LEADERS of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Related Institutions, NASU and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, weekend gave government up till Wednesday to implement the 2009 agreement reached with unions especially university funding and the 65 years retirement age for members in the universities or face indefinite strike.
Already, the three unions had sent a letter to that effect to the Federal Government, through the Minister of Education, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Senate and House of Representatives, the Minister of Labour and other relevant government offices.
SSANU President, Comrade Samson Ugwoke and the NASU General Secretary, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, who made this position known, insisted that Wednesday was the deadline.
While Ugwoke said the unions were ready to shut down the varsities because of government’s recalcitrance, Adeyemi said the only thing that would guarantee stability and industrial peace in the universities was if members were assured of enjoying the 65 years retirement age and the bill to that effect was passed.
It would be recalled that a resolution was reached with the unions by the government on October 10 on the issue of 65 years retirement age, improvement on the funding of varsities, earned allowance and career structure for Technologists CONTISS 14 and 15, while the Implementation Monitoring Committee on the 2009 FG/NASU/SSANU/NAAT agreements is to conclude discussions and present report on November 22.
It was signed by the Minister of Education and the two permanent secretaries from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour for government while Comrades Ugwoke, Adeyemi and NAAT President, Abdulatef Jokomba signed for their respective unions. A letter by the Joint Action Committee on NAAT, NASU and SSANU was also written to the Minister of education, dated November 10 and sent to other relevant stakeholders.
Comrade Ugwoke, said: “Yes, by December we will shut down all the universities in the country. The situation is clear, because on October 10, 2011 after the seven days warning strike, we had a meeting with the Ministers of Labour and that of Education including their permanent secretaries and the leadership of the three unions, SSANU, NASU and NAAT.
“At the end of the meeting, there was an MoU signed with the three unions that by November 22, 2011, all committees must have completed discussions on the pending issues that had not been addressed and to be presented. But as I am talking to you now, government has not called us for a meeting.
“We even wrote a reminded letter urging government to know the sacrosanct of the November 22nd 2011 MOU and that after that day; we are giving them extra one week to November 30th 2011 in which we will be pushed to resume our suspended strike. To actualize this, the highest ruling body of NASU had met and deliberated on the matter, and SSANU National Executive Council would be meeting from November 30th to December 2nd 2011 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka to also discus on the matter.
He regretted that since the signing of the t 65 years retirement age for their members in 2009, they have been retiring them en masse at 60, saying, “since that agreement was signed government has continue to retire them at 60 instead of 65, allowances of our members have not been approved and universities are not paying it, funding of the university has remain a mirage. So what do we do?”
Comrade Adeyemi, said: “We had that agreement that we give government up to 22nd of November and that 22nd has passed and naturally we also had a meeting of the joint unions, that is NASU, SSANU and NAAT and we wrote another letter to the government to say we will give them up to the end of the month. I think my idea about that is not that when the month ends we will just start the strike.
“My idea about that is that because we also had some information about what is going on right now at the National Assembly.
This bill has gone through the first and the second reading, so it shows clearly that some measures of actions is going on but if by 30th we meet and we find out that we are not sufficiently encouraged by what has happened, of course it is a suspended strike, we will have no option than to reinstate the strike.
That is the position; it is as straight forward as that. We will review the situation by 30th and if we are convinced that there is a need for us to start a strike we will resume the strike.”
Monday 28 November 2011
Tribunal to proceed with Akunyili/Ngige suit
The tribunal headed by Justice Pat Onajite-Kuejubola said it would proceed with the petition filed Akunyili of the All Progressives Grand Alliance against the election of Ngige of the Action Congress of Nigeria.
Akunyili's lawyer had applied for an extension of time for the trial by 180 days following an order by the Court of Appeal that the tribunal should reopen the matter. But Ngige and the ACN opposed the request, saying the statutory 180 days given for the trial of petitions had expired.
The petition was initially dismissed because Akunyili did not file Form TF 008 that was necessary for the pre-trial.
But the tribunal said the 180 days began the day the petition was relisted at the tribunal
Scholarship for 50 lawyers for training on oil spillage
THE Federal Government has granted 50 legal practitioners free scholarship into the Institute for Oil and Gas Law in Abuja, with a view to enhancing their knowledge on oil spillage litigation.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello, SAN, who is facilitating the training, said the lawyers were drawn from the Ministries of Justice in the 36 states and FCT, adding that additional slots were accorded oil-producing states of the Niger Delta.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, weekend, President of Institute for Oil and Gas Law, Mr Niyi Daniels, who made the disclosure, said the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, and chairman of the constitution review committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan, Justice Alfa Belgore, will flag off the training programme today.
He maintained that, “realizing the significance that petroleum plays in shaping the economic and political destiny of the country, the AGF decided to develop the capacity of lawyers in his ministry to ensure that they are legally competent to give the best legal advise on oil and gas matters to government.”
According to him, upon graduation, the benefiting lawyers will henceforth assist the federal government in signing Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with multi-national companies involved in oil exploration in the country, as well as, sue any of them found to have jeopardized the living condition of their host communities.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello, SAN, who is facilitating the training, said the lawyers were drawn from the Ministries of Justice in the 36 states and FCT, adding that additional slots were accorded oil-producing states of the Niger Delta.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, weekend, President of Institute for Oil and Gas Law, Mr Niyi Daniels, who made the disclosure, said the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, and chairman of the constitution review committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan, Justice Alfa Belgore, will flag off the training programme today.
He maintained that, “realizing the significance that petroleum plays in shaping the economic and political destiny of the country, the AGF decided to develop the capacity of lawyers in his ministry to ensure that they are legally competent to give the best legal advise on oil and gas matters to government.”
According to him, upon graduation, the benefiting lawyers will henceforth assist the federal government in signing Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with multi-national companies involved in oil exploration in the country, as well as, sue any of them found to have jeopardized the living condition of their host communities.
OOU’s survival threatened – ASUU
OLABISI Onabanjo University, OOU, chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has said the inability of the institution to fill its admission quota for last year is a threat to the school’s survival, saying prospective students are shunning the institution.
Chairman of the institution’s ASUU, Dr. Adesola Nasir Adesola, who at a briefing blamed the allegation that most of the certificates issued by the school are not genuine to the problem facing the school, fingered the last government of the state and the governing council it constituted for crisis of confidence rocking the institution.
He warned that the looming nationwide ASUU strike over the Federal Government failure to implement the 2009 agreement would compound the situation of the OOU as it was still battling to fill the admission quota given to it by National Universities Commission (NUC) for the 2010 admission.
According to him, “this year, we are still struggling to fill our quota. It is saddening if we remember that OOU used to be over- subscribed just three years ago. The quota went down, two years ago. The university’s governing council constituted by the last government of Ogun state unleashed terror on both staff and students of this university, such that over 150 lecturers were sacked without recourse to due process.
“The most worrisome is that the past governing council published in the newspapers that most of the certificates carried by OOU graduates cannot be trusted claiming that the certificates are fake. All the students and those that have graduated are carrying the stigma.
“So, parents have read those things and why will a parent brings his child to a place where they said, their certificates cannot be trusted. The other one is shortage of lecturers, shortage of staff, whenever exams are concluded; it takes many weeks or months to compute results.
Chairman of the institution’s ASUU, Dr. Adesola Nasir Adesola, who at a briefing blamed the allegation that most of the certificates issued by the school are not genuine to the problem facing the school, fingered the last government of the state and the governing council it constituted for crisis of confidence rocking the institution.
He warned that the looming nationwide ASUU strike over the Federal Government failure to implement the 2009 agreement would compound the situation of the OOU as it was still battling to fill the admission quota given to it by National Universities Commission (NUC) for the 2010 admission.
According to him, “this year, we are still struggling to fill our quota. It is saddening if we remember that OOU used to be over- subscribed just three years ago. The quota went down, two years ago. The university’s governing council constituted by the last government of Ogun state unleashed terror on both staff and students of this university, such that over 150 lecturers were sacked without recourse to due process.
“The most worrisome is that the past governing council published in the newspapers that most of the certificates carried by OOU graduates cannot be trusted claiming that the certificates are fake. All the students and those that have graduated are carrying the stigma.
“So, parents have read those things and why will a parent brings his child to a place where they said, their certificates cannot be trusted. The other one is shortage of lecturers, shortage of staff, whenever exams are concluded; it takes many weeks or months to compute results.
kidnapping: Final year Law Student bags 19 years jail
A final year law student of University of Benin (Uniben), Chima Anthony Akpalaba was, Monday, sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for his involvement in the kidnap of a seven-year old daughter of the Chief Account, Government House Asaba sometime in February 2009.
An Asaba high court presided over by Justice T.C. Makwe handed down the sentence when the accused person pleaded guilty to the offence when the 5th prosecution witness was testifying.
He bagged five years imprisonment for conspiracy to commit kidnapping; five years for kidnapping; another five years for child stealing, two years for demanding property with menances and two years belong a secret cult group, thereby totaling nineteen years. The sentence would however run con-currently.
The convicted law student, according to prosecution, had in conspiracy with others at large “on the 12th day of February 2009 at number 13 Isiayei Drive, Infant Jesus layout Asaba with Asaba judicial division with intent to deprive Charles Isiaye, the father of Tare Isiaye, female , a child of 7 years of the possession of the said Tare Isiaye forcibly took her away and detained her”.
The convict along with his co-travellers in crime had demand for N150 million ransom from the father of the girl but was arrested at a hideout in Okpanam by men of the State Security Service SSS.
An Asaba high court presided over by Justice T.C. Makwe handed down the sentence when the accused person pleaded guilty to the offence when the 5th prosecution witness was testifying.
He bagged five years imprisonment for conspiracy to commit kidnapping; five years for kidnapping; another five years for child stealing, two years for demanding property with menances and two years belong a secret cult group, thereby totaling nineteen years. The sentence would however run con-currently.
The convicted law student, according to prosecution, had in conspiracy with others at large “on the 12th day of February 2009 at number 13 Isiayei Drive, Infant Jesus layout Asaba with Asaba judicial division with intent to deprive Charles Isiaye, the father of Tare Isiaye, female , a child of 7 years of the possession of the said Tare Isiaye forcibly took her away and detained her”.
The convict along with his co-travellers in crime had demand for N150 million ransom from the father of the girl but was arrested at a hideout in Okpanam by men of the State Security Service SSS.
Friday 18 November 2011
Boko Haram makes world terrorists list
Anti-terrorism experts met yesterday under aegis of the Global Counterterrorism Forum to discuss ways of preventing the financing of armed militant groups, focussing on north Africa’s Sahel desert region. Intrestingly, Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for series of bombings in Nigeria was one of the groups discussed by the experts. Manuel Lopez Blanco, coordinator for European Union strategy on the Sahel, said Al-Qaeda’s north African branch, known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Boko Haram had a shared agenda and probably cooperated in training and operational tactics.
Experts from about 30 countries participated in the two-day forum, which was co-sponsored by Turkey and the United States. The closed meetings were chaired by Algeria and Canada. The Global Counterterrorism Forum is coordinated by Daniel Benjamin, an ambassador-at-large for the United States State Department. The forum held an initial meeting in Washington, where members of its justice group and special prosecutors convened two weeks ago.
Yesterday’s talks concentrated on the influence of (AQIM) one expert speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP. AQIM, with an estimated 400 members, exploits the weakness of Sahel states such as Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger and operates freely on those countries’ terrain, the expert said.
He called for a global strategy in tackling the problems that can foment extremism, such as poverty and lagging development. The Sahel is an eight-million-square-kilometre (3.1-million-square-mile) area on the edge of the Sahara desert shared by several countries. Delegates at the forum in the Algiers suburbs also spoke about the financing of terrorism, the expert said. Algeria, like the United States and other countries, reiterated the danger of kidnapping for ransom. The issue resurfaced recently with the October 23 snatching of two Spaniards and an Italian in southwestern Algeria.
Much of the forum centred on Libya, whose new government sent a representative to the conference.
Experts were concerned about the fate of the nomadic Tuareg people, who supported Moamer Gadhafi’s regime then returned to the Sahel after his overthrow in recent months.
Experts from about 30 countries participated in the two-day forum, which was co-sponsored by Turkey and the United States. The closed meetings were chaired by Algeria and Canada. The Global Counterterrorism Forum is coordinated by Daniel Benjamin, an ambassador-at-large for the United States State Department. The forum held an initial meeting in Washington, where members of its justice group and special prosecutors convened two weeks ago.
Yesterday’s talks concentrated on the influence of (AQIM) one expert speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP. AQIM, with an estimated 400 members, exploits the weakness of Sahel states such as Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger and operates freely on those countries’ terrain, the expert said.
He called for a global strategy in tackling the problems that can foment extremism, such as poverty and lagging development. The Sahel is an eight-million-square-kilometre (3.1-million-square-mile) area on the edge of the Sahara desert shared by several countries. Delegates at the forum in the Algiers suburbs also spoke about the financing of terrorism, the expert said. Algeria, like the United States and other countries, reiterated the danger of kidnapping for ransom. The issue resurfaced recently with the October 23 snatching of two Spaniards and an Italian in southwestern Algeria.
Much of the forum centred on Libya, whose new government sent a representative to the conference.
Experts were concerned about the fate of the nomadic Tuareg people, who supported Moamer Gadhafi’s regime then returned to the Sahel after his overthrow in recent months.
Arms, ammunition seized at Lagos airport
According to Customs Area Comptroller, MMIA Command, Michael Adewole, the inventory of the abandoned arms and ammunition include six double barrels, one single barrel, one pump action, one Uzzi, two magazines, one barretta pistol as well as one becheverria pistol.
Adewole listed the ammunition to include 20 pieces of 5.56 mm calibre, 19 cartridges, 12/12, 500 pieces of blank Armour and a sealed box of cartridges.
He listed the servicing accessories to include four pieces of pull trough, two brushes, oil rifle bag as well as a sling colt belt.
He said investigation had begun with sole aim of unraveling those behind the illicit arms deal.
Adewole added that the seized items were ranked as prohibited items that would not be allowed into the country, except by government security agencies. The MMIA comptroller said his command security received information that some unidentified persons abandoned arms at the strong room of NAHCO and immediately went to seize the cache.
He said the customs decided to carry out the exercise as part of its mandate at improving security around the airport, even as its officials would not fold their arms and allow such dangerous weapons get into town in view of the security situation in some parts, which had become flash points.
Security agencies around the airport including the State Security Services, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Air Force and Nigeria Intelligence Agency have been carrying out surveillance activities around the airport to nib in the bud any attempt to breach the peace
EFCC files 27 additional charges against Daniel On November 28, 2011
The former governor also pleaded not guilty to allegations of false declaration of assets.
At the resumed hearing in the case, Counsel to EFCC, Mr Rotitmi Jacobs, who had on Nov. 17 told the court that the commission was willing to add more to the charges, notified the court of additional 27 new charges.
He told the court that he was ready to open the case, commence trial and prove the 43 charges against the former governor.
In his reaction, Counsel to the accused, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, acknowledged receipt of the additional charges, but pleaded with the court to grant him more time to discuss the new charges with his client before trial could commence.
He cited Sections 268 and 263 of the Criminal Code Panel and 36 (6) Paragraph B of the 1999 Constitution to support his request.
“The accused person has the right to study the charges before trial can commence. It took the EFCC 30 days to file the charges, so we are also asking for time.”
Osipitan argued that the additional charges were lengthy and in two volumes, saying that time would be required to adequately prepare the defence and discuss with his clients.
Opposing his submission, Jacobs said the lengthy nature of the amended charges was not sufficient to seek for an adjournment.
He relied on sections 163 and 164 of the 1999 Constitution to argue his case, but said he would leave the decision to the discretion of the court.
In his ruling, Justice Olanrewaju Mabekoje adjourned the matter till Jan. 19 and Jan. 20, 2012 for commencement of trial. (NAN)
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