye said the minimum funding requirement for public universities this year is N500 billion and not N100 billion, as being touted by the Federal Government.

The union leader added that anything short of this is unacceptable to the union.

He said the Federal Government’s N100 billion offer showed that the government “is just begging the matter”, because the money is like a drop in the ocean.

According to him, no blackmail will break the ongoing strike.

“The academics remain resolute on this struggle ,” Dr Ajiboye said.

On government’s N100 billion fund for the universities, the union leader noted that “this is just the beginning; the government is just starting”.

He added: “Going by the ASUU agreement of 2009 and the Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) signed by the Federal Government in January 2013, the minimum funding requirement for the universities as at 2013 is N500 billion and not N100 billion. Only the provision of this will meet the immediate needs of addressing the rot and decay in the public universities. Anything short of this is not acceptable to the union.

“Therefore, rather than engage in cheap blackmail and unworkable threat, the government should address the issues on the table.”

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Presidency of being too clever by half with its claim that the ongoing Rivers State crisis is not a threat to the nation’s democracy. The crisis is not just a threat to democracy but also to the peaceful co-existence of its people, the party said yesterday.

In a statement in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the Rivers crisis looked ‘normal’ to the Presidency because it is the one behind it.

‘’Let us call a spade a spade: What is happening in Rivers State is not normal. What is normal in five members of a 32-strong house seeking to remove the Speaker supported by the remaining members? What is normal in the Police Commissioner of a state labelling the state’s Governor a dictator and supporting renegade lawmakers to stir trouble? What is normal in hired thugs stoning visiting Governors from another part of the country?

‘’Should it not be clear to the Presidency what would have happened if any of the four northern Governors had been mortally injured in the attack on them by the hired thugs in Port Harcourt? In any case, is it not common knowledge that most of Nigeria’s political crises have originated from a state or regional crisis?’’ it queried.

ACN also slammed the Presidency for struggling so hard to convince more discerning Nigerians that the outcome of the last NGF election won by Governor Chibuike Amaechi, at the expense of the presidency-backed puppet candidate, was of no importance to it (Presidency).

‘’If the NGF election indeed meant nothing to the Presidency, as claimed by an ever-so-deceitful presidential aide, why did the President make it a referendum on his presidency? Would the Presidency have described the outcome of the election as inconsequential if its candidate had won? And if the outcome is inconsequential, why is the Presidency still aligning with its puppet candidate and describing him as the Chairman of the NGF, even when it is universally acknowledged that he lost the election?

‘’As we have said many times, no government can govern successfully by deceiving the people, and certainly not in Nigeria where the people are discerning enough to understand the antics of a power-drunk, not-so-truthful Presidency. Here is a Presidency that seeks to distance itself from the Rivers crisis while regularly playing host to the leader of the renegade lawmakers from the state. This Presidency should quit playing the Ostrich over the Rivers crisis!’’ the party said.

It also accused the Presidency of seeking to distort the reason for the visit to Governor Amaechi by the progressive Governors, in an attempt to demonise the four patriotic northern Governors who paid the same visit earlier.

‘’The progressive Governors and the four north Governors are on the same page as far as the Rivers crisis is concerned. Their visits were borne out of patriotic concerns that the crisis could endanger the nation’s democracy. It is therefore disingenious to accuse the northern Governors of meddling while praising the progressive Governors.

‘’In his usually easily-excitable disposition, the presidential aide who is always saddled with defending the indefensible failed to see the satire in the advice that Gov. Amaechi should visit President Jonathan over the crisis. Next time, we advise the presidential aide to contextualise such a statement before rushing to the press to ridicule himself,’’ ACN said.

The Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) has said there are clandestine moves to revive the Nigerian Press Council which was used to gag the press in the past.

Rising from a meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja, the president of the association, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena said the Press Council was a tool in the hands of military dictatorship that was used to suppress press freedom.

He said: “NPAN particularly view concern, the surreptitious move by these officials to bring back, through the back door, the Nigeria Press Council, which a court of competent jurisdiction had declared unconstitutional.

“The association wishes to recall that on Thursday, February 25, 2010 the Federal High Court, Lagos, Presided over by Justice A.M Liman had in suit No PHC/L/1324/99, filed by NPAN against the president, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Minister of Information and the National Assembly, ruled that the Press Council was unconstitutional.”

He went on: “Recent moves by some undemocratic elements in the Federal Government, indicate that there are still persons in the government who will rather not have a free press but prefer to take steps to abridge the freedom of the press.”

NPAN noted that the surreptitious move by these officials to bring back, through the back door, the Nigerian Press Council, which a court of competent ruled upon, was a deviation from justice.

“We call on the Federal Government to respect the reasoned judgment on the Press Council and help deepen our democracy by encouraging the full and complete implementation of the Freedom of Information Act.”

It urged the government to stop forthwith the ongoing trial of journalists of the Leadership Group Limited, who were recently re-arraigned after government had withdrawn the case against them and the company.

“In the light of all that, we also appeal to the Federal Government to stop forthwith the ongoing trial of journalists of the Leadership Group limited, who were recently re arraigned, after the same government had withdrawn the case against them and the company during the celebration of Free Freedom Day. Their continued trial is inconsistent with the spirit of our collective democratic journey and unhelpful in the circumstance.”

“The government should realised that the press has an important constitutional role to play in our system of democracy, which includes holding its accountable at all times.”

The monthly loss of N160 billion ($1 billion) revenue, a reduction in oil production and a drop in the prices of crude at the international market are threatening the funding of the 2013 Appropriation Act.

Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala yesterday in Washington DC, United States, put the total loss at 300,000 barrels per day (bpd).

She blamed the development on shut-in due to Force Majure declared by oil firms, oil theft and illegal bunkering.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala was addressing an emergency press conference at the on-going World Bank/ International Monetary Fund (IMF)spring meeting.

The minister said the briefing was important because of the avowed transparency in the President Jonathan’s administration.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had said last Tuesday that oil production fell below projections in the first quarter due to crude theft and pipeline sabotage.

The current production level according to minister, ranged from 2.1 million bpd to 2.2 million barrels per day, less than an estimated 2.5 million barrels per day for the 2013 budget.

The N4.93 trillion ($31.35 billion) budget for 2013 was based on an assumption of a $79-per-barrel budget oil price, higher than the $75-per-barrel proposed by the Executive and up from $72 for last year’s budget.

With the persistent drop in price of oil in the international market ($97 dollar per barrel as at yesterday, coupled with the monthly N160 billion revenue loss, in addition to the shortfalls in other revenues from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigerian Customs, the ability to finance the 2013 budget may tough if oil production is not restored in good time especially the Shell Nembe, which has shut-in 150,000 barrels of oil per day.

But the Minister has assured that the $7 billion left in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) was enough to stabilize the shortfall within the next three months pending the time the recoveries would be made.

She said this is why the Excess Crude Account (ECA) is very important to the country but pointed out that it was very significant for the country to move quickly to recover production.

The Federal Government sets a price per barrel when calculating oil revenue in the budget, and saves any money collected above that level in the ECA to meet spending shortfalls.