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Ayade finally approves the ‘appointment’ of magistrates unpaid for 2 years

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Ayade finally approves the ‘appointment’ of magistrates unpaid for 2 years

Senator Ben Ayade, the Governor of Cross River State, has finally given the formal approval for the ’employment’ of 29 protesting Magistrates into the state judiciary.

The magistrates who have been at loggerheads with the government have staged several protests demanding the payment of their arrears, but the government had claimed that their appointment was illegal and therefore they couldn’t be entitled to salaries.

But on Monday, 17th May 2018 Barrister Tanko Ashang, the Cross River State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice disclosed that the Governor has finally approved their ‘appointments’.

Barrister Ashang explained that as a result of the stamp of approval by the governor, the 29 Magistrates will subsequently be issued with appointment letters and then be added to the payroll.

He disclosed that because of this the governor had on January 26 this year made up a committee headed by the Deputy Governor, Professor Ivara Esu to look into the issue.

Barrister Ashang stated further that the committee “after rigorous sittings recommended a list of 29 magistrates for employment to the Governor and the Governor has put his stamp of approval to the list bearing the 29 magistrates.

“With this approval, appointment letters will be issued to the new magistrates and they will accordingly be payrolled,” the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice concluded.

Kaduna State Government vows to dismiss workers who join NLC protest

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Kaduna State Government vows to dismiss workers who join NLC protest

Governor Nasir El-Rufai has vowed to dismiss all the nurses and lecturers who engaged in the ongoing protest action by the National Labour Congress, NLC, in the state.

Issuing a statement signed on Tuesday, by his spokesperson, Muyiwa Adekeye, the governor said the state government would not “tolerate the brazen shutdown of electricity, attack on public infrastructure and buildings, locking up hospitals and forcefully discharging patients, unlawful trespass into public facilities and the wanton use of coercion and restraints of personal freedom by the NLC”.

Read the full statement below:

KDSG will not tolerate criminal acts disguised as industrial action

Today, the Kaduna State Government reviewed the sundry criminal actions that have defined the campaign of economic and social sabotage and lawlessness waged by the NLC.

KDSG considers as unacceptable the serial violations of the Miscellaneous Offences Act and the Trade Union Act that have occurred over the last two days. The state government commends citizens for remaining calm amidst this assault on their rights and comfort and their businesses.

However, KDSG cannot be expected to tolerate the brazen shutdown of electricity, attack on public infrastructure and buildings, locking up hospitals and forcefully discharging patients, unlawful trespass into public facilities and the wanton use of coercion and restraints of personal freedom by the NLC.

Efforts to dress up criminal activity as industrial action do not change the reality of the lawbreaking that has unfolded, including their persistently ignoring the prohibition against impeding essential services. Also, KDSG cannot ignore the illegal pressures brought to disrupt the operations of banks and other private business whose staff and customers do not have any industrial dispute with the state or any other government.

KDSG acknowledges doctors and some other categories of health workers that are trying to run public health facilities, but regrets that some nurses have joined the unlawful strike and engaged in sabotage of some of our health facilities. Nurses were implicated in the forceful discharge of patients in many health facilities.

Reports from Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital disclosed that some identified nurses disconnected the oxygen supply of a two-month old baby in an incubator on Monday, 17th May 2021. The Special Baby Care Unit (SBCU) who were involved in this despicable act have been forwarded to the Ministry of Justice to initiate prosecution for attempted murder or murder in the event we lose the baby.

In addition, KDSG has decided the following:

Ayuba Wabba and his senior confederates in the NLC are declared wanted, and will be vigorously prosecuted for violations of the Penal Code of Kaduna State, the Miscellaneous Offences and the Trade Dispute (Essential Services) Acts. They are advised to report to the Ministry of Justice and the Police Headquarters to take their statements;
The Ministry of Health will dismiss all nurses below GL 14 for going on an unlawful strike.

Salaries that could have gone to them are to be given as extraordinary occupational allowances to the health workers who are at their duty posts to fill the gap of those absconding from duty. The Ministry of Health has been directed to advertise vacancies for the immediate recruitment of new nurses to replace those dismissed;
Any academic staff of KASU that does not report for work will be dismissed.

The authorities of KASU are to submit a copy of the attendance register for all categories of staff daily to the Secretary to the State Government and the Commissioner of Education;
All MDAs are also to submit daily copies of attendance register to the Head of Service;

KDSG views the actions of the NLC as equivalent to the actions of the bandits kidnapping and menacing our citizens. Bandits illegally use arms, but the NLC is deploying mob action for exactly the same ends: trying to hold hostage the freedoms, economic interests, livelihoods and resources of the people of Kaduna State. It is a vain expectation that this government will respond differently to sets of unlawful actions that have the same ends.

KDSG will not submit its treasury to the entitled minority. We will reform and rightsize our public service to meet the needs and resources of the Kaduna State even if the NLC strikes ad infinitum. The government remains committed to using all the resources it can generate to serve the interests of the majority of its citizens, providing social services beyond paying salaries, always putting the interests of the many ahead of the few.

Signed

Muyiwa Adekeye

Special Adviser to the Governor (Media & Communication)

Naomi Campbell welcomes baby daughter at 50

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Naomi Campbell welcomes baby daughter at 50

Superstar model, Naomi Campbell has become a mom.

The 50-year-old British supermodel revealed the surprising news on Tuesday morning in a photo posted to Instagram where she’s cradling the feet of a newborn. “A beautiful little blessing has chosen me to be her mother,” she wrote.

“So honoured to have this gentle soul in my life there are no words to describe the lifelong bond that I now share with you my angel,” the caption continues. She also tagged her own mother Valerie Morris-Campbell in the photo.

The news comes nearly two years after Campbell revealed in a 2019 interview with WSJ Magazine that she wasn’t quite ready for motherhood at 49 years old. “Not yet — I’ll see what the universe brings me,” she said at the time.

Nigeria Immigration Service formally suspends issuance of new passports

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Nigeria Immigration Service formally suspends issuance of new passports

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has suspended the issuance of fresh passports between the 17th and 31st May 2021 to enable it to clear the current backlog.

This was disclosed by the Comptroller General of the Service Muhammad Babandede in Abuja at a media briefing on Innovations and Administration for Ease in Passport Issuance and Processing on Tuesday.

The directive, which took effect on May 17, was disclosed in a statement signed by the Deputy Comptroller General, AB Yarima.

The statement described the suspension as a necessary step to ease the preparation for the commencement of a new passport regime.

“This directive, which comes into effect from today, May 17, 2021, has become necessary to allow enough time to clear all backlog of applications sequel to the commencement of the new passport regime on June 1, 2021,” said the NIS.

It added, “Consequent upon the foregoing, all PCOS are therefore directed to utilise this period, May 17, 2021, to May 31, 2021, to ensure that all backlogs are produced and handed over to command comptrollers for collection by members of the public concerned.” 

All offices nationwide were advised to comply with the suspension of all applications until June 1.

Kaduna strike: Wabba dares El-Rufai; leads protest to state house

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Kaduna strike: Wabba dares El-Rufai; leads protest to state house

The Chairman of National Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, has challenged Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai to arrest him.

El-Rufai had declared the NLC boss wanted on Tuesday morning for unlawful acts while leading the 5-day warning strike in the state. He also promised a handsome reward for anyone who can lead to Wabba’s arrest.

Despite the order of arrest, Wabba defied the Governor as he led the procession of striking workers to the government house, daring the governor to arrest them.

Speaking in a short interview at NEPA roundabout while leading thousands of workers, Wabba said, “the strike was not about me.”

“Let him come and arrest me. We are here and waiting for them,” Wabba said.

The strike action has grounded activities in the state as banks, hospital, train station, airport have been shut down. The state has also been plunged into darkness as electricity workers also joined the mass action.

In Kaduna, NLC protest turned violent as armed thugs attacked workers, throwing stones at them

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In Kaduna, NLC protest turned violent as armed thugs attacked workers, throwing stones at them

The protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress on Tuesday turned violent as armed thugs attacked the workers, throwing stones at them.

The workers had converged at the popular NEPA roundabout in the Kaduna capital city to continue the day two of their protest when the thugs invaded the area and started throwing stones and other dangerous weapons at them.

Channels Television reports, that, the attack forced many of the protesters to scamper for safety – It is not known who actually sent the thugs, but the NLC Chairman, Ayuba Wabba has pointed accusing fingers at the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai.

Speaking with newsmen amid the protest, Wabba said he informed the DSS after he received earlier information of the plan to disrupt the protest.

“Today is a very sad moment in the history of democracy in Nigeria. Early in the morning today, we got credible information that El-Rufai has hired one Alhaji Hassan and some thugs to come and attack us.

“While we are here, they came but thank God we have chased them away because we have the number. We are not thugs And We Are Not Using Thugs we are Nigerian workers,” Wabba told Channels Television.

The armed thugs were dispersed by security operatives with teargas. Wabba is leading day two of the NLC protest despite being declared wanted by the Kaduna State government.

Nigeria has received the £4.2million seized from the associates of convicted former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori

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Nigeria has received the £4.2million seized from the associates of convicted former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori

Nigeria has received the £4.2million seized from the associates of convicted former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori from the United Kingdom.

This is according to the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who disclosed this on Tuesday via a statement issued by his spokesman, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu.

He confirmed that the “Federal Government of Nigeria has received GBP 4,214,017.66 of the loot associated with the family members of former Delta State Governor, James Ibori.”

According to the statement, “the amount has been credited into the designated Federal Government account with naira equivalent value of the amount as of 10th May 2021.”

Malami was said to have signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the repatriation of the Ibori loot on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The Minister said the development was a demonstration of the recognition of reputation Nigeria earns through records of management of recovered stolen Nigerian stolen in the execution of public-oriented projects.

On May 3, Malami had announced that the United Kingdom would repatriate the looted fund to Nigeria any moment from now.

He had explained that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was working tirelessly to ensure the return of looted Nigerian assets kept outside the country’s territorial boundaries, adding that that the Federal Government of Nigeria was in touch with the UK government on the matter.

“Documentations with the banks in different countries often take longer than anticipated. We anticipated two weeks but we are not in control of the banks.

“There is neither complacency nor any delay as efforts are being made to ensure successful transfer of the looted funds,” he said.

He noted that the Federal Government is working assiduously to make sure that the transfer goes through successfully.

Ogun Governor suspends aide arrested in U.S for identity theft and fraud

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Ogun Governor suspends aide arrested in U.S for identity theft and fraud

The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, has suspended his aide, Abidemi Rufai, who was arrested in the United States for an alleged $350,000 COVID-19 unemployment fraud.

According to the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary Kunle Somorin, the governor took the action immediately he was briefed about Mr Rufai’s arrest.

“Our position is that the law should take its course. “Meanwhile, the governor has ordered his immediate suspension from office to answer charges against him.” Somorin said to Premium Times.

Abidemi Rufai reportedly stole the identities of over 100 people in Washington state to funnel unemployment benefits into his own bank account from the Washington state’s Employment Security Department.

‘Explore other social messaging platforms with respectable privacy limits’ – FG warns against WhatsApp

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‘Explore other social messaging platforms with respectable privacy limits’ – FG warns against WhatsApp

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has advised Nigerians to be cautious of privacy concerns while they use the world’s most popular instant social messaging platform, WhatsApp.

NITDA expressed this worry in a press statement issued and made available to NewsWireNGR on Tuesday.

As a solution, NITDA urged Nigerians to explore other social messaging platforms with respectable privacy limits.

“The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) under Section 6 (f) of the NITDA Act 2007 wishes to provide this advisory to Nigerians to address Nigerian concerns on changes to Whatsapp Terms of Service and Privacy Policy which took effect on 15th May, 2021.

Millions of Nigerians use Whatsapp platform for business, social, educational, and other purposes. The platform is the social media platform of choice for many Nigerians,” NITDA said in the statement.

Since late 2020, WhatsApp has suffered a mass exodus of users over updates that made it collect more private data from users and share these data with Facebook, its parent company. This exodus was further triggered by allegations that Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg does not use WhatsApp over the privacy concerns.

Some of these data collected by WhatsApp and shared with Facebook as contained in the NITDA statement includes:

account information;
messages (including undelivered messages, media forwarding);
connections;
status information;
transactions and payments data;
usage and log information;
device and connection information;
location information;
cookies etc.

Other information collected by Whatsapp include:
battery level;
signal strength;
app version;
browser information;
mobile network;
connection information (including phone number, mobile operator or ISP), language and time zone;
Internet Protocol address;
device operations information;
social media identifiers.”

Because of the sensitivity of these data, NITDA advised Nigerians to explore other platforms like Signal, Telegram and others who have a respectability privacy limit when it collects data.

It said, “Nigerians may wish to note that there are other available platforms with similar functionalities which they may wish to explore. Choice of platform should consider data sharing practices, privacy, ease of use among others; and

“Limit the sharing of sensitive personal information on private messaging and social media platforms as the initial promise of privacy and security is now being overridden on the bases of business exigency.”

NDLEA expresses worry over marijuana-laced cakes as lawmaker makes a case for legalization

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NDLEA expresses worry over marijuana-laced cakes as lawmaker makes a case for legalization

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted cakes made with cannabis on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

Oyo NDLEA Commander Josephine Obi disclosed this on Tuesday in Ibadan.

“We also arrested a delivery man who was in possession of a birthday cake infused with 1.2kg of Cannabis Sativa. The continuous attempt by illicit drug traffickers to outwit anti-drug agency through evil creativity is increasing at an alarming rate in different states of the country.

“The emergence of clandestine production of drugged cookies or cakes among the youths is at an alarming rate as this was uncovered by some state commands of the NDLEA formations in the country,” said the commander.

She added, “The cookies or cakes were baked with Arizona weed, a highly psychoactive variant of the marijuana family, Rohypnol and alcohol among other ingredients such as yeast, butter, flour, sugar, milk, and chocolates.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu said the legal cultivation and export of Indian Hemp in Nigeria should be considered

Kalu said this on Monday during a press conference on the benefits and opportunities of Cannabis, in Akure, Ondo State.

According to him, the decision would be made in the country’s interests and economic growth.

He explained that countries such as South Africa and others are currently benefiting a high revenue from cannabis, which they export to other countries.

“It is worrisome that Nigeria has not made use of the financial advantage that her oil reserves can provide to generate collective investment and revenue sources.

“The coronavirus pandemic exposed our weaknesses when global oil prices fell below $0 a barrel on 20 April 2020.

“Agriculture has always been a major strength of Nigeria and cannabis provides interesting prospects.

“The crop, once harvested, has a high yield of edible proteins and fibres with over 50,000 product applications.

“Also, a verifiable market research showed that the Global Industrial Hemp Market is projected to reach USD 36 Billion by 2026.

“Nigerians must understand that we are not alone in this race to establish a lucrative medical and industrial hemp economy,” he said.

Breaking: Again, Buhari seeks new N2.342tr external loan

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Breaking: Again, Buhari seeks new N2.342tr external loan

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, urged the Senate to approve a new external loan of N2,343,387,942,848.00, about $6.183billion, for the Federal Government to finance the 2021 budget deficit.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan read Buhari’s letter of request on the floor of the Senate at plenary. Last Month, NewsWireNGR recalls that, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki had raised an alarm over the country’s rising debt profile, saying the situation is more critical now because of the huge amount borrowed to service the ailing economy.

He said,“We say remove subsidy, they say no. This April, next week again, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, the total borrowing is going to be in excess of ?15 to ?16 trillion.

“My worry is that we will wake up one day like Argentina, the naira will be ?1,000, ?2,000 and will be moving because we don’t have money coming in. You are just borrowing, borrowing and borrowing without any means or idea of how to pay back”he added.

Senate President @DrAhmadLawan reads a letter from President @MBuhari, requesting for the Resolution of the National Assembly for the implementation of the external borrowing of 2.18 billion dollars in the 2021 Appropriations Act.

And added that, the request for the approval of Donor Funded Projects under the 2018-2020 Federal Government external borrowing rolling plan.

The letter requesting for a loan at Plenary was read after Senator Hezekiah Dimka moved for the adoption of Votes and Proceedings for Thursday, 6th May, 2021. Senator Clifford Odia seconds.

More details to follow. But Nigeria’s public debt is projected to increase to 34% of GDP in 2020 from 29% in 2019 and will rise to about 36.4% in the medium term, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest report on the country.

Interest payments as a proportion of revenues for the national government, estimated at 92.6% in 2020, is projected to decline to 60.8% this year before rising to 94.1% of revenue by 2025, according to the IMF.

Osogbo youths protest EFFC raids and alleged harassment

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Osogbo youths protest EFFC raids and alleged harassment

Youths in some parts of Osogbo, the Osun state capital, on Tuesday morning marched in protest against raids and alleged harassment by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Offence Commission (EFCC).

In a video made available to NewsWireNGR, the youths were seen shouting and protesting that the operatives of the EFCC raided their Estate and were trying to tow away exotic cars at midnight.

NewsWireNGR gathered that the EFCC operatives carried out a raid within Adetunji Estate around 2.00 a.m. to arrest suspected fraudsters but they were waylaid on their way out after arresting some suspects, seizing about 20 exotic cars.

The youths in protest set bonfires around Lameco roundabout in the capital city, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The operatives reportedly had to run into safety to avoid being mobbed by the angry youths.

Confirming the incident, Osun police Command spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola said they have been trying to control the situation from further escalation.

She also disclosed that the EFCC officials did not inform the police before they started the operation in the night.

“We are aware of the situation, we are now trying to appease the protesters and clear the bonfire so that people can go about their lawful duties without fear of harassment,” she said.

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