Category: General News

By Rukayat Moisemhe

The Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) has urged the Federal Government and labour to factor in the wellbeing of more than 200 million Nigerians and avert the strike planned for October.

It says the two should work together in the interest of the nation’s economy which could be jeopardised by the strike.

The NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) declared on Tuesday that they would call workers out on strike from Oct. 3.

The declaration followed the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum earlier given to government to provide palliatives to ameliorate the effects of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.

Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, Director-General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) reacted to Labour’s declaration on behalf of the OPSN.

He reiterated OPSN’s earlier admonition to avert the looming disruption of socioeconomic activities and noted that current economic indicators in the country do not support a strike.

“The view of the OPSN is that of deep concern; if not that of anxiety.

“We have keenly watched the back and forth consultations between the government on the one hand and Labour on the other.

“It is evident that the series of consultations have not yielded positive results and the latter has resolved, in one way or the other, to go ahead with the strike.

“We are worried that adequate consideration is not given to the dire situation of the economy and the devastating and disruptive impact that a nationwide strike will have on the country at this time.

“Government and labour need to understand that our economy is being de-marketed and the livelihood of the average Nigerian is being diminished by these incessant bickering.

“One is beginning to wonder if the wellbeing of more than 200 million Nigerians is being factored into their negotiations,’’ Ajayi-Kadir said.

The MAN director-general urged government to reengage labour and find an amicable ground to avert the imminent disruption to business activities that would attend the protest and nationwide strike.

He appealed that adequate consideration be given to the grim state of the economy and the possible unintended consequences of social unrest that might result from the strike.

He also advised manufacturers to be circumspect in their business operations as the association continued to intervene in last minute attempts to avert the strike.

“Adequate measures should be taken to protect companies’ assets and contingency plans should be made to keep businesses afloat.

“Government should demonstrate good faith in keeping to its promises during the negotiations with labour and abstain from making promises they cannot or do not intend to keep.

“On the other hand, labour should do a realistic assessment of its demands within the context of prevailing economic realities and possibilities.

“It should go the extra mile to indicate how its demands could be met.

“We look forward to a time that labour will extend the scope of its demands to include recommendations on how government could meet its demands.

“Its recommendations should come with implementation strategies and realistic timelines,’’ Ajayi-Kadir said.

OPSN is the umbrella body of MAN and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association.

Other members are the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists.

NAN

ASCSN urges members to remain calm

—HoSF gives 1 week deadline for affected staff to comply.

THERE Is palpable tension within the ranks of the core civil servants following the delisting of 17, 000 workers from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS.

Already the leadership of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, has directed the affected workers under the federal government payroll to remain calm as measures are being taken to address the situation.

The 17,000 government employees were said to have been delisted from the IPPIS for failing to comply with a verification exercises spanning over five years.

But reacting to the development on Tuesday, the National President of ASCSN, Comrade Tommy Etim Okon, alleged that there were also some discrepancies in the IPPIS verification process, disclosing that names of Personal Assistants (PAs), Special Advisers (SAs) and in some cases Ministers who had served in successive governments were found in the portal.

Briefing journalists in Abuja, Comrade Okon, also criticised his members, wondering why most genuine civil servants feigned ignorance of the verification exercise, while it lasted.

He however noted that the office of the Head of Service of the Federation has given a one week grace period for affected employees who were erroneously omitted from the IPPIS portal to forward their documents for update, provided they had genuine cases.

He said, “We called your attention to what we heard or information at our disposal just few days ago, we received an information that over 17,000 workers in the core civil service did not carry out the online verification which was done by the office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

Quickly we swung into action to interface with the government through the HoSF and by that singular act, there was need for us to talk to our members and that informed the reasons, because we have seen a lot of apprehensions from our members, receiving several phone calls, then we also looked at the timing because of the socia

We went deep into the document where we also realised that even in some government agencies, we realised that names of PAs, SAs and some Ministers were included in the IPPIS portal, whereas those people were political office holders in their own rights in various regimes”.

On the life line available to the affected workers, he said a committee has already been constituted in the office of the HOSF to handle such cases.

He advised those with genuine complaints, who had initially done the online verification on the portal of the IPPIS to submit a scanned copy of their document to the email that has been provided.

Comrade Okon however said the one week deadline given by the HoSF to fully comply with the verification exercise was rather too limited, stressing that government should in its magnanimity extend it because of the rigours involved.l economic challenges.

He said, “You know it is always said that when you want to kill a dog, you give it a bad name, that maybe justifies the inclusion of SAs, PAs to the bad name in quote. They came up with claims that civil servants don’t come to work, they just sit down at home and collect salaries, we said capital No to that.

“These information is very important to our members and we are calling all our members to remain calm because the HoSF is doing her best to see that those workers who were genuinely captured and verified with evidence of clearance will be brought back to the payroll.

“The HoSF has given a window of one week to ensure that if you were verified genuinely on the online portal of IPPIS, that you should submit the scanned copy to the email that has been provided, you can also submit the document to the committee which has already been set up in the office of the HoSF, let me also say this to our members, this exercise was not carried out last week, it has been over five years but one is taken aback why some of us became recalcitrant to things that affect our career and even our family.

“We know that a civil servant is responsible to more than 10 people in the family and when you take into cognizance the extended African culture, you realise that a civil servant does not only earn his salary but does so with every other member of the family.

“So it is on this note that we call on the government to exercise restraint over this exercise and give a good window, so that we can select those who visited the portal and did the online verification and certified, whose names are appearing in this document, so that names should be excluded.”

NGO advocates more support for older persons

By Adewale Owoade

The President of Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons in Nigeria (COSROPIN), Dr Eze Ajoku, says older persons need more support from government to live meaningful lives.

Ajoku said this at a hangout programme organised for the elderly by COSROPIN in Ibadan.

He explained that the Rights and Privileges of Older Persons Bill, which received speedy passage by the 9th Assembly but was not assented to, would have created the necessary support for older persons.

“We are hoping that when we re-present that bill, it will receive a speedy passage once again by the Senate, and this president will not hesitate in signing it.

“We have continued to dialogue with the government to find ways of helping older persons; we are pushing for health insurance.

“We are also pushing for some monthly incentives for older persons to be able to have some money to buy their drugs and their medications.

“Our organisation nationally is working to look after older persons to make sure that they can increase their lives and end up well.

“We want these people to be well and healthy for their families, for their communities and to be able to mentor the younger generation,” Ajoku said.

In his remarks, the State Coordinator of COSROPIN, Mr Olayinka Ajomole, said that since loneliness is one of the major factors that affect elderly persons, the organisation opts for hang outs as a solution.

“We’ve discovered over the years that as our people get older in age, they get socially isolated and their interaction with others reduces.

“Medical science has shown that loneliness is a great killer, so the whole idea is to have hangouts regularly like this where you bring in older persons to socialise, play games, do exercises and interact among themselves.

“That is the whole essence of the programme, that if we have regular programmes like this, it will improve their health because health is a total thing.

“It includes your social and medical wellbeing, so their coming together in the whole essence is to improve their health through social interaction,” Ajomole said.

The funding partner of the organisation, Voice Global, commended COSROPIN for the initiative.

Its Programme Manager, Ishita Dutta, called for more focus on the needs of elderly persons in the country.

“We are here at this elderly hangout event organised by COSROPIN, we are very proud of the activities the COSROPIN is organising.

“We understood today that in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, this is the 10th state in Nigeria that they are able to organise this programme.

“Considering that elderly persons are often left out of government’s development policies, we strongly believe in an initiative like the one that is being carried out by COSROPIN and we wish them all the success for the future,” Dutta said.

One of the beneficiaries who is a retired soldier, Pa Abraham Odeyale, said that what they had learnt will go a long way in their lives.

“I have benefited a lot from this programme and this that I’ve learnt this morning shall be perennial in the sense that it is quite unbeatable, particularly for elderly people, because they do not want us to die early.

“All that we have learnt today is a great benefit for all, and I believe as I benefited from it so also my colleagues have, the Lord will uphold and sustain every one of us in Jesus name,” Odeyale prayed.

The beneficiaries at the event played games, received medical care, talks from representatives of National Health Insurance Scheme, medical practitioners, and danced to exercise their bodies. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

By Flowerbudnews

Enugu:. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), on Tuesday commenced the distribution of relief materials households affected by the 2022 flood disaster in Enugu State.

The Director-General of the agency, Mr Mustapha Ahmed, said during the distribution in Enugu that the gesture was under the Special National Economic and Livelihood Emergency Intervention (SNELEI).

Ahmed, who was represented by the Enugu State team supervisor of SNELEI, Mr Ladan Ayuba, said that the distribution was to improve the socio economic conditions of the affected households in the state.

He said that the total number of the households was on two phases, adding that phase one was 5,924 and phase two was 4,116 totalling 10,040 households across the state.

He identified the items as livelihood equipment which include sewing machines and grinding machines while the food items include rice, beans, garri, sorghum, vegetable oil, salt, tomato paste sachets and seasoning cubes.

According to him, the non-food items are mosquito nets, nylon mats, blankets, form mattresses, set of cooking pots, cooking stove, toilet soaps and detergents.

The agricultural inputs were also distributed which include , water pumps 3HP, growth enhancers, liquid fertilizers, pesticide, herbicide, yam seeds, rice seeds and maize seeds.

He explained that the agricultural inputs were given to take farmers back to their farm land, to stimulate crop production, and safeguard national food security in the middle of economic downturn.

The DG added that the livelihood support was to help artisans improve their businesses and grow the economy.

He noted that NEMA staff were deployed to conduct the verification of the target beneficiaries in collaboration with personnel from SEMAs, State Agricultural Development Project and other relevant stakeholders.

He said a total of 660,884 Households were verified and targeted to benefit from this special intervention across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He urged the beneficiaries to make proper use of the items to improve their socio economic conditions.

“Beneficiaries are advised to avoid selling the items and destroy the good intention of the Federal Government,” he said.

Ahmed thanked the President Bola Tinubu and the Vice President Kashim Shetima for all the support given toward the implementation of the intervention.

He commended the Enugu government for providing all the necessary support to accomplish this very important and timely intervention.

Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, lauded NEMA for its support to the state.

Mbah, while commending NEMA for its relentless desire and commitment to cushioning the effects of hardship orchestrated by natural or human induced disasters, assured that the materials will be judiciously shared among the victims.

“We want to extend our gratitude to DG, NEMA for always partnering with the state in times of emergency.

“It is important that we acknowledge that the president, Mr Bola Tinubu has made commitment to continue to support the states that are going through flood related matter through NEMA,” he said.

Some beneficiaries expressed their joy for the items they received.

Mr Julius Eke of Enugu East Local Government Area, who got food items, thanked the government for bringing smile to him and his family.

Mrs Akuabata Mbah, another beneficiary, said she was happy over the distribution, thanked the Federal Government for its intervention./

The acting governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, has vowed to implement immediate measures to ensure naira stability.

Cardoso made this vow while fielding questions from senators during the screening of the CBN governor and deputy governor nominees on the floor of the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The acting CBN governor assured that he would put in place immediate or short-term measures towards addressing the problem of naira free fall.

The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Dr Olayemi Cardoso as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Cardoso was screened alongside four nominees for the positions of CBN Deputy Governors, to steer affairs of the apex bank in the next five years.

The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Dr Olayemi Cardoso as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Cardoso was screened alongside four nominees for the positions of CBN Deputy Governors,  to steer affairs of the apex bank in the next five years.

Recall that last week, Cardoso resumed as the CBN governor in an acting capacity pending his screening and expected confirmation by the Senate.

 

Meanwhile, the Senate has also scheduled the screening of two additional ministerial nominees by President Bola Tinubu for Tuesday, October 3, 2023.

 

The President, while the National Assembly was on break, appointed the duo of Dr. Jamila Ibrahim and Ayodele Olawande as Minister of Youths and Minister of State for Youths respectively.