President Muhammadu Buhari has sent an appeal to the abductors of Greenfield University Students to also follow suit by releasing the students unconditionally.
Just as the 27 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, near Kaduna State.
According to the Presidency, the government is ever determined to ensure that Nigerians lived in a country where everyone can move where they want, when they want without the fear of kidnapping and banditry.
He welcomed the release of the 27 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, near Kaduna, congratulating their friends, families and the government and people of Kaduna State following the happy end to the saga.
This was contained in a statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, quoted the President as saying, “We are happy they have been released,”
“We express our deep appreciation to all the actors who contributed one way or the other to this happy outcome, in particular the defence and security agencies, the officials of the Ministry of Environment and the government of Kaduna State. We thank Nigerians for their prayers.”
Buhari also called for steadfastness and security awareness on the part of citizens and the law enforcement agencies and deplores the increasing politicization of security in the country by opportunistic politicians.
“The President appeals for the release of the students of the Greenfield University and all other citizens held in captivity,”the added.
The Organized Labour has rejected plans by the Federal Government to slash workers’ salary from the current 30,000 naira national minimum wage and consequential adjustment in salaries. In a statement signed by the President Nigeria Labour Congress Comrade Ayuba Wabba and made available to journalists, it described as shocking the statement credited to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who said that the Federal Government was working to reduce the high cost of governance by cutting down on the salaries of Nigerian workers. The Statement describes the planned salary slash as uncharitable, insensitive, barbaric and dehumanizing. The statement further called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the Minister Of Finance to order before it gets too late.
Ayuba said “It is most unthinkable that government would be contemplating to unilaterally slash the salaries of Nigerian workers at this time. The question to ask is “which salary is government planning to slash?” It certainly cannot be the meagre national minimum wage of N30000 which right now cannot even buy a bag of rice! The proposed slash in salaries is certainly not targeted at the minimum wage and consequential adjustment in salaries that some callous State Governors are still dragging their feet to pay!”.
He added that “It is public knowledge that the multiple devaluation of the Naira in a very short time and the prevailing high inflation rate in Nigeria has knocked out the salaries earned by Nigerian workers across board. Nigerian workers are only surviving by hair’s breadth. Indeed, Nigerian workers are miracles strutting on two legs. It is, therefore, extremely horrendous for a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to pronounce salary slash for Nigerian workers at this time”.
“This call for salary slash by Mrs. Zainab Ahmed is tantamount to a “mass suicide” wish for Nigerian workers. It is most uncharitable, most insensitive, most dehumanizing and most barbaric. Nigerian workers demand an immediate retraction and apology by the Minister of Finance. We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the Minister of Finance to order now before she sets Nigeria on fire with her careless statements”.
Ayuba added that “If there is any salary that needs serious slashing it is the humungous remuneration and allowances pocketed by political office holders in Nigeria who do very little but collect so much! Workers generate surplus value and revenue for government. We do not constitute any unnecessary cost or burden to governance! It is also important to make the point that salaries are products of contracts governed by laws. They cannot be unilaterally adjusted”.
He also stated that “While many countries of the world are increasing the salaries of their workforce, extending social security coverage for their citizens and providing all forms of palliatives to help their people through the terrible socio-economic dislocations occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be completely absurd for the Nigerian government to be thinking of salary slash. This move is not only at great odds with global best responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is also in violation of relevant ILO Conventions and Declarations on Wages and Decent Work”
The statement urge Government as a social partner to quickly respond to the demands by Labour for an upward review of salaries of all Nigerian workers.
It could be recalled that the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed recently said in Abuja at a policy dialogue on corruption and cost of governance in Nigeria organized by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission, that the Federal Government was working to reduce the high cost of governance by cutting down on workers’ salaries.
The Minister of Finance was also reported to have directed the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to immediately review the salaries of civil servants as well as the number of federal agencies in the country.
Fr. Ejike Mbaka of Adoration Ministry said the authorities of the Enugu Catholic Diocese were behind his disappearance.
Newsfocusng gathered that Mbaka’s alleged arrests triggered protest in Enugu on Wednesday leading to blocking of roads and description of Bishop residence by angry youth.
Addressing his parishioners at the Adoration ground in Enugu on Wednesday evening, Mbaka said he was summoned by the Bishop on Tuesday with a plan to keep him away from ministering for 1 month.
According to him “I was summoned by Bishop Calistus Onaga with other ministers and was told to remain indoors for one month and one of the things they presented against me was that blessed Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
“But they heard that my parishioners were worried about my whereabouts, I was asked to go out and address them in order to bring calm to the state,” he said
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Wednesday vowed to punish defaulting staff over an alleged viral video purporting an accident victim was rejected by Maitama District Hospital.
While adding that the administration had commenced a comprehensive investigation to ascertain the veracity of the said viral video on the social media.
Recall that a short video produced in hausa language, went viral on social media two days ago, suggesting that an accident victim was brought to the emergency unit of the hospital, but was rejected.
However, the Acting Secretary, FCTA Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr. Muhammed Kawu who spoke in behalf of the administration stated that the investigation over the video was to ensure that no staff jeopardises the efforts of the administration towards umbellished health services delivery.
Kawu who was in the hospital to see the accident victim George Imohimi, (45) who hails from Edo state, and a resident of Mpape hinted that the patient is recuperating.
According to him , Imohimi is currently on admission in the hospital and is also said to be recuperating, but the administration has vowed that any staff found to have exhibited any form of negligence over the matter will be sanctioned in accordance with Civil Service rules.
Kawu reiterated the commitment of the administration towards efficient healthcare service, noting that all public hospitals in the territory are bound to accept and treat accident victims before any other protocols.
His words; “FCTA is very concerned and the Minister has directed that I come here personally and observe the situation and also ensure that it is brought under control.
” Investigation is ongoing, we have seen the video and we are investigating further.
” The Administration wants to assure all Nigerians, particularly FCT residents is that all public facilities are for the public , every person has the right to go to any of this hospitals and must be attended to .
” This has been the policy and will continue to be so. The policy is that you take in accident victims and treat them before you look for police. We will let the public know what the issue is all about after the investigation. But now the patient is getting adequate attention. Any public servant that is found to have erred will be dealt according to civil service rules” , Kawu said.
Earlier, the Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. Imuentinyan Igbinovia, said that victim was actually taken into the emergency unit for proper attention, as against the message conveyed by the viral video.
Igbinovia, explained that the lady who brought the accident victim had expressed discontent over the delay in admiting the victim, but after explaining the situation to her, the disagreements with the emergency unit staff was resolved.
The MD further clarified that despite the great influx of patients into the hospital on a daily basis, the hospital management has remained committed to excellent health care services to all residents.
He also confirmed that the patient in question is receiving the best medical treatment obtainable in the hospital, and has been recuperating very well .
Igbinovia stated that , ” It was on Monday around 8pm about an hour prior then some accident victims were rushed in and staff were seeing them and I joined them. About 30 minutes later another accident victim was rushed in and the staff also went to attend to the second set of victims.
” Unfortunately there was ultercation between those that rushed the victims and the accident emergency staff, I was able to calm down the situation and also spoke to the lady who brought in the accident victim.
” Immediately after that a stretcher was brought and the victim was taken into the emergency unit. After the victim was admitted and stabilised I spoke with the Police Divisional Officer who was also around.
The lady who brought in the victim thought that our responses would have been faster, I explained the situation to her.
” To the best of our knowledge the matter has been settled. The victim is in the ward now receiving treatment and is getting better. To our surprise we saw the social media messages which we have taken in good faith. I want to assure the public that Maitama hospital is poised to take care of patients and from what you can see, there is a very large crowd that come here every day”, he said.
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) on Wednesday has accused the Presidency of scaring Nigerians with the rhetoric of subversion.
Responding to the alarm raised over the alleged attempt to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari, the Director, Publicity and Advocacy of the Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, asked the current administration to deal with the problems facing the country.
The NEF said that there was no point telling Nigerians that some unnamed citizens were plotting a forceful and undemocratic change of leadership in the country if the Presidency could not use the mechanism available to it to deal with the situation.
He challenged the Presidency to mention the plotters it claimed were recruiting some leaders of ethnic groups and the alleged ethnic groups.
According to Baba-Ahmed ; “Subversion is a crime, sedition is a crime and treason is a crime. Why is the Presidency or DSS telling us that there are people who are involved in these activities? What do they want the public to do with the information? They are failing twice; first of all, they are failing to eliminate the ground which gives these kinds of elements if they do exist, the reason to do what they are doing and then they are failing in enforcing the law.
“I can say we talk with other groups, we discuss national issues. That is our right; there is nothing illegal in that and I am sure other groups do the same thing. But when you throw this kind of blanket accusations that somebody that you haven’t told us, someone, that you are in opposition today with, you haven’t dealt with is engaging and recruiting sociocultural groups, you have to wonder are you just using words to scare citizens?”
The Governor of Edo State , Godwin Obaseki has hinted that Nigerians have no other choice than to work collectively to rescue the nation from insecurity and other challenges.
He gave this hint on Tuesday in Benin while receiving members of the South-South Zone Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by its National Vice Chairman, South-south, Chief Dan Orbih.
While identifying insecurity as one of the country’s biggest challenges, Obaseki blamed mismanagement of the nation’s economy for the worrisome trend.
According to him; “The way the ruling party has managed and mismanaged the economy of this country is the reason why we are having the level of insecurity that we are facing today. The lawlessness, indiscipline by the ruling party has brought us to where we are.
“We should not lose hope in Nigeria but focus on how to create confidence to give our people hope by managing the country well. The challenges of insecurity just show the dysfunctionality of our federal system.
“We run a federation; we have three tiers of government: Federal, State and Local Governments. Why should security be exclusive to the federal level? What happened to the other two? Until we address that structural imbalance, we are not going to be able to deal with security at its core.”
He also noted that it is only the PDP that can help the president solve the problem but not his party.
“Let us as party men and Nigerians help rescue the nation and call on those that have the capacity to rescue Nigeria. Security is local and we can rescue this nation; that is why Edo is relatively peaceful,”
“In the South-South, we must stand up to defend ourselves economically, politically and security wise. We have pretenders in the region who try to exploit the region and we must stop them.
Speaking earlier, Orbih stressed the need for the region to have its own security network to check insecurity and protect the people in the region.
“We appeal to you to lead the stand for state policing. It’s time to rejig the security architecture of Nigeria. We urge you to lend your voice to the struggle to make the country safe for all.”
The House of Representatives has revealed that annually, Nigeria loses a whopping sum of 70 million (USD) to Chinese and other European Trawlers due to illegal fishing activities in the nations waters as observed by the Nigerian Navy in 2017.
The House also resolved to bring to an end incidence of illegal fishing activities by foreign vessels on Nigeria’s territorial waters.
Meanwhile , the House at its plenary session on Wednesday mandated its committee on Agriculture and Services to investigate the matter and report back to it within 3 weeks.
The resolutions also urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to put measures in place to curb illegal fishing activities on Nigeria’s waters.
The House also urged the Federal Government to review its licensing policy that tends to favour foreign trawlers at the expense of their local counterparts and encourage indigenous investments into this agricultural sector.
While also calling on the Federal Government to prevail on the Gulf of Guinea Commission to urgently introduce a legally binding framework to check excessive fishing or overfishing in the Region
These were contained in a motion on notice brought by Hon. Patrick Ifon, who noted that “fish is one of the healthiest food on the planet as it contains nutrients such as vitamin D that is a great source of Omega–3, Folic Acid which is important for body and brain development, thereby contributing about 40% of the country’s protein intake”.
“Nigeria as a nation with large coastal area is rich in marine species, yet over half of the fish being consumed are imported from China and Netherland, thus placing Nigeria’s production of fish at 759.828 metric tons annually, according to the Report of the World Fish Centre in 2017;
“Nigeria is the 4th largest importer of fish in the world with about 2 million metric tons per annum for an estimated population of over 200 million people,” he said.
The lawmaker expressed worries that despite Nigeria non-fishing agreement and arrangements with distant nations such as China and the European Union, illegal fishing on Nigeria’s waters persists due to bilateral agreements with the nearby Country of Sao Tome and Principe.
He noted concerns raised by the Overseas Development Institute’s Report of 2018 that “illegal fishing boats from China, Netherlands and Spain operating in the Country’s territorial waters commonly transfer catches from their trawlers into container and cargo vessels on the high seas, thereby flouting quota regulations”.
“The Gulf of Guinea Commission which was established in 2001 to check issues bordering on fisheries beyond 20 nautical miles of each member nation is yet to come up with a legally binding framework to tackle illegal fishing activities
“Illegal and unregulated fishing in Nigeria’s waters undermines the economy, poses a security threat to the nation’s territorial waters, degrades the coastal communities and renders artisan fishermen redundant”, the lawmaker cautioned.
A prominent Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has revealed that the students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents, and not bandits.
He gave this revelation while speaking yesterday on a live TV programme, Gumi said Boko Haram insurgents were beginning to infiltrate bandit herders.
According to him; “Now, we have two groups of bandits. We have the ordinary Fulani ethnic herdsmen and now there is another element which is coming in; it is the terrorist, the religious idealogues and this is what I’ve been fearing,” he said.
“The issue is getting compounded because this element is coming in; Boko Haram is coming into the scene now. They are the ones that captured Greenfield students. It is not a question of sleeping. You have to act very fast.
“The infiltration is already taking place but it is not as deep and we want these herdsmen to be protected against the invasion of these terrorists.
“And the leader is from Jalingo. He is from Adamawa. He is not the local Fulani we have here. So this means that the north-eastern element is coming into this area and we have to move fast. We don’t have that luxury of time.
“I have been trying to speak with the government but nobody is really trying to listen to me or speak with me on this issue.”
Asked if he has shared the intelligence he gathered on the whereabouts of the students with security agencies, Gumi said: “Everybody knows where they are. The parents know where they are. The point is that the students are in danger, any firing will kill 19 students and that’s why there is caution.”
Gumi also called on the Kaduna State Government to pay the ransom to secure the release of the abducted students.
He argued that while N100 million is a huge sum of money, it is not too much to sacrifice for the lives of the students.
He added that the security agencies can go after the kidnappers and retrieve the money after the students have been freed.
He further stated that; “Five souls were killed. Why? What amount of money is too big for us to save the lives of those five students, what amount of money?” Gumi asked.
“Secondly, we can give them the money to get the boys out of danger then go after our money. Nobody is saying you shouldn’t find them; you can get the two back.
“To say you will not negotiate with them and also not take action against them, I cannot understand that.”
The cleric further said he and Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna governor, have had a discussion on the issue but have “parallel views” on how to handle it.
27 students abducted by bandits from Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State, have been released after close to two months in captivity.
One of the persons who received the students confirmed the news to Newsfocusng on Wednesday.
He said the release was facilitated by the Sheikh Abubakar Gumi dialogue committee with support from former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The students were among the 37 abducted almost two months ago.
After payment of ransom by parents and school management, the bandits only released 10 of the victims.
The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Tuesday announced the appointment of Angela Ellard of the United States, Anabel González of Costa Rica, Ambassador Jean-Marie Paugam of France and Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang of China as her four Deputy Directors-General.
This was contained in a statement posted on the WTO’s website, the former Nigeria finance minister reiterated her commitment to strengthening the global trade body.
The statement reads in bits; “I am very pleased to announce the appointment of four new Deputy Directors-General at the WTO. It is the first time in the history of our Organization that half of the DDGs are women.
“This underscores my commitment to strengthening our Organization with talented leaders whilst at the same time achieving gender balance in senior positions. I look forward to welcoming them to the WTO,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
Ellard (United States) has a distinguished career of service working at the US Congress as Majority and Minority Chief Trade Counsel and Staff Director. She is internationally recognised as an expert on trade and international economic policy, negotiating trade agreements and supporting multilateral solutions as part of an effective trade and development policy.
Ellard has negotiated and delivered significant bipartisan trade policy outcomes and legislation for well over 25 years with Members of US Congress and senior Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton Administration officials.
Also, Ellard worked as a lawyer in the private sector, working on trade litigation and strategy, policy and legislative issues. She obtained her Juris Doctor, cum laude from Tulane University School of Law and her Master of Arts in Public Policy also from Tulane. She is a frequent lecturer at law, graduate, and undergraduate classes and has published articles on trade law and policy.
For González (Costa Rica), she is a renowned global expert on trade, investment and economic development with a proven managerial track record in international organizations and the public sector. In government, Gonzalez served as Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica; as Director-General for International Trade Negotiations; as Director-General of the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE); and as Special Ambassador and Chief negotiator of the US-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement.
She also served at the World Bank as a Senior Director, the WTO as Director of the Agriculture and Commodities Division and as Senior Consultant with the Inter-American Development Bank. More recently, Gonzalez has worked as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She obtained her master’s degree from Georgetown University Law Center with the highest academic distinction and has published extensively on economic issues and trade.
On his part, Paugam (France) has held senior management positions in the French Government on trade, most recently as Permanent Representative of France to the WTO. He has also held a number of senior positions in the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, including as a member of the Executive Committee of the French Treasury. He has also served as Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva. He has accumulated a deep and practical knowledge of government practices on trade as well as being familiar with high-level dialogues on trade and international economic operations. He has published a number of articles on trade-related issues, in particular when serving as Senior Research Fellow on International Trade at the French Institute for International Relations (IFPRI). Paugam graduated from ENA in Paris and obtained degrees in Political Science from the Institute of Political Science in Aix-en-Provence and in Law from the Faculty of Law Aix-Marseille III.
Also, Xiangchen Zhang (China) is currently serving as Vice Minister in the Ministry of Commerce of China. He has long and extensive experience on WTO issues, international negotiations, and policy research. Ambassador Zhang served until recently as China’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and previously as Deputy Permanent Representative.
He has had an extensive career of more than 30 years in international trade, serving as Director of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation; as Director-General of the Department of WTO Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce; and as Director General of the Department of Policy Research of the Ministry of Commerce. Ambassador Zhang holds a bachelor’s degree in Law, a Master’s degree in International Relations and a PhD in International Politics from Peking University. .
