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ASUU May Soon Call Off Strike Action

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ASUU May Soon Call Off Strike Action

Hours after the end of a marathon meeting, between members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, in Minna, Niger state, which lasted the whole of Monday, there are indication that lecturers might soon call off their nationwide strike action.

Although details of the outcome of the meeting are not out yet, feelers indicate that the union might have agreed to end the strike as long as government sticks to agreements recently reached with it.

The chairman of the union in University of Lagos, Karo Ogbinaka told Channels Television early Tuesday morning that another congress meeting would be held with the different chapters of ASUU on Wednesday to inform members and managements of the institutions of the latest development, in line with procedures, before a call-off is announced.

“We expect the students to resume and expect their members to go back to class immediately after the congress meeting and we expect the government to keep to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU),” Ogninaka stated.

Monday’s meeting which had in attendance all the ASUU branch chairmen and secretaries, the national executive members of the body, coordinators and past leaders, reportedly took place at the senate building of the Federal University of Technology, FUT, Minna.

The gathering which was held away from the prying eyes of the media was to discuss the new Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with the federal government last Wednesday and to reach a consensus on when the strike should be called-off and how to make up for the lost time for students.

An average semester in Nigeria Universities lasts four months, meaning that for a strike that has lasted over five months, a semester’s academic work load will have to be fitted into next year’s academic calendar to allow students graduate at the stipulated time.

The Federal Government and ASUU had reached a compromise during a negotiation brokered by the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Abdulwaheed Omar last Wednesday, which led to the signing of the MoU.

The agreement was reached barely 24 hours after the special assistant to the President on public affairs, Doyin Okupe presented a proof of payment of N200 billion into an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria for the union.

Magistrate Court Orders Exhumation Of Four Bodies For Autopsy

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Magistrate Court Orders Exhumation Of Four Bodies For Autopsy

From Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

A Coroner Court in Benin City, has ordered that the bodies of one Samuel Imaikop, along with three labourers who were shot dead by the police on November 24 at the Benin By-Pass, Edo State, be exhumed and an autopsy be carried out on them to establish the cause of death.

The Magistrate, F.E.N. Igbinosa, who presided over the matter expressed displeasure at the refusal of the state Commissioner of police, Foluso Adebanjo to respond to the summon of the court which was served on December 12.

He ordered the police to make the bodies available for the autopsy, by way of showing the location of the burial of the corpses, adding that full medical reports of the autopsy must be made available to the court when it resumes sitting on the December 24, 2013.

The four victims were allegedly murdered by the Police who tagged them as armed robbers, but dissatisfied with this explanation, Imaikop’s family members and civil society groups had proceeded to the court to ascertain the veracity of the tale surrounding the death of the deceased.

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Counsel to the complainants, B.A. Iluobe, expressed dismay that the Police was not represented at the hearing even though he personally ensured that the summons was served on the police at the Edo State Police headquarters in Benin.

“I served the application immediately it was presented. We went with them to the police to ensure they were properly served. It is my supposition that the purpose of service is for the parties to be informed of cases against them in court, the days and time. If a party decides to abandon his case and refuse to come to court, that is a clear case of arrogance, they are not ready to defend, they don’t have a defense,” Iluobe said.

However, the Prosecutor, Ada Johnbull, an Inspector, rose in defence of the Commissioner of Police, pleading with the Court to adjourn the matter to allow the police get proper perusal of the summons and respond appropriately.

UNIBEN Emerges Centre For Reproductive Health In West Africa

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UNIBEN Emerges Centre For Reproductive Health In West Africa

From Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

The University of Benin, UNIBEN, has received a grant from the World Bank to serve as Centre for Research for Reproductive Health Initiative, CERHI, in the West African sub region.

The university is to partner with seven universities across West Africa to give training in Reproductive Health, safe motherhood, family planning information and services, adolescent reproductive health prevention and treatment of infertility and sexual dysfunction.

The seven named institutions are University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ghana, Nigerian of Medical Research, Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research, Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Technology, Ghana.

The universities have pledged their support towards the project and the vice chancellor of the UNIBEN, Osayuiki Oshodin, has said that the grant would be used to strengthen research in reproductive health in the sub region.

Representative of the National University Commission, Eugene Okpere, also promised that the NUC would support the take off of the centre, challenging UNIBEN and the partnering institutions to impact positively on the nation’s health sector through the programme.

Ajudua To Face Trial for Defrauding Ishaya Bamaiyi of $8 Million

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Ajudua To Face Trial for Defrauding Ishaya Bamaiyi of $8 Million

A fresh bid by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to arraign Fred Ajudua before a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja for a $8.39m scam, was postponed due to the failure of the accused to appear in court.

Ajudua’s counsel, Richard Ahoharuogba, told the court Monday that his client only became aware of the fresh 13-count charge on Saturday and could not attend the court session because “he is still seriously ill.”

Following his request for the adjournment of the case to enable Ajudua appear in court, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye postponed the matter till February 12, 2004.

Ipaye ordered that a warrant of production be served on the prison authority where Ajudua is being detained to enable him appear at the next adjourned date.

The accused is charged with offences that border on conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence.

EFCC counsel, Seidu Atteh, told the court that Ajudua, alongside others who are still at large, defrauded a former Chief of Army Staff, Ishaya Bamaiyi, a retired lieutenant general, of about $8.395million while in detention at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, Lagos between November 2004 and June 2005.

Other suspects involved in the scam and who are on the run are Alumile Adedeji (a.k.a Ade Bendel), Hamabon William and one Kenneth.

Atteh told the court that Ajudua and his accomplices fraudulently collected the money from Bamaiyi in instalments, claiming that the payments represented the professional fees charged by Afe Babalola, to handle his case in court and facilitate his release from prison.

Ajudua claimed that $1million out of the money collected from Bamaiyi would be used to assist Justice Olubunmi Oyewole offset the payment of the hospital bill of his father who, he falsely claimed, was on admission at the Saint Nicholas Hospital in Lagos, for an undisclosed ailment.

Justice Oyewole was presiding over Bamaiyi’s case in court at the time.

Ajudua and one Charles Orie are already facing trial at the Lagos High Court for allegedly defrauding two Dutch businessmen, Remy Cina and Pierre Vijgen of $1.69million.

EFCC Is Broke – Secretary

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EFCC Is Broke – Secretary

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday in Abuja said it urgently needs capital injection for its continued operations as it currently has less than N2 million in its account.

The secretary of the Board of EFCC, Emmanuel Aremo, disclosed this at the public hearing on the Bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency, NFIA.

Aremo said the poor financial position of EFCC was made known to the Senate committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes during an oversight visit.

“If we can pay salary this month, that is all. That is the position under which we operate,” Aremo said.

Speaking against the bill, Aremo argued that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU in the EFCC was discharging its responsibility efficiently without complaints from financial institutions, adding that if granted autonomy, the NFIU would become exposed to desperate politicians capable of securing court injunctions to frustrate its operations.

“All the NFIU needs is adequate funding to continue its work. This NFIA Bill is unnecessary and should be jettisoned,” he said.

However, the director, Legal Services, Central Bank of Nigeria, Amusa Ogundana, who represented the CBN Governor, said the apex bank supported the establishment of NFIA.

Ogundana, however, suggested that some portions of the NFIA Bill should be deleted because it imposed supervisory and regulatory functions on the agency.

“CBN is wholeheartedly in support of having this bill sail through. We believe it will strengthen the administrative and operational performance of the agency,” he said.

Also contributing to the debate, the representative of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Joseph Sunday, said the NFIU lacked legal status.

Sunday, who is NDLEA’s director of prosecution services, said his agency supported the bill because it would empower the NFIU to effectively disseminate financial intelligence to law enforcement agencies.

Representative of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, Blessing Egbefor, said the bill, when passed into law, would strengthen the fight against financial crimes.

“NAPTIP supports the bill, so that theNFIU can discharge its administrative and operational functions with greater autonomy,” she said.

The Nigeria Police Force, NPF, the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Department of State Services, DSS, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, were among other agencies that supported the bill.

Earlier, chairman, Senate committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Victor Lar, urged the stakeholders to ensure that their inputs were in the national interest.

“In the National Assembly, we are driven only by national interest and considerations. Not individual and parochial interests. You should make contributions that would serve the national interest,” he said.

The bill seeks to establish a national agency that would receive information from financial institutions for the purpose of turning such information into financial intelligence.

The agency would then analyse, assess and disseminate the financial intelligence reports to all law enforcement agencies.

Nasarawa Privatises Two State-Owned Companies

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Nasarawa Privatises Two State-Owned Companies

CAPTION: Commissioner for commerce, Emmanuel Brass Yaji, MD NIPDC, Daniel Agzegana and one of the investors.

By Godwin Ojoshimite

The Nasarawa state government has announced the privatisation of two companies – the Nasara Fertilizer Blending Company, Lafia and the Nasara Sacks & Packaging Company, Akwanga.

The handover of the firms to the new owners was done by the Nasarawa Investment and Property Development Company, NIPDC, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday.

Commissioner for commerce and industry, Emmanuel Brass Yaji, said during the ceremony in Lafia, that the privatisation was to create employment for the teaming youths of the state, as well as boost its internally generated revenue.

He therefore charged the investors, Agtho Merchant and Company Limited, Abuja, and the Young Plastic Enterprises Limited, Kano, to be proactive and transparent in their dealings and keep to their part of the agreement.

In his response, the general manager of the Young Plastic Enterprise Limited, Kano, Saidu Tillam, said his company hopes to commence work immediately, in order to meet up with its own part of the deal.

Earlier, the managing director of NIPDC, Daniel Agzegana, said out of the three companies mapped out for leasing by the state government, itdecided to lease two companies as a pilot scheme, adding that the remaining company will be leased after the first quarter of 2014.

Patience Jonathan Congratulates Chilian President Elect

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Patience Jonathan Congratulates Chilian President Elect

The Nigerian First Lady, Patience Jonathan, has congratulated Michelle Bachelet, who has re-emerged President of Chile for the second time,for her resounding victory, saying it is a representation of the aspirations of women, and a demonstration of the woman’s capability to be equal partners in global developmental efforts.

“I want to commend the President of Chile for her advocacy in the areas of gender equality and women empowerment,” Jonathan said.

Bachelet was guest of the First Lady in January when she was on a working visit to Nigeria as the Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women.

Chile’s first female President, Bachelet, won the poll after clinching 62.3 percent of votes according to election officials in Sunday’s presidential runoff.

Her conservative Independent Democratic Union party opponent, Evelyn Matthei, garnered 37.7 percent of votes and has conceded the election.

In her victory speech, Bachelet promised to improve education and work for equality.

“Thanks to the millions of people who, today, have demonstrated with their vote that they believe in me — just like I believe in you,” she said.

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Bachelet, who is to take over from President Sebastian Pinera in March next year, was also the first woman to head the country’s Defence Ministry.

She ruled between 2006-2010 and left office with high approval ratings.

In 2010, she was appointed to head U.N. Women, a United Nations agency created to promote gender equality around the world.

Delta Police Command Mourns Death Of Its PPRO

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Delta Police Command Mourns Death Of Its PPRO

The premises of the Delta Police Command in Asaba on Monday wore a mournful look over the sudden death of the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Lucky Uyabeme, an assistant superintendent of Police.

The Commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu Aduba, who was represented by the deputy superindent of Police, Charles Muka, the acting PPRO, told newsmen in Asaba that Uyabeme died in a lone auto-crash at Ogwashi-Uku on Sunday.

“Uyabeme died in his Toyota Highlander Jeep at Ogwashi-Uku on Sunday, December 15, at about 3.30 p.m. on his way to Asaba from Kwale in the state,” Aduba said.

He noted that the Highlander Jeep somersaulted many times, threw out the occupants, caught fire and was completely burnt.

The commissioner said that Uyabeme’s body had been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre Asaba’s morgue, while the other victims were responding to treatment at the same hospital.

“The late PPRO will be remembered for his humility, loyalty, gentle disposition, diligence and dedication to duty,” Aduba said.

Uyabeme assumed the position of PPRO in April this year.

Mandela Goes Home

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Mandela Goes Home

South Africa’s first black President, Nelson Mandela, has been buried in his country home of Qunu, 700 kilometres from south of Johannesburg, in an unprecedentedly grand military style.

It is the first time the country would be burying a former President.

Mandela’s flag-covered coffin was borne by gun carriage and military pallbearers for the short trip from the huge tent at the family’s compound to the grave site restricted to only 450 mourners, with Mandela’s grandson and heir, Mandla, and South African President Jacob Zuma trailing behind.

It was then placed on black and white Nguni cattle skins in front of a crescent of 95 candles, one for each year of Mandela’s life, as a choir sang Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, the national anthem adopted after the end of apartheid in 1994.

After a brief  ceremony and a flyover by military helicopters, Mandela was lowered into the earth, just as 21-gun salutes were fired into the air.

Over 4,000 family members, friends, heads of state and former heads of state, traditional leaders and foreign dignitaries were present to watch the historic event, including veterans of the military wing of the African National Congress, ANC, the liberation movement that became the dominant political force after the end of apartheid.

Britain’s Prince Charles, Monaco’s Prince Albert II, U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, American civil rights activist, Jesse Jackson, black American TV host, Oprah Winfrey, billionaire businessman, Richard Branson, and former Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, were also there.

Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, and his second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, were dressed in black and sat on either side of President Zuma.

Earlier, Zuma delivered an eulogy in honour of Mandela.

“Today marks the end of an extraordinary journey that began 95 years ago…Your long walk to freedom has ended, our own journey continues. We have to take your legacy forward. We draw lessons from your rich life. We remember you as a man of integrity,” he said.

Continuing, he added: “You offered hope in the place of hopelessness. Gender equality gained seriousness under your presidency. We dare not reverse your achievements in this regard. As your journey ends, ours must continue. SA will continue to rise. Today we undertake to take forward your promotion of an improved material life for all. We pledge to take your vision forward.”

Southern African Development Community chairperson and Malawian president, Joyce Banda, in her speech said she was  amazed with Mandela’s “humility and the great sense of leadership… I was inspired by this great leader who was focused, calm and collected,” adding that his death is an “irreplaceable loss”.

The anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned alongside Mandela on Robben Island, Ahmed Kathrada, also bade farewell to a man he described as a dear brother, a mentor and a leader.

Mandela’s granddaughter Nandi Mandela said: “Go well Madiba. Go well to the land of our ancestors, you have run your race.”

She added: ‘We will carry lessons you taught us throughout our lives. As South Africans we must stop pointing fingers, but must rather lead by example, as you did.”

Mandela was 95 years old when he died on December 5 from a protracted lung infection.

Abducted Couple Released After Getting Two Fingers Chopped

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Abducted Couple Released After Getting Two Fingers Chopped

From Jessica Tamaradoute, Asaba

A retired army Major, Azum Asoya and his 55-year-old wife, Elizabeth, who were abducted on November 30 in Delta State, were set free Sunday with both having a finger less as proof of the ordeal they suffered.

It would be recalled that their mean kidnappers had sent two fingers to their family on Friday, after several days of negotiations failed to yield the desired compliance, but the state police had said it doubted the fingers belonged to the couple and was probably from dead people.

The couple was reportedly dropped in Otulu, Aniocha North local government area of the state and are currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital for their chopped of fingers and high blood pressure.

A family source who wants to be anonymous said the couple was severely beaten and their injured hands treated with urine.

The source said the family was able to raise N5 million, which is N4 million short of the negotiated sum, for the freedom of the couple when it became clear that their abductors were heartless and that the Police had no clue to securing their safe release.

The kidnappers initially demanded for N30 million.

The Delta state police command, public relations officer, Lucky Uyabeme, confirmed the release of the pair but said no ransom was paid to the abductors.

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