I have 3 children in public universities – Ngige
Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige says three of his children are in public universities in the country.
Read also: No agreement yet with ASUU – Ngige
Speaking on Arise TV on Monday, Ngige debunked claims that government officials have been foot-draggers in the ongoing negotiations with university lecturers because their children school abroad.
Read also: No hope of ending strike — ASUU
Public universities have been shut for about eight months due to the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
“I have three biological children in public schools. They are in public schools; they are not in private universities. Unlike ASUU members who have most of their children in private universities, three of mine are here. So, I am a very big stakeholder in the public tertiary school system,” Ngige said.
Read also: https://thenigerian.news/world/us-closes-schools-again-over-surge-in-covid-19/
“So, when ASUU says politicians don’t care because they have taken their children abroad, Chris Ngige cares because my children are not abroad even though they have dual nationality – two of them have American citizenship; they can be in America but I choose them to be here with me.
“So, ASUU cannot accuse me of not being nationalistic enough. Anything that will help the university system here, I am in the forefront.”
Read also: https://thenigerian.news/world/us-closes-schools-again-over-surge-in-covid-19/
FIFA bans CAF President Ahmad for five years over corruption
Cult War: Wike Imposes Two Weeks 24-Hour Curfew In Okoro-Nu-Odu
The Rivers state government on Sunday imposed a two-week, 24-hour curfew around the soon to be completed Okoro-nu-odu flyover in Obio Akpor local government area of the state, due to reported cases of incessant cult activities by some youths.
Governor Wike, who made the statement during a statewide broadcast in Port Harcourt, said the curfew takes effect from Monday.
He added that the decision became imperative after a state security council meeting and mandated security agencies to enforce the curfew and arrest defaulters.
Wike noted that all forms of trading and vehicular movement around the flyover are also prohibited.
“Again, we wish to warn that community leaders that allow cultism and related activities to thrive unabated in their communities would be treated as collaborators to the resulting crimes and dealt with accordingly,” Wike said.
“We urge all citizens to be part of the efforts to curb cultism in the State by reporting any suspicious cult activity, including gatherings and initiations in or around their neighbourhoods to the security agencies for immediate action.”
US to begin withdrawal of troops mid-January
Trump will cut US forces in Afghanistan to 2,500 from 4,500 by mid-January, the Pentagon said, seeking to wind down the US’s longest war. The withdrawal of foreign forces – Britain plans to follow the US’s lead – could mean greater scope for the Taliban to expand its influence.
The peace talks in the Qatari capital have faltered and the Taliban refuses to call a ceasefire, launching attacks that have at times prompted the US to launch air raids to protect urban areas.
But senior diplomats told Reuters that a breakthrough was expected in the peace talks after the donor conference.
“Taliban and Afghan government representatives will take a break from the peace talks after the Geneva conference but not before they have a joint declaration of agreement over key security issues,” said a senior Western official.
At the Geneva meeting, the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will present a peace and development framework meant to allocate funds to key projects, safeguard millions of jobs and protect democratic institutions.
“The conference will remain focused on making Afghanistan self-reliant by the end of its transformation decade which is 2024,” Naser Sidiqee, a senior official of the Afghan finance ministry, said in Geneva last week.
The Taliban is not invited to the conference but the armed group have urged donors to continue their humanitarian assistance while accusing Ghani’s government of pocketing the aid money.
“We request the international community and organisations to deliver aid, collected in the name of the people, to the people,” the armed group said in a statement.
UN calls for continued Afghan aid ahead of donor conference
UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi has urged the international community to remain committed to Afghanistan, calling for greater support for refugees and internally displaced people ahead of the opening of a two-day international donor conference.
The UNHCR chief said on Monday that the future of millions of Afghans depends on the outcome of peace negotiations between the Kabul government and the Taliban being held in the Qatari capital Doha and on the international community’s commitment to developing the war-torn country.
“Failure on either account would see Afghanistan slide backwards with disastrous consequences, including further displacement possibly on a large scale,” Grandi warned in a statement before the 2020 Afghanistan Conference.
Grandi’s appeal comes after his visit to the South Asian nation, which is struggling with growing violence, a US troop withdrawal and flagging peace talks pushed by the outgoing Trump administration.
Analysts say the partial US troop withdrawal the Trump administration announced this week is further weakening the Kabul government during the ongoing peace talks in Doha.
Despite a February agreement signed between Taliban and the US, violence has risen in the country, with Grandi saying nearly 300,000 Afghans who have been displaced inside the country by conflict this year remain in “acute need” of humanitarian support.
Afghanistan faces aid cut
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that some international donors are considering cutting aid to Afghanistan and imposing tighter restrictions on vital aid money amid the dual crises of war and COVID-19.
Afghanistan’s economy is set to contract by at least 5.5 percent this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, stated the World Bank in a recent report.
The nearly three million previously displaced and the nine million people who have lost their livelihoods due to the COVID-19 crisis are also in need of help.
Ministers from about 70 countries and officials from humanitarian organisations are expected to pledge billions of dollars to safeguard development projects, at the virtual conference hosted in Geneva on Monday and Tuesday.
Although the fragile economy depends heavily on foreign aid, Kabul will see cuts in donations and donors will introduce stringent political and human rights conditions on the money, five participants told the Reuters news agency.
The strategy aims to protect the peace talks and prod the Afghan government to improve allocation, they said.
Donors at the last conference, in Brussels in 2016, pledged $15.2bn for 2017 to 2020, or $3.8bn a year.
That could be cut by 15 percent to 20 percent, said a senior Western diplomat who was attending the conference.
“This is the best countries can offer amid the domestic challenge of managing a pandemic.”
Until Nigeria is led by an intellectual, recession will not end – Moghalu
Nigerian political economist, lawyer, and former presidential candidate in the last general elections, Kingsley Moghalu has said Nigeria’s economy will not be transformed until the country is led by an intellectual and competent leader.
Moghalu in a series of tweets on his Twitter page was reacting to the report of Nigeria sliding into another recession.
According to him, the report is not surprising and the COVID-19 pandemic is no excuse for Nigeria to slide into another recession.
Moghalu who also former deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday said unless the problem of leadership selection and constitution structure is addressed, Nigeria’s economy cannot create wealth for its citizens except for those with political connections.
His tweets read: “No surprise Nigeria is entering yet another recession. Until Nigeria is led by an intellectually competent leader, with visionary politics backed by sound economic thinking and knowledge, economic transformation will remain a dream. It’s for citizens to do the needful.
“Covid-19 contributed to our current recession, but is no excuse. Nigeria’s econony has been weak for several years. Was the 2016 recession caused by Covid too? The deeper problems of economic management led to our weak response to the Covid crisis.
“South Africa’s budgetary fiscal stimulus response to the crisis was $26 billion. Ours was a budgetary provision of N500 billion ($1.3 billion) and a @cenbank intervention of N1 trillion ($3 billion). And only a fraction of our desperately poor households received the 20K disbursements from the money budgeted.
“Unless we address the problem of our constitutional structure and the leadership selection problem in our politics, Nigeria’s economy simply can’t create prosperity for its citizens, only for a very few with the right political connections for rent-seeking.
#EndSARS: Lagosians groan as they wait long hours for non available BRT buses
Following the #EndSARS protests that rocked Lagos and the destruction of both public and private properties including the burning of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicles, Lagosians have been lamenting over high costs of transportation in the state.
There has been long queues and heavy traffic at makeshift bus stations coupled with inadequate vehicles to convey commuters.
A Twitter user Oseni Olanrewaju took to his handle on monday morning to post a short video on the situation with the following statement:
“While I wait for my Boss to pick me At Berger, This is the Situation at the makeshift BRT Park. When Next The Sorosoke, Drone & Dragon Geng Calls On Lagosians, We Will Think Twice. Let @mrmacaronnni @AYCOMEDIAN @SavvyRinu @PeterPsquare Come &Carry Us Now.”
While I Wait 4My Boss 2Pick Me At Berger, This's The Situation At The Makeshift BRT Park.
When Next The Sorosoke, Drone &Dragon Geng Calls On Lagosians, We Will Think Twice. Let @mrmacaronnni @AYCOMEDIAN @SavvyRinu @PeterPsquare Come &Carry Us Now.@Gidi_Traffic @TrafficChiefNG pic.twitter.com/EkBLCW2HiZ— Oseni Olanrewaju (@skinnie4life) November 23, 2020
CCTV Footage has vindicated Nigerian Army of complicity in alleged Lekki massacre – Human Rights Lawyer
A human rights lawyer, Werigbelegha Zinaka has stated that the Nigerian Army has been vindicated of any wrong doing at the Lekki Tollgate incidence. He said this in an interaction with journalists on the sides at the ongoing hearing of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution in Lagos.
The human rights lawyer who serves as an attorney for the International Human Rights Association at the panel also stated that from the CCTV footage that was analyzed, it indeed vindicates the Nigerian Army of any wrongdoing.
“The Judicial Panel of Inquiry has been very engaging with quite some revelations that indeed put issues in proper perspective. Worthy of mention is the revelation from the CCTV footage at the Lekki Tollgate that indeed explained the level of involvement of the Nigerian Army at the Lekki Tollgate.”
“All concerned parties viewed the CCTV footage, and I wish to state that it was clear that the consensus is that the Nigerian Army did not commit massacre as wildly alleged in some certain quarters in the country.”
He further stated that with the various presentations at the panel, there had not been any evidence to substantiate the fact that any life was lost at the Lekki Tollgate.
“This panel has been very meticulous in its analysis, and I can tell you that serious business is going on here. I can also say from all the submissions and reviews; there has not been any evidence to back the claims the lives were lost at the Lekki Tollgate incidence and most especially from the CCTV footage that was reviewed.”
“So it remains an illusion that the Nigerian Army committed massacre at the Lekki Tollgate. This is understandable given the role of fake news in the whole scenario. And ironically, those that were spreading all sorts from their comfort zones have refused to come to the panel to substantiate their claims.”
He further faulted the recently released report by the Cable News Network (CNN) stating that it was done in bad faith and not a reflection of the issues on the ground.
“The CNN report was highly misleading and with an ulterior motive in my candid opinion. It was obvious that the target of the report was the Nigerian Army, and it was very poor in its execution. It was more of a judgmental pronouncement than a news report, and I am not aware that CNN is an arbiter of the law. This much they must be aware of and the need for some level circumspection in analysis of issues of this nature.”
“We must call a spade a spade and understand that what the CNN attempted to do in its report was to influence the outcome of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution with regards to the involvement of the Nigerian Army. The backlash the report has received indeed says it all. And I believe that CNN must have learnt its lessons.”
It would be recalled that in the aftermath of the escalation of violence at the EndSARS protests, the Lagos State Government inaugurated a 7-member Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses in the State.
Retired Justice Doris Okuwobi chairs the panel; other members are Mr Ebun Adegboruwa, SAN (representing the Civil Society); Taiwo Lakanu, a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ms Patience Udoh, representing the Civil Society; Mr Segun Awosanya, Human Rights Activist, Mrs Olutoyin, Odusanya, Director, Citizens Mediation Center, as well as a representative of the youth-led protest and a representative of the Human Rights Commission.
Fuel price hike: NLC, TUC stage walk out from meeting with FG
Labour union representatives on Sunday showed their displeasure over what they described as “insincerity and dishonesty” of the federal government by staging a walk-out from a meeting with the fgovernment representatives, barely five minutes after it started.
The president of the Trade Union Congress, Quadri Olaleye, disclosed that on the meeting’s top agenda were the issues surrounding the hike in the price of fuel and electricity tariffs, not issues of palliatives.
In his opening remarks before the closed-door session, Olaleye accused the federal government of dishonesty, playing to the gallery and painting the organised labour in a bad light before civil servants and the public.
Representing the Nigerian Labour Congress was its deputy president, Najeem Yasin.
“This meeting is not going to be as usual,” Olaleye told journalists. “Why, because we have seen the insincerity of government and it’s putting us at risk. They are taking us for a ride, which cannot continue.
“We are in the process of discussing, for over three months now. And they made announcement increasing the fuel price again. And no other person than NNPC. When has authority been giving to NNPC to increase the price of PMS? This is unacceptable.
“The meeting agenda is not well prioritised. And because of that, we are leaving the meeting. We will not continue, we will go back to our organ, and we are going to get back to you on the next line of action.”
In attendance from the federal government were the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Petroleum, Timiprye Sylva, Minister of state for power, Goddy Agba and the Secretary to the Government, Boss Mustapha.
“We felt that the item of increase in PMS, having been listed at all as an additional item, would have satisfied everybody,” labour minister, Ngige said after the walkout.
