Nelson Ugwuagbo

Civil servants in Niger State, operating under the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, have resolved to embark on an indefinite strike action to express their grievances to the state government.

The strike is expected to commence by 8am on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, following the failure of the state government to meet the demands presented by the NLC, despite previous negotiations.

The NLC, in a letter addressed to Governor Mohammed Bago and signed by the NLC Chairman, Idrees Lafene, and the Trade Union Congress Chairman, Ibrahim Gana, expressed disappointment over the government’s failure to meet their demands and reiterated their commitment to the strike action until their demands are met.

The letter read in part, “We are writing in furtherance to our earlier letter of ultimatum Ref no. OL/NS/040/GEN/Vol 4/29 dated 20/12/23 and the deadlock on settlement of issues as a result of negotiations with the Niger State Government Committee.

“We wish to formally inform the government that effective 8am on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, Niger State workers will commence an indefinite strike action until our demands are comprehensively met.

Among the key demands of the union are the reversal of disputed appointments, including those of Executive Directors, Chairmen, members, and permanent commissioners of the Local Government Service Commission and Civil Service Commission, as well as Directors General of some agencies.

They also called for a clear statement from the government regarding the payment of wage awards.

The NLC also stressed the need for the government to cease the appointment of Permanent Secretaries from outside the civil service, insisting on career progression from within the service.

They also called for an end to the victimization of teachers and members of the educational sector following a recent debate by primary school pupils in Agaie LGA.

“We also wish to stress that the idea of appointing Permanent Secretaries who are not eligible and within the service will no longer be tolerated by the Organised Labour.

“Accordingly, we call on the government to withdraw the recent appointment of a Vice Principal on secondment as a Permanent Secretary to allow for career progression from within.

“We also call on the government to desist from victimising teachers and members from the educational sector as a result of the recent debate by some primary school pupils in Agaie LGA.”

The organised labour said their doors remain open for negotiation, provided the government meets their conditions, and expressed their continued commitment to Governor Bago’s New Niger Agenda.

However, NLC noted that there had been no response to their previous correspondence, leading to the commencement of the strike action.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, announced this at the ongoing Public Wealth Management Conference organised by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated on Tuesday in Abuja.

Edun also stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited has been asked to improve oil production to boost revenue.

He added that a bill will soon be presented to the National Assembly that will authorise the removal of all taxes and levies that constitute nuisance from the country’s tax system as a measure to wean itself from future Ways and Means indebtedness.

The government, Edun added, will pursue policies that will allow it to harvest revenue in real-time from government-owned enterprises and Corporate entities.

Edun said, “We have to stem liquidity. The Central Bank has led the way in pointing out that the ways and means have to be tailed down and eliminated and that is what we agree with.

“We are doing in that direction, there was an inherited amount of N22.7trn in backlogs. We are auditing it and it is like when I am ready to pay a loan from a bank and I ask for an audit before finding the agreed sum to pay.

“But apart from that, how do you get your ways and means down? We have to get revenues up and expenditure reduced as much as possible.”

Ways and Means is the money that the Central Bank of Nigeria lends to the Federal Government in the meantime to augment spending based on the time the revenue is generated.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, has said that the apex bank will no longer give Ways and Means to the President until the previous loans are repaid.

Olayemi noted that it was one of the measures taken by the apex bank to curtail the economic downturn currently plaguing the country.

Details later…

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Tuesday warned against any protest in the Southeast over the current spate of hunger and economic hardship ravaging Nigeria.

IPOB warned that anyone who organizes protests across the Southeast will regret such an action.

The spokesman of IPOB, Emma Powerful, said the current economic hardship and hunger was part of the reason the group has been agitating for the actualization of Biafra.

A statement by Powerful reads: “Following the unprecedented hardship in Nigeria, we the global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by the great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu Kanu hereby caution the people of Biafra not to join any Nigerian to protest against hunger in Nigeria in any Biafran territory. Any Nigerian agent who dares to organize any protest in Biafraland will regret it.

“The current hardship in Nigeria should be the concern of Nigerians, not Biafrans. Biafrans are no longer interested in the affairs of Nigeria. Biafrans were abused, intimidated, beaten, killed and denied voting rights during the election of this present government.

“Ndigbo were told to wait that it is their turn to rule, not the turn of Ndigbo. The aftermath of the fraudulent elections was the demolition of Ndigbo’s properties and investments in the West and Northern parts of the zoo called Nigeria. Has anyone or groups organized a protest against the demolition of Ndigbo’s properties in the West and North? Anyone who organized any protest against economic hardship in Biafraland will put Biafrans in danger.

“We understand that Biafrans are equally affected by the economic hardship arising from the reckless and thoughtless economic policies of Emilokon, but God Almighty Chukwu Okike Abiama is still seeing Biafrans through. We are worried about the suffering of other tribes but there is nothing we can do.

“The current situation is why Biafrans are fighting for freedom. Nevertheless, we must apply wisdom. Biafrans have gone far for Biafra restoration Independence, and it must materialize very soon. Biafrans have gone through the worst economic crisis and emerged victoriously during their planned war of annihilation against the Igbo race.”

Zamfara State chapter of the Master Bakers Association, MBA, has ordered its members to stop production of bread until it settles with the State Government over the ban on motorcycles carrying breads.

The Association refuted the claim that the motorcycle riders carrying loaves of bread were supplying bread to bandits in the forests.

The State Government had recently banned any motorcycle carrying loaves of bread, saying that they were supplying the bread to bandits operating in the State.

The Government also banned the sale of petroleum in cans, pointing out that the breads and cans of fuel were encouraging the terrorists to unleash terror attacks on residents.

Addressing newsmen in Gusau, the State Financial Secretary of the Association, Mallam Habibu explained that the union would not resume production of bread until it settled the matter with the State Government.

“We have been holding a series of meetings with the State Government to resolve the issue. I am very much sure that very soon the issue will be resolved,” he added.

The Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, has asked illegal occupants at the proposed Abuja Technology Village site, along Airport Road, to vacate the area.

Wike gave the directive when he visited the area in Abuja on Monday.

The former Rivers State governor was accompanied by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Mr Uche Nnaji.

The minister said that he would direct the Department of Development Control to issue the illegal occupants an ultimatum to leave, adding that the indigenous community in the area had been compensated since 2015.

“I am not impressed with what I am seeing. We don’t lack the political will. If you don’t take action, people will not believe that anything is possible.

“I will call the Development Control Department and give them an ultimatum for these people to leave. They have been compensated since 2015.

“I urge those who settled here illegally to know that we will not hesitate to move them out. No amount of campaign will stop us from doing the right thing,” he said.

Wike advised the management of the Abuja Technology Village to take possession of the space, fence the area and show some level of presence.

He explained that he invited Nnaji to accompany him to the site so that he could take control of the place and see how investors could come in.

Wike asked the management of the Technology Village to send him an estimate of what would be required to erect a befitting office on the site.

The Nigerian Federal Government has begun setting up the E-Gates facility at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport located in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this through his official X account following his inspection tour of the installation work underway at the international airport in Abuja on Monday.

He said the E-gates facility will be implemented at all of Nigeria’s five international airports.

“Today (Monday), I took a tour of ongoing projects. First, the E-Gates facility is currently being installed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja”, he said.

Tunji-Ojo indicated that he evaluated the implementation of the E-border data and control centre at the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters, targeting an enhancement of national security.

LeadingReporters learnt recalls that the Minister in November last year unveiled plans to implement E-gates in the Nation’s international airports by February 2024.

The National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC in collaboration with the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria, PCN have sealed off 1,321 medicine stores for operating illegally in Kano.

Mr Francis Ononiwu, the Director Investigation and Enforcement NAFDAC, made this known while addressing newsmen on Monday in Kano.

He said the joint operations took place on Saturday and Sunday February 17 and February 18.

He said the stores were located in the Malam sealed Kato Square, Niger Street and Sabon Gari Market Kano.

“The enforcement action was to ensure medical dealers relocate to Coordinated wholesale centre, CWC in Dangwauro, along Zaria Road Kano.

“This is in line with our regulatory function of enforcement and ensure that only quality drugs are in circulation.

“We need to sanitize drug distribution system in the country. If drugs are not kept in a cooling premises it degrade into poisonous substances,” Ononiwu said.

He noted that most of the medicine premises visited were operating in an unventilated environment.

“Some drugs need to be stored In a refrigerator especially life saving drugs for quality output.

“Investigation revealed that some of this medicine outlet smuggle fake, narcotics products and banned products such as analgin injection illegally.

“The use of narcotics drugs contributed to the security situation in the country.

He called on the Medicine dealers to see their relocation as the survival of public health and as part of effort to continue to fight against substandard drugs.

“Medicine dealers relocation to CWC,the regulatory bodies could easily supervise any drugs coming in to address the issue of fake and substandard drugs,” Ononiwu said.

The Mandate Secretary of the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, Mrs Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, says the Federal Capital Territory Administration has sealed off an orphanage in Karonmajigi, the Priesthood Orphanage, after 23 children, aged 1 – 14 years, trafficked from Plateau state, were rescued from the orphanage.

Benjamins-Laniyi stated this when she addressed pressmen on Monday, adding that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had authorised the Secretariat to profile and recertify orphanages operating within the nation’s capital.

“There is no question, yesterday, with immediate effect, that ‘home’ was sealed, shut down. We have the name of the proprietor of the orphanage home, but we are not naming names now for obvious reasons. When the entire material investigation is concluded, there will be an official gazetted presentation of the facts, the findings, and the delivery of this intervention we’ve started here today.

“NAPTIP, as we speak is already on it. Using this as an example, one of the first things I have done is to get approval for the recertification of orphanage homes in Abuja. The minister has approved that there will be a full thorough reprofiling of anything that has to do with orphanage and recertification status of all orphanages in Abuja,” she said.

She noted that the Women’s Secretariat was already working with the office of the Commissioner of Women Affairs of Plateau State, to reunite the children with their families, some of whom she said had been at the uncertified orphanage for five years, since 2019.

“We are working with the Plateau state government to reunite the children that I had earlier mentioned by name and by age, with their families in Plateau state. This is a transition arrangement,” she said.

The Plateau State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Caroline Dafur, narrated that the Proprietors of the orphanage home abandoned the children at the orphanage, under the care of one Pastor Abraham, in a terrible condition of hunger. Three of the children had then escaped and were discovered by officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who reported the case to the NAPTIP and took the children to the Human Rights Radio, who then notified the Plateau State government and the FCT Women’s Secretariat.

“We came in yesterday and on reaching here, we were told that they went to church. We kept going from one church to another, looking for them until we found them in a Deeper Life Church, where we were able to pick them up, and we went to the home. And we saw the place, it is not supposed to be called a home.

“The place is just so unkempt. I wonder how the children were sleeping in the small room. Nine girls were sleeping in a very small room with just two mattresses. And then for the boys, they were in a small room too, with two mattresses just on the floor. And I mean, it’s so pathetic the way human beings treat human beings in this country.”

She stated the displeasure of the Plateau state government while appreciating the Mandate Secretary for the assistance in evacuating the children, and relocating them to the Karu Children’s Home.

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company on Monday said it will disconnect electricity in the Presidential Villa and 86 Federal Government’s Ministry Department and Agencies over N47,195 billion outstanding debts as of December 2023.

Some of the affected MDAs are Chief of Defence Staff – Barracks and Military Formations owing N12bn, FCT Ministry, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of State Petroleum, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture.

Others are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Ministry of Education, CBN governor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Interior, Head ECOWAS, and Ministry of Transport, among others.

While issuing a notice of disconnection to the affected MDAs, AEDC said, “The Management of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has given a 10 days’ notice to 86 Government to pay up the N47.1bn electricity debt they owe or risk disconnection.

“The Abuja Electricity Distribution PLC is constrained to do this publication with the details of Government, Ministries, Departments and Agencies with long outstanding unpaid bills for services rendered to them through the provision of electricity supply in that our previous attempts to make them honour their obligations have not achieved the desired results.”

The firm also urged the MDAs to pay up before the disconnection time slated for Wednesday, February 28, 2024.

“The relevant MDAs are hereby given notice that the AEDC shall, after the expiration of 10 days from the date of this publication, that is, after Wednesday, February 28, 2024, embark on the disconnection of our services to them until they discharge their obligations to us by paying their debts.

LeadingReporters gathered that in 2919, The Federal Executive Council approved the inclusion of the presidential villa in the eligible customer policy to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the villa.

This was made known by Hakeem Bello, special adviser on communications to the then minister of power, Babatunde Fashola, who said the approval aimed to improve the electricity supply and distribution in the country.

According to him, the approval was made at the FEC meeting in response to a memorandum submitted by the minister seeking approval to include the presidential villa in the distribution expansion programme earlier approved by the council.

The eligible customer regulation, which was issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in mid-2017, permits electricity customers to buy power directly from the electricity generation companies (GenCos), other than distribution companies (DisCos), in line with the provisions of section 27 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005.

The programme seeks to enable unutilised 2000 megawatts (MW) from the GenCos to be distributed to targeted metered customers.

“The Ministry had earlier obtained approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) following its letter to the Bureau intimating it of the Council’s approval of the Distribution Expansion Programme with the intention of the Ministry to procure civil works that would facilitate uninterrupted power supply to the Aso Rock Villa and curb the present erratic supply of power in spite of the availability of power by the Generation Companies (GenCos),” Bello said.

“The project to be executed by Messrs Dextron Engineering Limited, has a completion period of six months under the Distribution Expansion Programme. An arrangement has also been put in place such that a GenCo, North-South Power Company Limited, will procure the dedicated supply to the Villa from the National Grid while the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has indicated interest in ensuring the success of the project.”

As the All Progressives Congress, APC, was conducting its primary election on Saturday to nominate a candidate for the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State, the news broke that one of the party’s aspirants, Dr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe, had withdrawn from the race.

LeadingReporters gathered that Umakhihe’s withdrawal brings the total number of aspirants that have withdrawn from the primary election so far to three.

Those who had earlier backed out of the race are Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Chief Lucky Imasuen, the former deputy governor of the state.

In the letter personally signed and addressed to the Edo State acting chairman of the party, Jarrett Tenebe, he said he decided to withdraw from the contest after his “latest interactions” with the party’s leadership.

The letter of withdrawal by Umakhihe, the immediate past Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, was dated February 16 and titled, “Discontinuation of My Campaign.”

Umakhihe said he took the decision because the campaign could not go on ‘under the present circumstances.’