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Tag: ultimatum

  • FERMA gets 14-day ultimatum to submit list of contracts defaulters

    FERMA gets 14-day ultimatum to submit list of contracts defaulters

    The Federal Government has given the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) a 14-day ultimatum to compile and forward names of contracts defaulters to the office of the Special Assistant (SA) to the President on Prosecution.

    A letter addressed to the Acting Managing Director of FERMA by the SA, Mr Okoi Obono-obla, made available to newsmen in Calabar, vowed to prosecute all contractors who have failed to execute contracts awarded over the years.

    Obono-Obla also stated that the process would afford the government opportunity to pay contractors who have executed their projects but are yet to be fully paid.

    He said that the government is fully committed to the promise of paying indigenous contractors who were owed after the completion of their contracts.

    An earlier letter to the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by the SA had reportedly forced some contractors to return to site.

    The latest letter according to Obono-Obla, is the reaffirmation of the commitment of the government to rid the public service of corruption.

    “We have written to FERMA to forward list of contractors who have failed to executive respective contracts/jobs over the years. They are to comply with the directive 14 days upon receipt of the letter”.

    “This is part of the frantic efforts of the Federal Government to settle indigenous contractors who have duly executed their respective contracts accumulated over the years.

    “However, contractors who have received payment and are in default of executing the contracts would be brought to book,” he said.

     

  • NBC gives Channels, STV, DAAR two-week ultimatum to pay N1.676b debts

    NBC gives Channels, STV, DAAR two-week ultimatum to pay N1.676b debts

    THE National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) may revoke the operating licences of three broadcast stations – Channels Television, Silverbird Communications Limited and DAAR Communication Plc – over N1.676 billion debts.
    The three TV stations have been given a two-week deadline to pay up.
    The NBC has also accused the companies of failure to furnish it with their annual audited accounts.
    The media organisations also risk sanctions for allegedly refusing to remit 1.5 per cent of their annual income as stipulated by the NBC Act.
    The two-week deadline was conveyed to the stations in separate letters on February 13 and 17, 2017.
    The letter, signed by the NBC Director-General, Mr. Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, gives the breakdown of the debts as follows: Channels Incorporated Limited (N442,907,000); DAAR Communication Plc (N500 million) and Silverbird Communications Limited (N733,650,793).
    Although a February 13, 2017 letter appreciated the efforts of Channels Incorporated Limited to fulfill its obligations, the NBC nonetheless said it had outstanding liability of N442,907,000.
    The NBC wrote: “I write to acknowledge the receipt N25 million being part-payment of Licence Renewal fee for the Direct-To-Home (DTH) licence granted to your company for another term of five years from December 16, 2016 – December 16, 2021.”
    ”The commission notes that only part-payment of the licence fee in the sum of N150 million has been paid, leaving a balance of N350 million, which the company in its previous letter dated 26th February, 2015 had given a commitment to pay within 12 months but has failed to do so till date”.
    ”Finally, the commission has observed that Channels incorporated Limited has not remitted the sum of Seven Million, Nine Hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty Eight Naira being 105% of its annual statutory levy on income for 2009 – 2010 or forward its annual audited accounts for the subsequent years of 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively, to enable the commission compute the amount due for these years.
    ”In view of the above, the company is hereby directed to comply with the following”
    (a) Pay the sum of N25 million being balance of licence renewal fee for its Direct-To-Home (DTH) Broadcast licence.
    (b) Pay the sum of N350 million being outstanding licence fee for the News Thematic Terrestrial Television Broadcast Licence (Superstation).
    (c) Pay the sum of Seven Million, Nine Hundred and Seven Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty Eight Naira being outstanding amount computed as 1.5 per cent of annual levy on income for 2009 – 2010.
    (d) Forward to the commission certified copies of its annual audited accounts for 2011 – 2016 to enable the commission compute the amount due as 1.5 per cent and convey to the company to remit the amount due.”
    The NBC said DAAR Communication Plc is owing about N500 million.
    A letter by its D-G said: “Please recall the provisional approval for a National Network Broadcast Service Licence (Radio/Television) granted to your company for an initial term of five years from September 07, 2010 – September 07, 2015 and the subsequent correspondence/meetings between the company and the commission on the issue.
    “The National Broadcasting Commission has observed that the initial five years of the licence has lapsed since September 07, 2015 but your company has not indicated any interest in renewing the licence as stipulated by the NBC ACT, CAP. N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004 but have continued operations till date without a valid licence for the purpose.
    “Furthermore, the commission has observed that your company has not been furnishing the commission with its annual audited accounts or remitting 1.5 per cent of annual income therein as stipulated by the NBC ACT.
    “In view of the above, I am directed to request you to:
    “Pay Licence Renewal fee for another term of five years in the sum of N500,000,000 only, for the period September 7, 2015 – September 6, 2020.
    “ Forward to the commission certified copies of your annual audited accounts for the period; 2010 – 2015 to enable the commission compute the amount due as 1.5 per cent of annual levy on income for each year and convey to the company to remit.
    “Forward to the commission certified copies of your annual audited accounts for the period ; 2010 – 2015 to enable the commission compute the amount due as 1.5 per cent of annual levy on income of each year and convey to the company to remit.”
    The letter by NBC to Silverbird Communications Limited, puts its debt at N733.6 million.
    The NBC wrote: “Please recall the provisional approval granted by the National Broadcasting Commission to your company for a National Network Broadcast Service Licence (Radio/Television) for an initial term of five years from March 10, 2011 – March 01,2016   and the subsequent correspondence/ meetings between your company and the commission, especially regarding payment of licence fee.
    “ The commission notes that the initial term of five years for the licence has lapsed since March 01, 2016; with an outstanding licence fee of N233,650,793.00 only unpaid.”

  • Osun agency gives ultimatum on signage

    Osun agency gives ultimatum on signage

    The Osun State Signage, Hoarding and Advertisement Agency, also known as O’Signage, has issued a two-week ultimatum to owners of billboards, posters and other forms of advertisement signage, to register with the agency and adhere to the standard practice or face prosecution.
    Executive Vice Chairman Mrs. Dupe-Ajayi Gbadebo, in a statement at the weekend, said it became imperative to regulate the pasting of posters and placement of signage given the indiscriminate way major streets were defaced with posters and illegal billboards.
    She warned that pasting of postal indiscriminately will no longer be allowed and that only duly registered persons will be allowed to use public space for advertisement.
    Her words: “Whether political or religious, any other type of poster or signage, the owners must be properly registered with the government while the agency will guide on the appropriate places to paste posters or erect billboards.
    “We can no longer tolerate the manner major streets are defaced. We appeal to whoever wants to use public space for advertisement to register and follow regulations”.
    Mrs. Dupe-Ajayi said any individual, religious organisation, political party, company or business owner, who attempts to use public space for advertisement without O’Signage’s permission, would be arrested and prosecuted.

  • Osun agency gives ultimatum on signage

    The Osun State Signage, Hoarding and Advertisement Agency, also known as O’Signage, has issued a two-week ultimatum to owners of billboards, posters and other forms of advertisement signage, to register with the agency and adhere to standard practice or face prosecution.

    Executive Vice Chairman Mrs. Dupe-Ajayi Gbadebo, in a statement at the weekend, said it became imperative to regulate the pasting of posters and placement of signage given the indiscriminate way major streets are defaced with posters and illegal billboards.

    She warned that pasting of postal indiscriminately will no longer be allowed and only duly registered persons will be allowed to use public space for advertisement.

    Her words: “Whether political or religious, any other type of poster or signage, the owners must be properly registered with the government while the agency will guide on the appropriate places to paste posters or erect billboards.

    “We can no longer tolerate the manner major streets are defaced. We appeal to whoever wants to use public space for advertisement to register and follow regulations”.

    Mrs. Dupe-Ajayi warned that any individual, religious organisation, political party, company or business owner, who attempts to use public space for advertisement without O’Signage’s permission, will be arrested and prosecuted.

  • JUTH gets 30-day ultimatum to implement court ruling

    The National Industrial Court (NIC) has given the management of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) a 30-day ultimatum to implement the ruling specifying a separate department for Medical Laboratory Scientists.

    Justice Nkechi Esewe, at the weekend, ordered JUTH’s management to see the medical laboratory scientists as distinct professionals.

    She also ordered government hospitals to create a separate department for medical laboratory scientists and give them free hand to practice.

    This followed failure of JUTH’s top management staff to appear in court while the case lasted.

    Justice Esewe noted that the court could have ordered that JUTH’s management be jailed but it considered its status in the society and how the action will affect the public.

    She, however, warned that the court will be forced to send JUTH’s management to prison if it, at the expiration of the 30 days, fails to implement the court’s pronouncement.

    In the ruling between laboratory scientists and five hospitals, Justice Esewe reiterated that the laboratory scientists be allowed to discharge their duties freely as a distinct department without being directed by a doctor.

    The Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozala; Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, National Othodepedic Hospital, Enugu and Parklin Hospital, Enugu, are listed as respondents.

    Counsel to the hospitals, Oguchukwu Nwogu, said: “In 2013, the court made several orders which borders on the right of the applicants, that they be accorded their respect as a separate profession in the health sector. But some hospitals were non-chalant about the ruling.

    “That prompted us to approach the court to interpret its judgment. The court has affirmed its position once more that the 2013 judgment cuts across the entire health sector and affects all Federal Government-owned hospitals.

    “We will wait to see what the respondents will do. If they do not do what is expected of them, we will know the next step to take.”

  • Ondo motorcyclists get ultimatum

    Ondo motorcyclists get ultimatum

    The Ondo State government and the police have given an ultimatum of next Friday to all commercial motorcyclists to register their motorcycles with the Ministry of Transport.
    At a briefing in Akure yesterday, Commissioner of Police Mrs. Hilda Harrison and Commissioner for Information Kayode Akinmade said many robberies are linked to motorcyclists.
    The police commissioner said many kidnappers often use motorcycles to carry out their dastardly acts.
    She said any motorcycle not registered will be impounded and the rider prosecuted.
    Akinmade enjoined motorcyclists to wear their uniforms while on operation to distinguish them from other operators.

  • Udu youths give Ijaw two weeks ultimatum to relocate

    Udu youths yesterday gave the Ijaw living in Udu, Delta State, two weeks ultimatum to relocate from the town.

    This followed the attacks on Ayama and Epame communities by suspected Isaba youths, which led to the destruction of houses.

    The President of Udu Youths, Comrade Sunday Subi, who spoke at a news conference at Otor-Udu, the headquarters of Udu Local Government, said the only thing that would make them rescind the ultimatum was if Mr. and Mrs. Austin Oduaran of Ewu town, Mrs. Baby College and her son, Edirin, of Okwagbe community and five indigenes of Aladja community held hostage by the Isaba people were released.

    Police spokesman Andrew Aniamaka described the allegation by Subi that the police commissioner saw Ijaw youths with sophisticated weapons as false.

    He said: “We never saw anyone with weapons. We went for the visit with Secretary to State Government (SSG) Ovie Agas, the council Chairman, Solomon Kpomah, officials of SSS, DSS and other top government functionaries. They can attest to it. We never saw anybody with sophisticated weapons because we were prepared for trouble makers. People should eschew violence and allow peace to reign.”

  • Delta community reaffirms ultimatum to Chevron on its demands

    •Ugborodo residents end occupation of oil firm’s facilities

    Residents of Benikrukru community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have said they will not change u last Wednesday’s ultimatum to Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL).

    The community, which alluded to a statement by the Egbema Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation (EGCDF) on Friday, asking the company to disregard the deadline, said its demands were beyond the powers of the EGCDF.

    It advised CNL to stop what it called the co0mpany’s divide-and-rule strategy.

    Residents of Benikrukru had issued a seven-day deadline to the oil firm to address its demands, including non-compliance with local content laws, unresolved oil spill issues, employment and other associated benefits.

    In a statement by its Chairman Victor Eseimieghan and Secretary Boan Roland Ojogun, the community warned that the oil multinational would be taking a risk if it ignored the deadline.

    It said EGCDF, led by Michael Johnny and Jude Ukori, should mind its business.

    The statement said: “The leadership of the Benikrukru Community wishes to insist and state that we stand by the ultimatum issued to Chevron Nigeria Limited to shut down Abiteye field, if the grievances of the community are not addressed.

    “We wish to also state that the leadership and people of Benikrukru Community, just like any other community in Chevron operational area, are not answerable to the Egbema Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation.

    “Michael Johnny and Jude Ukori are not the spokespersons of Benikrukru community and should allow Benikrukru people to speak for themselves. The demands of the Benikrukru people are beyond the powers of the EGCDF. In any case, contrary to Mr. Johnny’s claim, the EGCDF has not carried out any developmental project in Benikrukru community in the past three years under Johnny’s leadership.

    “The agitation of the Benikrukru Community for compliance with local content, dispute over land ownership, unresolved spill issues, employment and other associated benefits are legitimate demands and the security agents have been put on notice of Chevron’s maltreatment of the community.

    “We call on the Michael Johnny led EGCDF to face its business and not interfere in the affairs of Benikrukru Community with Chevron. If Chevron ignores our ultimatum, it would be doing so at its risk.”

    Also, after an 11-day unbroken occupation of the Escravos facilities of multinational oil and gas company, Chevron Nigerian Limited (CNL), the people of Ugborodo community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have suspended their protest.

    The community’s leaders, elders, women and youths protested alleged neglect and refusal of the oil company to work with its representatives.

    It occupied a section of the company’s environs on August 9 till August 19.

    Speaking with our reporter yesterday in Warri on why the community suspended the protest, a former chairman of Ugborodo Community Trust, Pa Sandys Omadeli said the decision was in good faith.

    He said it was meant to give Governor Ifeanyi Okowa the benefit of the doubt on the matter.

    Omadeli said the people left the company’s premises, trusting that Okowa would persuade CNL to respect the community’s right to choose its representatives.

    The community leader noted that collapsing the Interim Management Committee (IMC) into the Export Processing Zone’s (EPZ’s) Interface Committee, which was set up by the state government, was unacceptable.

    Omadeli, who said Okowa asked him to appeal to the protesters to vacate the company’s facilities, noted that the governor’s failure to play his part would send the wrong signals to the people.

    The former chairman said the Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty, Ikenwoli, was not happy about the way CNL treated Ugborodo people.

    He said: “The governor got in touch with me and I told him I would go. I went there and I spoke to the people and they left. It’s now left for the governor to keep his part of the deal. One, the governor should speak to the company to meet with the community.

    “Two, the idea that the community’s elected IMC should dissolve into the EPZ committee is not acceptable to the people. The community is insisting that it has its internal administration and that the idea of government setting up a body for it is unacceptable. It said the EPZ committee was not set up to administer the community.

    “If the community waits to see these happening and sees nothing, it will seem as though the government had tricked its leaders to get them out of the place. If the government is sincere indeed, this isn’t difficult to do.

    “The way it looks now, it is like the governor is hiding under the Olu’s advice. But he should realise that though the people are under the Olu’s lordship, they are the people suffering from the adverse effect of the company’s activities.

    “The Olu refused to talk to us at Ugborodo during the protest because he knew that our demands were just. This is because we learnt that when Chevron officials went to the Olu, he rebuked them that Ugborodo people had not been well treated; that they’d destroyed the whole place. That was why he refused.”

  • MEND gives FG 2 weeks to open talks with Tompolo, others

    MEND gives FG 2 weeks to open talks with Tompolo, others

    •Asks govt to begin dialogue with its Aaron Team, Tompolo
    •Rejects negotiation involving NSA
    • Says Avengers are criminals

    The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has given the Federal Government a two-week ultimatum to commence dialogue with its “Aaron Team,” including a repentant militant leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, to end the bombing of oil installations and Niger Delta militancy.

    It, however, declared that the dialogue must not be coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), since most of the issues surrounding the Niger Delta question were on the exclusive legislative list and the proposed dialogue was not an interrogatory session.

    MEND described members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) as criminals, who had been holding the Federal Government to ransom and forcing concessions.

    The NDA members, according to MEND, also engage in militancy for their own personal aggrandizement.

    The militant group (MEND) stated these yesterday in an online statement by its Spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo.

    It expressed displeasure that successive governments and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the crude oil and gas-rich Niger Delta had repeatedly reneged on agreements entered into with the people of the region and also owing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) billions of naira in withheld funds.

    MEND said: “Government is at liberty to negotiate with arm-twisting unions and criminal groups like the NDA, so long as such negotiations are done in the national interest.

    “MEND is not opposed to government’s plan to negotiate with the recalcitrant NDA through the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA). Government must, however, not delude itself into thinking that negotiation with the NDA was tied to the resolution of the Niger Delta question.

    “Negotiation with NDA is merely a temporary respite, as another opportunistic group is lurking in the shadows, but dialogue and resolution of the Niger Delta question will be a sustainable solution for all stakeholders.”

    It added that, “MEND had repeatedly reiterated that the Niger Delta struggle was beyond attacks on oil installations. In fact, destruction of oil and gas pipelines is an elementary course in guerilla warfare, which can be carried out by any militant group.”

    The group also stated that it (MEND) stopped attacks on oil installations more than two years ago, when the group unilaterally declared a ceasefire of hostilities on May 30, 2014 against Nigeria’s key economic and strategic interests.

    It noted that since it declared ceasefire, it had relentlessly sought to engage the Federal Government in a sincere dialogue on the release of those it described as “Prisoners of Conscience,” including Henry and Charles Okah, as well as addressing the root issues bedeviling the Niger Delta, without success.

    MEND stated that on January 6, 2015, when it realised that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, an indigene of Otuoke in Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State, was not interested in dialogue on the Niger Delta question, the group endorsed Muhammadu Buhari as its candidate in the 2015 presidential election; in the belief that President Buhari would sincerely welcome dialogue.

    The militant group said: “There is a marked distinction between negotiation with criminals and fraudsters who force concessions from government, using the strategy of attacks on oil installations, on the one hand; and dialogue with genuine militant groups, such as MEND, who are committed to meaningfully engage government on the vexed Niger Delta question, on the other hand.

    “While the former (NDA members) engage in militancy for their own personal aggrandizement, the latter (MEND members) are patriots, who are fighting a just cause and are equally desirous of peace, stability and development of the Niger Delta region for the common good.

    “As unfolding events in Nigeria have since revealed, the major challenge of President Buhari’s government lies in its inability to distinguish between negotiation with criminal elements such as the NDA, who are sabotaging the nation’s economy and whose demands range from the mundane to the outright ridiculous and dialogue on the Niger Delta question with a serious-minded group such as MEND.

    “The way and manner criminal gangs, such as the NDA, hold government to ransom and force concessions, is exactly the same way and manner pressure groups such as PENGASSAN, NUPENG or even the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) often times hold government to ransom, regardless of the risks posed by their actions to the national economy and to the lives of ordinary Nigerians. The only difference is that NDA ups the ante with its senseless and unprovoked attacks on oil installations.”

    MEND faulted the stance of some Niger Delta leaders and called on President Buhari to refrain from being deceived by the recent visit of the Amayanabo of Twon-Brass in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State, King Alfred Diette-Spiff, to the Presidential Villa, under the pretext of a hurriedly-formed Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact Group (NDDCG).

    The group said: “Throughout the six-year tragic reign of former President Goodluck Jonathan, King Diette-Spiff said or did nothing on record to draw the attention of the former President to the resolution of the Niger Delta question. He and other elders and elite of the region, including Chief Edwin Clark, certain ex- militants, tribal assemblies such as the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and a coterie of so-called Niger Delta activists embarrassingly kept mute and turned a blind eye during the six years of colossal waste, unmitigated corruption, monumental fraud in the unsustainable amnesty programme, environmental decay and neglect, infrastructural stagnation such as the wicked and criminal abandonment of the East-West Road project, among others.

    “Regardless of the fact that there is a consensus of opinion that the Federal Government is not sincere about the kind of dialogue advocated by MEND, the group has nevertheless named an Aaron Team, comprising the following persons: Henry Odein Ajumogobia, SAN (Rivers)-Team Leader, Bismark Jemide Rewane (Delta)-awaiting re-confirmation, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa (Cross River), High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Delta)-awaiting  confirmation, Ledum Mitee Esq. (Rivers), Lawson Omokhodion (Edo), Ibanga Isine (Akwa Ibom), Senator Adolphus Wabara (Abia), Alfred Isename (Edo) and Timipa Jenkins Okponipere Esq. (Bayelsa)-Team Secretary.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the MEND’s Aaron Team shall not dialogue with the NSA, given that the office of the NSA lacks executive power.”

    The militant group also hoped that the Federal Government would reach out to the Aaron Team Leader (Ajumogobia), to signal government’s intention to commence the dialogue.

    MEND added that if after the two-week ultimatum and it did not hear from the Federal

    Government, the militant group would assume that the Buhari’s administration was truly not sincere about dialogue on the Niger Delta question, but would prefer to respond only to the threat of violence or industrial action.

  • Unpaid workers shut down Bayelsa, begin strike after ultimatum

    BAYELSA State workers protesting their backlog of unpaid salaries yesterday stormed ministries in Yenagoa, the state capital, to enforce their industrial action. The angry workers, it was gathered, ensured that the secretariat was locked and all the offices closed in total compliance with the directive of their union leaders.

    Their action was in defiance of the no-work-no-pay threat of the state governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, whose inability to pay different categories of workers had thrown the state into economic hardship. Dickson owes civil servants about five months; pensioners about eight months and local government workers about 13 months.

    The development has thrown workers and residents in the state into untold hardship with many of them resorting to begging for survival. Non-payment of salaries has brought the economy of Bayelsa, known generally as a civil service state, to its knees, with many business ventures shutting down operation. The workers resorted to strike after 21-day ultimatum they gave to the government expired with the governor not able to meet their demands.

    Dickson who threatened to invoke the no-work-no-pay principle, however, appealed to the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to return to the negotiating table. But the workers were said to be further angered by the threat of the governor, wondering why Dickson was trying to intimidate civil servants he could not pay for five months. Reacting to the governor’s threat that workers would forfeit their salaries if they failed to work, a rights activist, Mr. Alagoa Morris, said that such threat would not work. He said: “The threat will not work because if labour leaders allow that to happen, it means they have lost their bearings. “Next time, if they call their members out for strike, they will not obey them.

    “So, it is always part of the settlement at the end whereby even the government would sign that nobody will be victimised. “It is the workers’ right to embark on strike when things are not going right. “It will be unwise at the end of the day, which I know will not happen, that labour will agree and let the government punish workers for going on strike.

    “It is always ending with ‘no Victor no vanquished’.” He said the governor’s threat was centered on ego, stressing that “threats will be given, threats will be made, but it is part of the industrial relation that at the end of the day, they will settle.” Morris said he supported the labour action, adding that the workers had the right to go on strike. He said it is the legitimate right of workers and means to force he hands of the authorities to act appropriately. Also, the Chairman, NLC, Bayelsa State, Ndiomu John-Bipre, said the threat would not stop the strike, adding that they would cross the bridge when they got there. Noting that the workers were like children to the governor, he said they were crying to Dickson to feel their pains over the unpaid salaries.