“It is disheartening to note that students in 200, even 300 level cannot write simple letter, this has shown how poor our education standard is,” Mohammed Aliyu, chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, branch said on Monday.

Aliyu said this while addressing a news conference in Zaria, KadunaState.

The chairman blamed the decay on setbacks caused by the federal and state governments.

He said that the on-going strike embarked upon by the union was not to demand increment in salaries, but to compel the federal government to honour an agreement reached in 2009 with the union.

The agreement, according to Aliyu, is aimed at addressing the rot in the Nigerian university system and enhancing its overall efficiency.

“The agreement focuses on funding requirements for revitalisationof the Nigerian universities, federal government assistance to state universities, progressive increase in annual budgetary allocation to education to 26 per cent between 2009 and 2020 and amendment of the pension/retirement age of academics on the professional cadre from 65-70 years,” he said.

The listed other issues to include, the non injection of N100 billion intervention funds in 2012 as federal government assistance to state universities, payment of earned academic allowances, raising education budget to 26 per cent and setting up research units in companies.

He however, expressed regret that after signing the agreement, both the federal and state government developed cold feet, forcing the union to embark on a warning strike before proceeding on an indefinite action.

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Aliyu said that the union tried to avoid the present situation when it wrote to the Secretary to Government of the Federation and the Minister of Education in February, reminding them of the pending issues.

The letter, he said, highlighted outstanding issues in the 2009 agreement and the subsequent 2012 memorandum of understanding.

However, failure for both parties to reach an understanding led to the announcement of the on-going strike action on July 2, as an option of last resort.

The Nigerian Army on Monday confirmed that Hamza Al-Mustapha, the alleged killer of Kudirat Abiola who was freed last Friday by a Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos State, is still one of its own.

At a briefing by the joint security information committee, the director of Army public relations who was represented by his chief of staff, Joe Agim, a colonel, said: “With regards to Mustapha’s release, well, I want to confirm that he is still in the army”.

“The case is going to be handled by the army administratively in line with the harmonised terms and conditions of service,” he added.

Al-Mustapha was chief security officer to late General Sani Abacha, and the Lagos Court of Appeal in setting him free, upturned a death sentence passed on him by Justice Mojisola Dada, of a Lagos High Court on January 30, 2013.

The Kwara State government on Monday suspended Bisi Abidoye, the editor of the Herald, an independent newspaper in the state over what it describes as a misleading publication.
The suspension order was contained in a statement signed by the state commissioner for information and communications, TunjiMoronfoye.

According to the statement, the caption of a publication in the Herald newspaper dated July 15, which reads: “Armoured Personnel Carrier deployed to guard Mrs Jonathan’s Guest House in Bayelsa,” is utterly untrue and therefore misleading.

“The unchecked misleading caption is regarded as serious misconduct which amounted to serious negligence and dereliction of duties for which Mr Abidoye becomes liable,” it said.

Abidoye’s suspension is to commence with immediate effect and he has been directed to hand over all official documents of the newspaper in his possession to the General Manager.

The Joint Task Force, JTF, in Borno State, tagged “Operation Restore Order” has discovered a mass grave in former enclaves ofBoko Haram in Maiduguri where weapon were buried along with deceased members.

The task force found several decomposing bodies as well as assorted weapons in mass graves discovered in Nganaram, Aljajeriand Falujain Maiduguri between July 3 and 8.
The discovery was made known over the weekend in statement issued by the JTF spokesman, Sagir Musa, who said the graves were found after the insurgents were dislodged from the enclaves.

The dislodgment of the sect members also led to new insight into how they operated as a network of man holes and bunkers under houses in which they lived.

“Troops also discovered vast network mouse holes linking compounds and underground tunnels as well as bunkers under houses.”

“During the encounter, some terrorists were killed in the fire fight including the main Amir of Bulabulin Nganaram (who was on the wanted list of the JTF with a ten million naira bounty”

The JTF spokesman said that the Amir “was responsible for the killing of a teacher and three students of Sanda Karami Secondary School, Ruwan Zafi, Maiduguri.”

“Many abducted women, girls and children were rescued and handed over to their families by the Task Force,” he added.
Musa said further that “many arms and ammunition of variouscalibre buried in houses and cemeteries were recovered” adding that “decomposing corpses of those killed by the terrorists were also found in soak-away and mass graves of terrorists killed and taken away by them.”
While disclosing that men of the JTF were still combing nooks and crannies of the enclaves for hidden or buries ammunition, he urged residents of the area with useful information not to hesitate to make it available.

A Kogi High Court on Friday sacked the state and local government pension boards and the Pension Fund Management Commission.

The sack followed a suit filed by the state wing of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, NUP, against the Kogi State government and the attorney-general.

Justice Henry Olusiyi, in his judgment, faulted the composition of the boards.

Olusiyi held that the appointment and inauguration of the board members by the state government was contrary Sections 17(1) and 18(1) of the state Pension Reform Law, 2007.

The judge, therefore, declared the constitution of the boards null, void and of no effect.

He held that the 1999 Edict from which the state government derived its powers to constitute the boards had become “obsolete”.

Olusiyi said the edict ceased to exist with the promulgation of the Pension Reform Law of 2007, which inherited all its powers.

“As the law presently stands, the first defendant can only appoint a Bureau for the State Government Pension and of Local Government pursuant to Section 17(1) of the 2007 Law, the composition of which shall be as provided for by the section 18 thereof,” the court held.

The presiding judge added that “Anything done to the contrary by the first defendant is a sham and an illegality. It is null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”

In their originating summons dated April 19 supported by a 23 paragraph affidavit, the claimants challenged the composition of the boards, alleging that the appointment and inauguration of members of the two boards on December 19, 2012, contravened the law.

The union further argued that the appointees of the boards were politicians and not civil servants as provided for by the law.

It urged the court to declare the appointment of heads and members of boards null and void and of no effect.

Following the fracas that erupted at the Rivers State House of Assembly on Tuesday, an investigation panel headed by the deputy inspector-general of police in-charge of operations, Philemon Leha, has been drafted by the inspector general of police, MohammedAbubakar, to move to Port harcourt.

The panel is to investigate the circumstances surrounding the breakdown of law and order in the House, particularly as it relates to the reactions of security operatives that were physically on ground during the fracas.

Abubakar in a press release signed by the police deputy public relations officer, Frank Mba, pledged that the force will not spare anyone found guilty of breaking the law, irrespective of his status.

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He said the peace of Rivers State is paramount to the wellbeing and development of the state and that the police force requires utmost support and understanding of the people to optimally discharge its statutory responsibility.

Reports in some newspapers indicate that the Rivers State police commissioner,  Mbu Joseph Mbu, and some policemen  attached to governor Rotimi Amaechi have been invited by the panel to answer questions regarding the roles they played in the clash.

The governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, has alleged that theFulani herdsmen and their collaborators, who attack Benuecommunities, are residents of Nasarawa State.

During a peace meeting between both states held at the NasarawaState Government House, Lafia, Suawam maintained that it was obvious that the attackers were being accommodated by some communities in Nasarawa State and that the government of the state pretend not to know anything about their modes of operation.

“The truth is that we cannot pretend over these things, because the Fulani and their collaborators come from Nasarawa State and unleash attacks on Benue communities, yet we pretend that we do not see them or know anything about it,” Suswam said.

“Can over 600 people pass through a community and you claim you don’t see them?”, he questioned.

The Benue State governor warned that the people of the state were “being pushed to the wall”, and that the killings and destruction of propery must be stopped immediately.

He warned that the people of Benue State may be forced to react if there was no sincere and genuine commitment from both governments and stakeholders to arrest the trend.

Earlier, governor Tanko Al-Makura  of Nasarawa State commended the Benue State government for promptly responding to the peace meeting, noting that the present situation should not be  allowed to cause disaffection in the relationship which both states have enjoyed for over 20years.

He expressed hope that the meeting would chart a way forward towards addressing the issue of security in the region and urged delegates to make genuine input that would bring the desired peace.

The defence headquarters on Thursday authorised the restoration of GSM services in Adamawa State.

Adamawa, along with Borno and Hone states had been barred from telecommunication service since May wglhile emergency rule was proclaimed in all three in June.

In a statement signed by the director of defence information, ChrisOlukolade, the defence headquarters said “the restoration of GSM services was sequel to positive indications in the ongoing security evaluation of the situation in states affected by the state of emergency, declared by the Federal Government”.

“This development is in line with the planned phased restoration of the facility in response to the reality of the situation in the states.This measure is also in consideration of the various appeals,” the statement added.

But Yobe and Borno states still remain barred from communication services even after several passionate appeals from the governor ofYobe State, Ibrahim Gaidam, following an attack on a secondary school boarding facility in the state in which 33 lives were lost.

Gaidam said the criminals who attacked the school in Mamudo town, were sighted by people in the town some hours before the attack but could not report the suspicious movement to the Joint Task Force, JTF because there was no GSM service.

The House of Representatives had also lent its voice to the call for GSM service to be restored in the state.

However, the statement from the military headquarters in Abuja said telecom services will be restored in the other states “as soon as the evaluation indicates sufficient clearance for the release.”

Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, have rescued a three-day-old baby while carrying out a raided on Moonlight Maternity home, an illegal clinic in Enugu, where babies from unwanted pregnancies sold.

The 74-year old proprietor of the clinic, Ben Agbo, has been arrested after admitting he had been operating the clinic for over nine years, selling babies to those in need under a humanitarian service of the clinic.

Also, a nurse working with him was arrested.

The state NSCDC commander, Nathaniel Ubong, while parading the suspects, said they were arrested following a surveillance mounted by his men around the maternity home after a tip off by a patriotic citizen on the illicit activities going on at the maternity home.

Ubong said he became more curious when it was discovered that the said maternity home was not on the list of hospitals submitted to his unit by ministry of gender affairs as among those accredited for child fostering in the state.

He said his men recovered some vital documents relating to past sales of babies by the clinic under the guise of child fostering which the doctor had no authority to conduct.

Agbo told newsmen that although his clinic was not accredited to conduct child fostering, he was using it to render humanitarian services to couples who were finding it hard to produce babies of their own.

The Lagos state government has said that it will soon commence the demolition of all structurally defective buildings as soon as it concludes investigations on such structures across the state.

The state commissioner for special duties, Wale Ahmed, assured Lagos residents while inspecting a three-storey building that collapsed on Thursday in Ebute Meta.

He promised that the government will do everything possible to avert future occurrences of collapse buildings.

“Every building marked for demolition will be pulled down as soon as the agencies assigned to work on them conclude their investigations,” he added.

Ahmed  said that the state governor, Babatunde Fashola, was still awaiting recommendations from the constituted committee drafted to look into building collapse in the state.

The information officer of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in Lagos state, Ibrahim Farinloye confirmed that no fewer than seven bodies were retreaved from the collapsed building while a one year old child, three women and five men were rescued from the debris of the structure.

A motorcycle seller who is one of the occupants of the ground floor of the building, Chukwudi Ezeobi, told reporters that about 200 Honda motorcycles valued at N20 million were in his shop in the building before the incident.

Another motorcycle seller, Ambrose Aneke, said that he had about 100 cartons of motorcycle spare parts valued at about N3 million in the building.

Also speaking to reporters, the chairman, Mainland Local Government Area, Oladele Adekanye, promised that the council would contribute its quota in identifying defective buildings within its locality.

Adekanye, however, urged tenants to be vigilant while renting houses.  He said that the council would ensure that the developers of collapsed buildings are brought to book.