Television Nigerian

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of failing to pay federal workers their full wage awards.
He criticized Tinubu’s decision to eliminate the petrol subsidy on his first day in office, which has buried the average Nigerian beneath the weight of inflation and hunger.
He argued that the decision to remove fuel subsidies was premature and inconsiderate, and that it has caused considerable economic hardship.

In a message posted on his X account on Sunday, Atiku accused the current administration of failing to uphold its pledge to mitigate the impact of the subsidy elimination with a temporary wage award for federal public staff.

“In an effort to handle the self-inflicted crisis, the administration offered to provide a wage award to federal civil officials as a temporary cushion until discussions on a new national minimum wage were completed.

“That promise, like many others under this government, has become a broken covenant,” he claimed.

Atiku pointed out that it took the government ten months to agree on a new minimum wage, during which time the wage award was intended to serve as a temporary remedy.

“By inference, the federal government owes federal employees 10 months in wage award arrears. Yet, just six months have been paid, and that is after a succession of unmet promises and unnecessary delays,” he stated.

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He stated that each worker is entitled ₦35,000 each month for four months, totaling ₦140,000 per individual.

Atiku applauded certain state governments for addressing labor issues appropriately, but chastised the federal government for demonstrating “callous indifference and utter disregard for workers’ welfare.”

He also decried the continued detention of Andrew Uche Emelieze, a labor activist who was jailed about two weeks ago for seeking to organize a peaceful protest against the unpaid salary awards.

“Instead of engaging in dialogue or fulfilling its promises, the government has now resorted to tyranny and suppression of free speech,” the prime minister stated.

His only ‘crime’ was advocating for workers abandoned by the state.”

Atiku demanded Emelieze’s immediate and unconditional release, describing his arrest as “an affront to democracy, a slap in the face of every Nigerian worker, and a chilling reminder of the Tinubu administration’s authoritarian drift.”

Vice President Kashim Shettima’s remark regarding presidential powers was clarified by the Presidency, but the African Democratic Congress rejected it, calling it “just an attempt at political correctness.”
The party charged that President Bola Tinubu had gone beyond constitutional bounds and undermined democracy in the state of Rivers in a statement issued on Friday.
Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC’s interim national publicity secretary and spokesperson, maintained that Shettima’s assertion on the President’s power limitations was constitutionally solid and ought to be upheld rather than modified by Villa spin.

“Political correctness must not obscure the truth. The Vice President must maintain his brave and direct declaration that the President is not constitutionally authorized to dismiss an elected council member, much less a serving governor, Abdullahi stated.

He continued by saying that the Presidency’s answer missed the mark and prioritized political concessions over upholding the constitution.

The Rivers State Governor’s suspension, which the ADC claimed was unlawful, raised concerns and warned that Nigeria’s democracy was seriously threatened.

This straightforward fact, which is rooted in the Nigerian Constitution, must not be obscured by the political correctness that is currently coming from Aso Rock, the party added.

“What made President Jonathan’s removal of an elected governor in Borno State unlawful and unconstitutional also makes President Tinubu’s removal of an elected governor in Rivers State unlawful and unconstitutional.”

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In contrast to Tinubu, the party pointed out that former President Goodluck Jonathan upheld constitutional limits even when dealing with Boko Haram attacks.

Citing Shettima’s personal experience as Governor of Borno State in 2014, the ADC remembered how the Attorney General, Mohammed Bello Adoke, and the then-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, adamantly maintained the rule that a president could not dismiss a governor on his own.

“This goes beyond history. “It is precedent,” the party said.

The ADC pleaded on President Tinubu to stop violating the constitution and to bring democracy back to Rivers State.

Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry is bucking the trend with daring billion-dollar investments in domestic manufacturing, and the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has stated that it will not tolerate any attempt to weaken its professional standards through foolish regulatory mergers.

The National Secretary, Omokhafe Ashore, FPSN, and National Chairman, Pharm. Ambrose Ezeh, MAW, DCPharm, spoke ahead of the ACPN’s 44th Annual National Conference, which will take place in Awka, Anambra State, from July 22–27. They praised Nigerian pharmaceutical manufacturers for expanding their local production capacity in spite of persistent threats like counterfeit medications and regulatory bottlenecks.

Ezeh stated in a pre-conference briefing that “despite obstacles, our pharmaceutical industry is on a growth trajectory, thanks to visionary investors building Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) plants and modern factories.” The story is being changed by businesses like Fidson Healthcare, Emzor, Codix Healthcare, and Jawa Pharm, which are increasing medicine security for our citizens and propelling the market to a $10 billion size in five years.

If the government consciously supports the pharmaceutical business, he continued, local capacity expansion from antiretroviral medications to medical consumables demonstrates that Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector can underpin health security and create jobs.

In order to achieve WHO Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, we anticipate that the government will support these investments by making equipment, raw materials, and an enabling environment more easily accessible. That is how we can leverage Africa’s Free Trade Area and boost GDP growth,” Ezeh emphasized.

But before enacting disruptive policies like MEDIPOOL, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) should involve key pharmacy practice stakeholders, the ACPN Chairman cautioned against piecemeal policy moves.

The foundation of a strong national drug policy must be strong stakeholder participation rather than top-down orders that disregard practical realities. The National Drug Distribution Guidelines must be strictly enforced, and we request that the Fake Drug Act be tightened with harsher penalties,” he stated.

The ACPN and the entire pharmacy profession strongly oppose any attempt to combine the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) with other health regulatory organizations, according to Ezeh, who was speaking about the proposed National Health Facility Regulatory Authority (NHFRA) Bill that is presently before the National Assembly.

“Practice of pharmacy is governed as a separate profession worldwide. Every country, from South Africa to Ghana, Canada to Britain, has its own independent pharmacy council to protect standards,” said Omokhafe Ashore, secretary of the ACPN.

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He clarified that a cumbersome merger that would weaken standards and make it more difficult to combat counterfeit and subpar medications would undermine the PCN’s experience, their national organization, and their WHO status as a premier national regulator.

We would only see bureaucratic uncertainty, resource waste, and a decline in professional standards if we merged with unrelated health regulators. To ensure that Nigerians have access to safe medications, the PCN must continue to be independent and dedicated, according to Ashore.

In response to media disputes with medical associations, the leadership of the ACPN charged that certain factions within the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) were impeding reforms aimed at modernizing pharmacy practice, such as the availability of PharmD recognition and a consultant cadre for pharmacists.

Since doctors receive government-funded residencies while pharmacists pay millions for specialized training, these physician groups have continuously obstructed pharmacists’ equitable advancement. Now, the government must put an end to this injustice,” Ezeh demanded.

He called on President Bola Tinubu to ensure equitable representation in leadership positions within Federal Health Institutions (FHIs) and to actively involve non-physician health workers, who make up more than 80% of the health workforce, in order to ease residual tensions.

The ACPN and affiliated unions under JOHESU will have no choice but to fight using all legal means if the federal government continues to ignore these abuses. He said, “Resistance becomes a duty when injustice becomes law.”