Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has faulted the assertion by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is not a registered trade union.
In a statement issued on Thursday by NLC President Ayuba Wabba, the Congress said that contrary to the position expressed by the Head of Service
ASUU is a trade union affiliated to the NLC.
NLC quoted Yemi Esan as having said at a Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council Meeting, that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is not a trade union.
“We find this claim as a misrepresentation of facts.
For the purpose of setting the records straight, the Nigeria Labour Congress wishes to disclaim the misleading statement by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the status of ASUU as an organisation.
“The Academic Staff Union of Universities formed in 1978 was a successor body to the Nigerian Association of University Teachers formed in 1965. Since its formation, ASUU is a trade union affiliated to the NLC,” he said.
Wabba said that the founding President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu currently serves as one of the National Trustees of ASUU.
According to him, the history of ASUU as a trade union has been that of struggles.
He said the persistent demand and activism by ASUU for wage and social justice has seen the union and its members come under very heavy shellacking by successive governments in Nigeria.
“We implore the ASUU which has been the intellectual backbone of Organized Labour and workers in Nigeria to ignore the disparaging claims by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation”.
“Yemi-Esan is not well informed of the claims she made as she is not a competent authority to assert on trade union registration and indeed ancillary trade union concerns in Nigeria. We also urge Nigerian workers and other well-meaning members of the public to ignore her comments,” he added.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) has set up a 16-man ministerial committee to upscale and develop a standard curriculum for all its training schools across the country to boost staff capacity and meet global best standards.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, while inaugurating the committee in Abuja, said the federal government would continue to support the Corps because it is aware that the training and retraining of personnel is essential in meeting with the dynamism of the 21st century and in revamping and strengthening the Corps.
“As you prepare to improve on the curriculum of the Corps, there are other things that you need to prepare as well such as physical structures. They must be fit and made ready so that when the curriculum is developed, it will not be left in the archives but put into proper use.”
Aregbesola, who was represented by the Director of Special Services in the ministry, Peter Ekponu, said the committee membership included seasoned individuals from the academia and the security sector.
The Commandant- General of the NSCDC, Dr. Ahmed Audi, stated that the agency is prepared and determined to succeed and chart a new course towards entrenching professionalism, and to build a global elite organisation that can compete effectively with its peers anywhere in the world as well as discharge its mandate diligently with every sense of civility and integrity within the ambit of the law.
He said the present move was a deliberate step towards actualising his vision to reposition the Corps, adding: “I set out to upgrade facilities in our existing training colleges knowing that training is an essential ingredient towards attaining optimal performance, skill acquisition/capacity building and productivity.
“I also initiated the process of developing a standard curriculum for the training schools in order to develop career progression and development courses which will form the basis for future progression in service.”
“The Corps that I met on ground had become a shadow of its old self. There was low staff morale, indiscipline and loss of confidence in the system borne out of stagnation, unregulated pattern of promotion among others.
“As a matter of fact, there were no set standards for measuring performance and career progression in the Corps. How then can you get the best in such an unstable system where merit was not given due consideration in determining who gets what? I therefore saw the need to rebuild staff confidence and further boost their morale which was at the lowest ebb”, he added.
The ministerial committee, which is given a four-week timeline, is made up of eminent Nigerian personalities drawn from the academia, the military, police, paramilitary services and other professional bodies, including retired senior officers of the NSCDC and professionals who are experts in curriculum development in the field of education.
The committee is chaired by the Vice Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, Professor Suleiman Muhammed, an expert in crime and sociology while Professor of Law, Ibrahim Adamu, from the University of Jos, is the vice chairman.
The Nigerian fighter Anthony Joshua is hungry to get a measure of some payback when he faces Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch.
Former two-time heavyweight champion suffered defeat when both first met last September, losing his three belts to the Ukrainian but Joshua is confident he will become a three-time heavyweight champion of the world again.
While many analysts are backing Usky to emerge victorious again, Joshua has vowed there will be a different outcome in the rematch in April.
“I’ve come up short twice, but the majority of times I have overcome many obstacles. Next fight I’m going to beat him (Usyk) and I’m going to take those belts from him,” he told Stuff.
“And I’m going to reign again to become three-time heavyweight champion of the world – whether people like it or not.”
Joshua has also detailed the changes he has been making in his team, including dropping the biggest hint yet that he’s parted ways with long-term trainer Rob McCracken.
“As I only fight once or twice a year, I have to stay busy and active in the gyms. But because I took a loss in my last fight, there’s been a lot of reconstruction happening in my team.
“So I’ve approached training with more of a mental approach, looking at ways I can improve rather than just jumping back in the deep end from a physical point of view.
“I’m not happy about what happened previously because that’s a competitor’s mindset. You have to be angry at losing, it’s not acceptable. So now it’s about driving forward.
“One thing people know about me is that I bounce back and I don’t take losses. I fight the best consistently – that’s always been a part of my DNA.”
There are days you want to have great curly lashes and you can’t seem to lay hold on a curler but you can attempt to curl the lashes without a curler. Yep, experts do have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Still, we advise using a proper lash curler if you can, but in a pinch, these tricks will give you the bend you’re looking for:
Use a spoon
Using a (clean!) spoon is one of the most popular DIY lash-curling hacks out there; Miranda Kerr, model and founder of KORA Organics, even swears by the trick for her everyday makeup routine. Makeup artist Jenny Patinkin also gives it her expert stamp of approval: “Using a spoon is an old technique that definitely will work in a pinch,” she says.
Grab your spoon. Kerr suggests an iced teaspoon (or parfait spoon), presumably because the sides are thinner than your average tablespoon. Align the edge of the spoon, face down, with the base of your lashes.
Starting at the outer corner of your eyelashes, push your lashes onto the rounded edge of the spoon with your thumb. Hold for a few seconds before releasing, repeating, and working your way inward.
Repeat the process on the other eye.
As with your typical curler, just a few seconds of hold will keep them lifted—you don’t want to tug on those delicate hairs and pluck them loose. As a general rule of thumb: “Do not pull them into submission because they fall out easily,” says celebrity makeup artist Jamie Dorman. “You want to actually have lashes to curl.”
Use your mascara wand
Not all mascara brushes are created equal: Some are great for volume, others provide separation, and some are strictly meant for lift and curl. For the latter, you’ll want a curved mascara wand, which helps provide lift to the base, and the bristles should be fairly dense, especially on the inner end.
“If you’re looking for curl, you want a mascara wand that is dense with a lot of bristles,” says makeup artist Jude Andam. “Similar to a round brush for your hair, this mascara brush will grab lashes and gently pull them up as you apply to create a lifted look.” Graylane Beauty’s Curling Mascara and Kosas’ The Big Clean Mascara both fit the bill.
Your mascara application can make all the difference, too: “Building a heavy layer of mascara at the base of your lashes can help give them some lift,” says Patinkin. “Go in with a densely bristled applicator and press and lift into the base of your lashes while making a gentle back-and-forth motion. Don’t take too much [product] all the way up to the tips, but do hold your lashes up with the applicator while the base dries, and then repeat once or twice more.” By holding the lashes up as the mascara dries at the base, they should stay lifted. Just don’t pack on pigment at the tips of the lashes, as you can weigh them back down.
If that doesn’t work, “Another way to curl your lashes is to take a thickening mascara, lay it on top of the lashes, and twist the wand as you apply in an outward and upward direction,” suggests Dorman. “This will catch your lashes as you twist and pull them up into a curl.” Full disclosure: This trick takes some practice, as you can easily smudge mascara onto your lids the first couple of tries.
Use a cotton swab
You have a valuable window while you wait for your mascara to dry—take advantage of it by encouraging even more curl! After applying your mascara, you can hold a cotton swab horizontally at the base of your lash line. Gently lift the lashes to your desired position, and hold them there until your mascara fully dries. When you pull away, the lashes should remain lifted.
Use a new toothbrush
Similar to the cotton swab trick, you can also use a toothbrush to manually lift the hairs after coating on mascara. Apply your product of choice, brush through the hairs with the toothbrush, then hold the tips of the lashes upward while the mascara dries. After a minute or so, the lashes should stay put. This probably goes without saying, but make sure you always use a brand-new toothbrush. “I wouldn’t want to put all those germs close to my eyes,” says Patinkin, and we wholeheartedly agree.
Use castor oil
Let’s say you want your lashes curled and lifted but you don’t feel like wearing makeup. Consider castor oil your lash hero: Brush the oil through the lashes with a clean spoolie from base to tip until they’re fully coated, then hold the tip of the lashes up with that same spoolie, a cotton swab, or a brand-new toothbrush while the oil absorbs into the base.
Essentially, it’s easier to manipulate the hairs when they’re wet, either with mascara or oil. Plus, castor oil is full of fatty acids that effectively moisturize the lash hairs, and keeping eyelashes hydrated helps them stay full and lifted over time—so you’ll achieve immediate and long-term curl.
Don’t use heat
Technically, heat works: Like the hair on your head, you can manipulate your lash hairs with hot tools to achieve dramatic, long-lasting curl—that’s why heated lash curlers are a thing. But just as daily heat styling can do a number on your hair, your lash hairs can become damaged and brittle over time; and if you try a heated DIY trick, you can risk burning those fragile hairs or even the surrounding lid skin.
For example, you may have come across a tip to heat a spoon before using the old-school technique we described above, but celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg, founder of Blighlighter, says it’s best to avoid the heated trick. “Do yourself a favor and skip over the heated spoon trick (you can burn yourself easily),” she notes.
Patinkin agrees: “If you heat a spoon too much, like with a blow dryer, it can actually singe your lids.” Similarly, people might heat a metal makeup brush and wrap their lashes around it (sort of like a makeshift curling iron), which sounds compelling in theory but can easily go awry. “I think getting too much heat too close to the delicate skin on the eyes is pretty risky,” notes Patinkin.
Takeaway
Your lashes are super fragile and delicate, so you don’t want to manipulate them with too many DIY tricks (and we recommend avoiding heat at all costs). But if you’re in a bind, the above hacks can help you achieve sky-high lift and curl. “Ultimately, be gentle,” adds Dorman. “It’s OK if not every lash falls into place or if you miss ones at the corner—it’s more important to have healthy eyes.” Couldn’t agree more.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has vowed to join hands with other notable persons to lift the Igbobi College in Yaba, Lagos.
Gbajabiamila in a statement signed yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, said he had already attracted some infrastructural projects to the college.
The Speaker, who is an old boy of the college, said he would personally attend the events lined up for the 90th anniversary of the college, which will take place on February 2.
Speaking during a courtesy call by the Igbobi College Old Boys Association (ICOBA) led by the first Vice President, Yomi Badejo, Gbajabiamila expressed delight that Igbobi College is already 90 years old.
“On the 90 years, it’s amazing. It sounds just like yesterday. A lot has changed, and we must try as much as possible to change with the times and maintain the nature and the feel of Igbobi College, he said”.
“January 29 is a day that I’ve already marked. It’s going to be our pride, our joy that we’re here to celebrate our college at 90. Together, we will do most of the things we set out to do for the college.”
The 1st Vice President of Alumni group, Badejo, according to the statement, said they had a list of things they want to do for the college, including the improvement of infrastructure.
He added that they have put together a series of events to raise the sum of N1 billion during a fund-raising dinner on January 29.
“You’re one of us; so we’re looking forward to you to bring the kind of personalities that are worthy of this 90th anniversary.”
Badejo requested the speaker to inaugurate some of the projects executed in the college on February 6.
He noted that “ICOBA would honour the Speaker during its merit award where some key personalities would also be honoured.”
Nigeria’s manager Augustine Eguavoen says he countenances a tough duel between his Super Eagles and the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16 encounter in Garoua.
Tunisia’s campaign has been somewhat ravaged by positive COVID tests and the team only qualified for the knockout stage as one of the best losers, finishing in third place behind The Gambia and Mali, and winning only one of their three matches while losing the other two.
“I expect a very tough game against the Tunisians. Our group will not be lulled into any sense of superiority over any team here until we do the business on the field. Tunisia is a big name in African football and we must acknowledge that, despite the manner in which they reached this stage.
“We have watched some of their games and from what we know of them in the distant past and in lucid memory, they are never a team to take for granted.”
Eguavoen’s 51 caps for Nigeria did not include an encounter with Tunisia, but he was head coach of the Super Eagles when Nigeria upended the Carthage Eagles on penalty shootout in Port Said in Egypt 16 years ago to send the Cup holders out of the tournament at the quarter final stage.
“That was a huge, huge game and a memorable one for me. The match ended 1-1 in regulation and extra time and we had to go into penalties. We lost two of our first three kicks or something like that and then bounced back when our goalkeeper (Vincent Enyeama) stopped two of their kicks. It was a sweet victory,” Eguavoen said.
At the Al Masry Stadium on 4th February 2006, Obinna Nsofor scored for Nigeria before Karim Haggui levelled for the Cup holders. In the shootout, Joseph Yobo and Yusuf Ayila missed as Chedli and Ben Achour did for Tunisia. Taye Taiwo, Nsofor and Obafemi Martins scored, as did Namouchi, Guemamdia and Jose Clayton for Tunisia. In sudden death, John Mikel Obi and goalkeeper Enyeama scored for Nigeria as did goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel and Hadj Massaoud for Tunisia, but after Nwankwo Kanu scored for Nigeria, Riadh Bouazizi saw his kick saved by Enyeama.
In dim and distant memory, Tunisia reached the final round of the 1978 FIFA World Cup African series after an own goal by Godwin Odiye in Lagos on 12th November 1977 eliminated Nigeria, but the following year, Nigeria earned the bronze medals of the 11th AFCON when Tunisia abandoned the match in the 42nd minute following an equalizer by Baba Otu Mohammed. Nigera were awarded the match 2-0.
In 1980, both countries tied 2-2 on aggregate in a Spain 82 World Cup qualifying fixture, with Nigeria proceeding after penalty shootout. In 1985, Tunisia edged their 1986 World Cup qualifying fixture 2-1 on aggregate – a lone goal by Okey Isima cancelled out with a two-goal blitz in the first 15 minutes of the return inside the Stade El Menzah in Tunis.
In recent and decent memory, Nigeria edged their opening encounter of the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations 4-2 in Lagos, with Jay Jay Okocha and Victor Ikpebe earning a brace each. In 2009, a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture ended 0-0 and 2-2 in Tunis and Abuja, and in 2019 Nigeria won the bronze medals of the 32nd AFCON 1-0 in Cairo at the expense of the Carthage Eagles.
Their most recent encounter was a friendly game in Austria in October 2020, which ended 1-1 with Nigeria’s goal scored by Kelechi Iheanacho.
On Sunday at the Stade Roumdé Adjia, Nigeria will file out with three wins in three from their group phase campaign. The Tunisians were only able to defeat Mauritania while losing to Mali and The Gambia. Both countries are led by indigenous coaches. Mondher Kebaier will sit on the Tunisians’ bench.
The match will be Eguavoen’s 16th for Nigeria across three stints, during which he has walked off the pitch victorious in 13 of the previous 15, with only two narrow defeats. He is also the only man to have coached Nigeria to win all three group phase matches at the AFCON, achieving this in both his AFCON odysseys in 2006 and 2022.
The usual in-tournament extra incentives – a practice entrenched over the decades – have started flowing in for the Eagles. Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has dedicated the naira equivalent of $250,000 for the team to win the trophy, just as airline owner Allen Onyema has promised N50million if the team marches to the final on 6th February and is triumphant.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele says the CACOVID (a coalition of private sector companies set up to fight COVID pandemic in Nigeria) will shell out the sum of $120,000 for the six goals already scored by the Eagles in Cameroon, and $50,000 (naira equivalent) for every goal in the Round of 16 clash with Tunisia.
Airline owner Onyema had earlier promised the team the sum of N10million for every goal.
A worker walks following an oil spill caused by abnormal waves, triggered by a massive underwater volcanic eruption half a world away in Tonga, at the Peruvian beach in Ventanilla, Peru, 18 January 2022. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo declared an environmental emergency as clean-up teams struggled to contain a huge oil spill at the country’s biggest refinery after rogue waves rocked a ship unloading crude there.
The spill, blamed on unusual swells caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of miles away in Tonga on Sunday, has dirtied waters and beaches along Peru’s Pacific coast, with dead birds and seals washing up onshore.
“We are at a critical moment in environmental matters,” said Castillo, before signing the emergency decree on one of the beaches hit by the spill. “This is the most worrying ecological disaster on the Peruvian coast in recent times.”
“We cannot shy away from responsibilities, it is about assuming them, in this case the company that caused this ecological disaster,” he added.
A spokeswoman for La Pampilla refinery, owned by Spanish energy firm Repsol, has said the firm was not responsible for the spill and blamed the Peruvian Navy for not issuing a tsunami warning after the Tonga eruption.
Unlike other Pacific countries, Peruvian authorities warned of unusual waves only after the eruption.
Environment Minister Ruben Ramirez has said that some 6,000 barrels of oil were spilled in the incident, which has left oil on 21 beaches.
Peru’s Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA) said in a statement that as of Thursday the area affected included 1.7 million square meters of land and 1.2 million square meters in the sea.
Repsol said in a statement that a team of divers was exploring underwater damage from the spill, and said it had deployed more than 2,500 meters of containment booms and 10 boats to recover oil from the sea.
“We regret not having adequately communicated all our commitments and the actions that have been carried out to address the impact,” Repsol said, after facing criticism for its response.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA, says it is closer to finding a cure for HIV by targeting infected cells that could be lying dormant in the body.
In a study published in the journal Nature Communications this week, researchers improved upon a method originally developed in 2017 to kill hidden HIV-infected cells using cells that are naturally produced by the body’s immune system.
The advance brings scientists one step closer to controlling or even eradicating the virus, which attacks the body’s immune system.
“These findings show proof-of-concept for a therapeutic strategy to potentially eliminate HIV from the body, a task that had been nearly insurmountable for many years,” Jocelyn Kim, the study’s lead author, said in a press release. “The study opens a new paradigm for a possible HIV cure in the future.”
Statistics claim about 38 million people are currently living with HIV globally and an estimated 36 million have died of AIDS-related diseases since the 1980s. Over time, HIV can develop into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, a chronic and potentially life-threatening condition.
People diagnosed with HIV typically take antiretroviral medication to keep the virus at bay, but the HIV still has the ability to elude antiretrovirals by lying dormant in cells called CD4+ T cells.
The researchers’ recent findings build on a strategy designed in 2017 called “kick and kill.” During that study, mice whose immune systems had been altered to mimic those of humans were infected with HIV and given antiretroviral drugs.
After a synthetic compound was administered to activate the mice’s dormant HIV, they observed that up to 25 per cent of the previously dormant cells died within 24 hours.
This time around, researchers used the same compound to “flush HIV-infected cells out of hiding,” before injecting “healthy natural killer cells” into the mice’s bloodstream.
In 40 per cent of the infected mice, HIV was completely cleared.
According to Kim, her team’s next objective is to develop an approach that eliminates HIV in 100 per cent of the mice they tested in further experiments.
Life-saving water supplies from a New Zealand navy ship were distributed across Tonga’s main island on Friday, as other countries battled the logistics of delivering aid to one of the world’s remotest communities.
Six days after the South Pacific archipelago was devastated by a volcanic eruption and tsunami that deposited a blanket of ash and polluted its water sources, the HMNZS Aotearoa docked in the capital, Nuku’alofa.
The ship carried 250,000 litres of water and desalination equipment able to produce 70,000 litres more per day, New Zealand’s High Commission said.
“Trucks … have begun collecting and delivering water supplies from Aotearoa,” the Commission said on its Facebook page.
The first flights from Australia and New Zealand landed on Thursday with some water as well as shelter, communication equipment and generators.
Underlining the complexity of mounting a contactless international aid operation to one of the few countries free of COVID-19, the Australian plane was turned around mid-flight after PCR tests showed a positive result, an Australian defence spokeswoman told Reuters.
All crew had earlier returned negative rapid antigen tests, she said. The supplies were moved to another flight that took off on Friday.
The salt water from the tsunami spoiled most sources of water and Tongans have been struggling to find clean water as they clear away the ash.
“We are cleaning the ash and have been since Monday,” said Branko Sugar, 61, who runs a bottle shop and fishing charter business from Nuku’alofa.
“Everything is so dusty, and we are running out of water,” he said over a patchy telephone line. “We only have the tap water, and it’s been contaminated. We… can hardly breathe for all the dust.”
Global energy company TotalEnergies has joined Masdar and Siemens Energy on a project that aims to produce green hydrogen to decarbonise the aviation industry.
An agreement signed by TotalEnergies, Masdar and Siemens Energy at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week will see the three companies co-develop a green hydrogen production plant under a pilot project in Masdar City.
Other project partners include the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa Group, Khalifa University of Science and Technology and Marubeni Corporation.
The project will leverage TotalEnergies’ experience within the energy sector and Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) production.
The initiative aims to pave the way for the commercial production of sustainable aviation fuels by reducing production costs.
Since the project was announced in January 2021, Masdar and partners have completed a range of evaluations on technology suppliers, feasibility studies and conceptual designs, while working closely with regulators on compliance issues.
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