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  • Labour suspends warning strike on new minimum wage

    The organised labour in the country comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC), has suspended its warning strike on a new minimum wage embarked upon on Sept. 26.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the organised labour had embarked on the strike after a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government for failing to come out with its own figure on the new minimum wage.

    The three labour unions had demanded N65,500 as new minimum wage for workers, while the private employers and some state governors were proposing N25,000.

    President of the NLC Ayuba Wabba said at a world news conference in Abuja on Sunday that the strike was suspended after government agreed to reconvene the tripartite committee’s meeting on the new minimum wage.

    Wabba said the meeting, scheduled to reconvene on Oct. 4, would enable the committee to conclude work on the minimum wage after the Federal Government must have given a figure on what it could afford for workers.

    “Indeed on Thursday morning, the strike action commenced and was observed across the country.

    “We similarly commend the members of the press for their vigorous and comprehensive reportage of the strike; we thank all Nigerians for their support.

    “We have received a firm and formal invitation to a reconvened meeting of the tripartite committee scheduled for Oct. 4 and Oct. 5, 2018.

    “We demand that this shall be the final session of the committee and that a final report will be submitted to Mr President immediately.

    “In order to avail the committee the necessary conducive environment to hold this crucial meeting and conclude its work, organised labour has after obtaining the mandate of their necessary organs, decided to suspend the strike with effect from today, Sunday Sept. 30, 2018,” Wabba said.

    He urged all unions and state councils to maintain a high level of mobilisation and readiness until the struggle for a reasonable minimum wage was achieved.

    Labour had earlier said that 21 states so far resolved to abide by whatever the tripartite committee agreed as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers. (NAN)

  • Independence Day: Clergy calls for national reflection, repentance

    Independence Day: Clergy calls for national reflection, repentance

    Bishop of Okigwe South, Anglican Communion, Rt. Rev. David Onuoha said that the 58th anniversary of Nigeria should be used for sober reflection and repentance to move the Nation forward.

    Onuoha, in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, enjoined Nigerians to praise the Almighty God for His grace, love and faithfulness which has sustained the nation.

    He said that the traditional Christian thanksgiving and Muslim Jummat services that were regular features of this event were obviously too cosmetic to attract God’s attention.

    “The unchecked wasting of innocent blood which has increased in frequency, the deep seated division along ethnic and religious lines, the growing level of impunity that is now a culture in our public life, the emergence of pseudo morality that evades and denies reality.

    “The nefarious effects of false spirituality occasioned by mercantile religion, the growing pain, suffering and hardship which Nigerians have had to bear on daily basis.

    “The present reality of some public officers appropriating the commonwealth of the people to themselves and their families without any twig of compunction are indicative of a mortal sickness.

    “Instead of the usual parades, parties and banquets that tend to encourage the status quo, our leaders, like the king of Nineveh, should lead Nigerians to seek the face of God through repentance and confession of our multitude of sins that it may be well with us,” he said.

    According to him, this step is necessary to heal the festering wounds that Nigerians are living with, and also bring us to the path of which the blessings of God are not withdrawn from us. (NAN)

  • Total trains 150 young entrepreneurs, doles out N30m starter-pack

    As part of its capacity building, Total says it has trained more than 150 youths in various skills this year with each of them given a starter-pack worth N200, 000.

    Mr Vincent Nnadi, the  Executive General Manager, Community Social Responsibility, Total Upstream Companies of Nigeria, said the beneficiaries were exposed to three months training both in Lagos and Abuja.

    He said the capacity building was part of the company’s initiative to transform the society by providing employment opportunities for  youths  and reducing poverty.

    According to him, the company’s community social responsibility is a a sustained commitment and an enduring culture of responsiveness to the needs of stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

    Nnadi, who was represented by Dr Charles Ngeribara, the General Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development, Total E&P Nigeria Ltd, said the organisation fully identified with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals numbers one and eight.

    “Through our capacity development initiatives, Total is empowering as many people as possible and actively supporting nation building efforts in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals numbers one and eight.

    The goals are `No Poverty,  Decent Work and Economic Growth”, and with Nigeria being home to the highest number of people living below the poverty line, this need has even become more urgent.

    “Total is determined to contribute to turning the tide against poverty in Nigeria.”

    Prof. Godwin Chukwu, the President, Toncia Consulting and Energy Services, the facilitator of the training, said youth employment and empowerment was a must for a brighter and better future for the country.

    According to him, after a close monitoring and follow-up, some of the trained youths have been invited for another training on business sustenance.

    “On the whole, were able to identify 52 of them — 25 in Lagos and 27 in Abuja also sponsored by Total.

    ‘“The essence is to see how these participants can become employers of labour, ” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    One of the beneficiaries, Miss Gkwaza Christiana of KC Foods, who described the opportunity as unique, said she had been empowered to be financially independent and as an employer of labour.

    NAN reports that the young entrepreneurs were trained in paints production, inverter and solar systems production and installation, agriculture, web design and computer hardware installation.

    Others are catering, hospitality and crafts. (NAN)

  • Onitsha boils: Security operatives sack worshippers from church service

    … Faithful turn to prayer warriors, accuse govt of complicity

    The Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, Camp at Bishop Ajayi Crowther Primary school, Onitsha, Anambra State, is boiling as all manners of security operatives had in the early morning of Sunday, stormed the place, sacked the Anglican worshippers who came for the Sunday church service and locked the gate. (more…)

  • U.S. ambassador accuses China of ‘bullying’ with ‘propaganda ads’

    A week after an official Chinese newspaper ran a four-page ad in a U.S. daily touting the mutual benefits of U.S.-China trade, the U.S. ambassador to China accused Beijing of using the American press to spread propaganda.

    U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday referred to the China Daily’s paid supplement in the Des Moines Register, the state of Iowa’s biggest selling newspaper, after accusing China of seeking to meddle in the Nov. 6 U.S. congressional elections, a charge China denies.

    Trump’s accusation that Beijing was trying to meddle in U.S. elections marked what U.S. officials told Reuters was a new phase in an escalating campaign by Washington to put pressure on China.

    While it is normal for foreign governments to place advertisements to promote trade, Beijing and Washington are currently locked in an escalating trade war that has seen those level rounds of tariffs on each other’s imports.

    Chinese and U.S. experts have said that China’s retaliatory tariffs early in the trade war were designed to hit exporters in states such as Iowa that supported Trump’s Republican Party.

    Terry Branstad, the U.S. ambassador to China and the former longtime governor of Iowa, a major exporter of agricultural goods to China, said Beijing had hurt American workers, farmers and businesses.

    China, Branstad wrote in an opinion piece in Sunday’s Des Moines Register, “is now doubling down on that bullying by running propaganda ads in our own free press.”

    “In disseminating its propaganda, China’s government is availing itself of America’s cherished tradition of free speech and a free press by placing a paid advertisement in the Des Moines Register,” Branstad wrote.

    “In contrast, at the newsstand down the street here in Beijing, you will find limited dissenting voices.

    “You will not see any true reflection of the disparate opinions that the Chinese people may have on China’s troubling economic trajectory, given that media is under the firm thumb of the Chinese Communist Party,” he wrote.

    He added that one of China’s most prominent newspapers dodged the offer to publish his article, although he did not say which newspaper. (Reuters/NAN)

  • Parents complain of being harassed by schools

    ISLAMABAD: Parents have complained that their children are being harassed and even humiliated by the administration of private schools for paying their fees after the due date, arguing that such negative attitudes were affecting the mental health of their children.

    The complaints surfaced as parents had a heated debate with representatives of private school networks during a consultation meeting organised by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) in Islamabad on Thursday over the high fees charged by private educational institutions.

    School fee hike: Large private schools made respondent as SC clubs petitions

    The meeting was chaired by NCHR Chairman Justice (retired) Ali Nawaz Chowhan. Parents said that if they tried to raise their voice against the management of private schools through any means, they were then targeted and threatened with the expulsion of their children.

    They further complained that they were often compelled to buy  books from the school at exorbitant prices, even if the same books were readily available in the open markets at comparatively lower prices.

    Kashif Ismail, a father of three children who all study at a private school in Lahore, told the human rights commission chief all three of his children had recently been harassed by the school’s administration after which the children had refused to go to school.

    “My only crime was that I raised my voice against the high fees [charged by the school] due to which my three children, aged six,10 and 12, were forced to spend an entire day in the school library and then made to stay there for an additional half an hour after the bell rang,” he cried, adding that this exercise continued for another seven days after which his children refused to go to the school and now no private school was admitting them.

    Another parent said that he had requested some private schools to give him some concession in fees for his daughter but he was asked
    to leave in an insulting way. Another parent complained that his child was humiliated in front of the entire class after a teacher asked the child to explain the delays in submitting school fees.

    Private school fees: Parents, students urge CJP to take note of exploitation

    “Due to such attitudes, our children are refusing to go to school, they feel insulted, embarrassed and are suffering from inferiority complexes,” the parents complained.

    The parents further complained about the approach of private schools, who now operate more like businesses rather than educational establishments who charge very high fees without providing quality education.

    In this regard, they pointed out that some private schools do not even have qualified staff who but are charging exorbitant sums. Similarly, private schools ask for a host of auxiliary charges such as laboratory fees, computer charges amongst other charges.

    Moreover, schools demand fees for extra circular activities but they lack grounds and activity areas to conduct these activities in. Schools who promote tree plantation campaigns do not even have a single tree in their school.

    “School administrations are like mannequins. If a parent raises any issue regarding fee hikes, they are unable to answer or do anything because the owners of these schools are mostly businessmen and they run them through a dummy administration,” said parents.

    Responding to the complaints, Private School Network Pakistan representatives explained that a small group of schools, who comprise only around five to six per cent of their members, have the
    business orientation parents were complaining of.

    “We must not forget all the other schools who are following the rules and regulations,” they said, adding, “We also condemn schools who violate the rules and challenge the state’s writ.”

    The private school network requested the NCHR to ask parents not to call them a mafia just because a few private schools were involved in such heinous crimes. After hearing both sides of the story, the NCHR chief asked private schools to submit detailed data about the schools who were violating the rules and who were in compliance.

    “Any school who creates a hurdle in the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution will not be spared,” the NCHR chairman said, as he summoned the private schools’ associations representatives along with the data on Monday for the next consultation.

    Parents were also asked to name those schools who were charging high fees in violation of of the rules.

    Culled from The Express Tribune

  • APC conducts peaceful Presidential Primaries in Edo

    By Igbaugba Ehigimetor

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo chapter, on Friday conducted a peaceful Presidential primaries across the State.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that as early as 7:30 a.m., voters started trooping into the venues  to participate in the primaries, while voting commenced at 11:30 a.m.

    Areas visited in the state capital like Oredo ward 7 and ward 11 showed  a large crowd of voters defied the heavy rain to exercise their franchise in the primaries.

    Speaking on the exercise, the State Secretary of the party, Mr Lawrence Okah, said  the massive turnout of electorate despite the rains, demonstrated the love the people have for the person of President Muhammadu Buhari and his leadership style.

    He said defying the rains was a demonstration of how they wanted Buhari to come back for second term.

    “You can see for yourself that the crowd was tremendous. We could not even finish counting.

    “As I speak in this ward 7, we have more than 1,147 persons voting for just one candidate, Buhari.

    “In spite of the rain, people came out. That is to show the support our president has. If this can happen in one ward, and we have 192 wards .

    “You  better imagine at the end of today, you will see a lot of people coming out to vote for Buhari. This is just a party matter.

    “It is raining yet people are coming out to vote. You can see for yourself. They have been here since 8:00 a.m. waiting for this day to come,” he said.

    NAN reports that security was tight in the centres visited as men of the Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were on ground to provide security. (NAN)

  • CBN revokes licences of 182 financial institutions

    The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has revoked the operational licences of 182 other financial institutions (OFIs) across the country. (more…)

  • $10b offshore pipeline: Pakistan, Russia ink deal

    Pakistan and Russia signed a deal on Thursday for conducting feasibility study on a planned $10-billion offshore gas pipeline, an idea coined by Moscow to capture the energy market of Pakistan.

    Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) Additional Secretary Sher Afgan and Deputy Energy Minister of Russia Anatoly Yanovsky signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for undertaking the study.

    Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) Managing Director Mobin Saulat was also present at the ceremony. On the occasion, the two sides expressed interest in enhancing bilateral relations in the energy sector.

    ISGS – a state-owned Pakistani company established to handle gas import projects which is already working on schemes like the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) gas pipeline – has been designated by Pakistan for executing the pipeline project along with Russia’s energy giant Gazprom.

    Pakistan, Russia to ink $10 billion offshore pipeline deal

    Gazprom will conduct the feasibility study and bear its expenses in order to assess economic viability and cost of the project.

    The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has now entered the industrialisation phase and needs gas for duty and tax-free Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The offshore gas pipeline will meet energy needs of the industries being set up in the SEZs along the CPEC route.

    According to officials, the pipeline will connect Pakistan and Russia and act as an energy corridor between the two countries.

    “Strategically, it is a very important project as the two countries will come closer to each other,” an official said. “At the same time, Pakistan will gain access to the Russian market in order to boost its overall exports which remained stagnant during five-year tenure of the PML-N government.”

    Pakistan, Russia: Businessmen eager to enhance ties  

    Russia has nominated Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom for implementation of the project. Pakistan’s cabinet has permitted the company to conduct the feasibility study at its own cost and risk.

    Separately, ISGS is working on the $10-billion Tapi gas pipeline which will connect South and Central Asia. Construction work on the scheme in Pakistan is planned to start in March 2019.

    These projects are termed game changer for Pakistan as they will not only lead to regional connectivity, but will also meet growing energy needs of the country.

    Owing to a long-running tussle with Europe and the US over the annexation of Ukrainian region of Crimea, Russia is looking for alternative markets and wants to capitalise on increasing energy demand in South Asia.

    Read more: Gas pipeline , Latest , Pakistan
    Culled from The Express Tribune