Minimum wage: NLC declares strike in 18 States over unpaid wages

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February 19, 2021

The Nigeria Labour Congress has directed workers in 18 states where the national minimum wage of N30, 000 had yet to be paid to immediately proceed on strike.

The congress said about half the 36 states of the federation were yet to conclude negotiations on payment of the minimum wage.

Findings indicate that states that have not paid the minimum wage include Imo, Rivers, Osun, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Kwara, Zamfara, Gombe, Rivers and Ogun States.

This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the National Executive Council of the NLC on Wednesday.

In the communiqué jointly signed by the NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba and General Secretary, Mr Emma Ugboaja, the congress stated, “The NEC also resolved to view the refusal to pay the new national minimum wage by state governments as demanded by the law as an act of criminality, betrayal of the oath of office sworn by state chief executives and a dangerous adventure in anarchy.

“The NEC-in-Session directed all states where the national minimum wage of N30,000 is yet to be paid to immediately proceed on industrial action.”

The union demanded a downward review of the template used in determining the pump price of petrol to stave off an imminent hike in the cost of the commodity following the rising price of crude oil in the international market.

It further urged the Federal Government to reduce the cost of gas sold to electricity generating companies to $1.5 cents as a means of driving down electricity tariffs.

The union rejected deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry as long as it is import-driven, stressing that it negatively impacted on the welfare of the working-class family and the masses.

It called on the FG to rehabilitate local refineries as a sustainable solution to incessant increases in the pump price of petrol.

On the electricity tariffs, the NLC asked the government to immediately address the conditions within its control that are driving up electricity tariffs.

It demanded a review of the power sector privatisation programme, since the law provides for one every two years.

“The NEC also calls for the reduction of the cost of gas to $1.5 cents and also the scrapping of the use of US and Nigeria inflation rates to determine the cost of gas to Gencos,” the communique added.

The NEC also admonished the government to do more in securing lives and property in the country.

The union resolved to picket the Corporate Affairs Commission headquarters for three days for allegedly trampling on workers’ rights.

The NLC also resolved to issue a 14-day ultimatum to the management of Turkish Airline and Caverton Helicopter to reinstate all sacked trade union executives and desist from further anti-union actions.

Ekweremadu: Nigeria can create state police within 10 days

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Chris Ottah

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February 19, 2021

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The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Committee on Electoral Reforms and Constitutional Amendment, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Thursday, said, with the right political will in place, Nigeria can have state police within ten days.

He said this in an address during the inauguration of the committee at the PDP National Headquarters, in Abuja.

Ekweremadu, who served as Deputy Senate President and Chairman of the Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in the 7th and 8th National Assembly, noted that there was a general consensus that the current centralized system of policing has failed woefully.

He said, “The weaknesses in our structure and the Constitution we operate, have never been as pronounced as they are today. Some of us forewarned that feeding bottle federalism would only continue to increase our appetite for wealth sharing and guzzling, kill our propensity to create wealth, make us poorer. It is regrettable to say that the chicken has come home to roost.

“In the absence of state police, security of lives and property has practically collapsed. So long as we run a dysfunctional centralised policing, for that long will our insecurity-induced pains and losses continue to rise. The community policing initiative is illusory, cosmetic, ephemeral, inorganic, and will certainly not change anything.

“With the right political will, the amendments to the Constitution to achieve a decentralised police and secure lives and property can be achieved 10 days.”

Biden introduces immigration plan that offers faster path to citizenship for millions

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Chris Ottah

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February 19, 2021

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US President, Joe Biden’s administration has announced a sweeping immigration bill that would create an eight-year path to citizenship for millions of immigrants already in the country and provide a faster way for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children to gain citizenship.

Here’s what the bill, titled the US Citizenship Act of 2021, announced on Thursday, February 18 includes:

1. Plan for a pathway to citizenship- The bill cuts the time to acquire citizenship to eight years instead of 13.

Individuals would be in a temporary status for five years, with three years until they get citizenship, amounting to an eight-year path.

While undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, who fall under a form of humanitarian relief known as Temporary Protected Status or who are farmworkers can go directly to green cards if they meet requirements, including passing background checks.

But to be eligible for the bill’s legalization plan, immigrants must have been in the country before January 1, 2021.

2. Biden’s proposed bill, if passed, would remove the word “alien” from US immigration laws, replacing it with the term “noncitizen.”

According to the administration the change, is “to better reflect the President’s values on immigration.”

The term “illegal alien,” is seen as a dehumanizing slur by immigrant rights advocates, and was well used during the Trump era.

3. The bill provides funding to US Citizenship and Immigration Services to chip away at the backlog of asylum applications.

4. The bill provides funding for more immigration judges with emphasis on access to counsel.

It authorizes funding for counsel for children and vulnerable individuals, and eliminates the one-year limit for filing an asylum case.

5. The bill repeals the bars to reentering the United States if an individual had previously been illegally residing in the country

It increases the number of available so-called diversity visas, which are awarded by random selection in select countries to promote immigration from places that don’t otherwise send many immigrants to the US.

6. The bill would increase the number of visas granted annually from 55,000 to 80,000.

The legislation proposes creating a commission composed of employers, labor unions and civil rights advocates to make recommendations on improving worker verification.

7. The measure would also increase protections for immigrants who come forward to report labor violations and increase penalties for employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.

8. Invest in US-Mexico border and Central America.

The bill would help South American countries tackle smugglers and narcotics and trafficking networks. It would seek to create legal and safer pathways for migration by setting up refugee processing in Central America and would create a $4 billion investment plan in the region.

The legislation will be hard to pass in Congress, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has just a five-vote margin and Senate Democrats do not have the 60 votes needed to pass the measure in the Senate as the Senate is divided 50-50.

Border Row: Ethiopia Accuses Sudan Of Provoking Conflict

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Precious Obazee

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February 19, 2021

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Ethiopian refugees wait for relief supplies at a United Nations compound in Hamdayet, Sudan, on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. Tigrayan refugees in Sudan said that Fano fighters attacked and maimed them, ransacked their properties and extorted them as they sought to flee. (Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)

The Ethiopian government has accused Sudan of provoking a conflict between the two countries which have seen a rise in tension due to a border dispute.

Clashes erupted late last year over an area of fertile land settled by Ethiopian farmers that Sudan says lies in its territory.

Both sides have accused each other of acts of aggression.

This escalation of tension comes at a time when Ethiopia’s stability is under strain due to the conflict in the northern Tigray region.

In a strongly worded statement, Ethiopia’s ministry of foreign affairs accused what it called the military wing of the Sudanese government of escalating tensions and pushing the two countries into a war.

This is seen as an argument over an area of farmland near the border but political rivalry in the region is also a factor.

The Ethiopian statement said the Sudanese army was fuelling the crisis to serve the interests of a third party. This will be widely seen as an accusation against Egypt.

There has been a lot tension between the Addis Ababa and Cairo governments due to the construction of a huge dam on the River Nile.

Nigeria Exits Recession, GDP Records 0.11% Growth In Q4 2020 – National Bureau Of Statistics

By

Precious Obazee

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February 19, 2021

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According to official figures released Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria is no longer in recession, as a result of economic growth the country recorded at the end of 2020.

Nigeria slipped into recession in the third quarter of 2020 for the second time in four years, as a result of falling oil prices last year and the coronavirus pandemic lockdown measures.

Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed predicted at the time that the country would exit the recession by the first quarter of 2021 — but new statistics show that a timid recovery came earlier.

The National Bureau of Statistics in a statement Thursday said the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.11 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing the first positive quarterly growth in the last three quarters.

The statement added that though weak, the positive growth reflects the gradual return of economic activities following the easing of restricted movements” imposed to help contain the coronavirus pandemic.

Since Nigeria emerged from its previous recession in 2017, the nation’s growth has been sluggish.

Perseverance: US Space Agency’s Rover Makes Historic Landing On Mars

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Precious Obazee

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February 19, 2021

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The American space agency, NASA, has successfully landed its Perseverance rover in a deep crater near the planet’s equator called Jezero.

The mission’s deputy project manager, Matt Wallace, says Perseverance appears to be in great shape.

Engineers at Nasa’s mission control in California erupted with joy when the confirmation of touchdown came through.

The signal alerting controllers that Perseverance was down and safe arrived at 20:55 GMT.

Previously, successful space landings would see engineers hugging and high-fiving each other on a job well executed but strict coronavirus safety protocols meant they had all been separated by Perspex screens and a respectful fist bump was about all they could manage.

However, the excitement was evident and the applause continued when the first two images taken by low-resolution engineering cameras, came in.

Landing on Mars has never been easy, and though Nasa has become expert at it, everyone on the Perseverance team had spoken with great caution going into Thursday.

This is the second one-tonne rover put on Mars by the US space agency.

The first, Curiosity, was landed in a different crater in 2012. It trialed innovative descent technologies, including a rocket-powered cradle, that Perseverance has also now put to good effect.

Post-landing analysis indicated the vehicle had come down about 2km to the south east of the delta feature in Jezero that Perseverance plans to investigate.

The six-wheeled vehicle will now spend at least the next two years drilling into the local rocks, looking for evidence of past life.

Jezero is thought to have held a giant lake billions of years ago. And where there’s been water, there’s the possibility there might also have been life.

Dad allegedly confesses to beating his 18-month-old daughter to death weeks after she goes missing

By

Chris Ottah

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February 18, 2021

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The father of 18-month-old Kytana Ancog, the Hawaiian toddler who went missing earlier this month, has allegedly confessed to beating her to death.

Kytana was last seen alive on Jan. 31, when her mother dropped her off at her father Travis Rodrigues’ Aiea home. Less than a week later, she was dead.

While authorities have yet to find Kytana’s body, newly released court documents reveal her final days alive and the alleged effort her father took to hide her death, the San Francisco Chronicle, Honolulu Star Advertiser and Hawaii News Now report.

According to the documents, one witness told police that, on or around Feb. 4, they saw Rodrigues allegedly slap, kick and swear at the toddler— leaving her bloodied and bruised. The 40-year-old also allegedly tried to give his daughter his meth pipe.

The witness said when they returned to Rodrigues’ home the next day they saw Kytana “dangling as if lifeless” while her father “was smoking methamphetamine and looked high.”

During an interview with police, Rodrigues allegedly admitted to beating and squeezing his daughter until she passed out. When he believed she was dead, police say, Rodrigues allegedly claimed he did not call them and instead wrapped her body in a bed sheet, hid it in a duffle bag and had an acquaintance dispose of it.

The acquaintance, identified as 48-year-old Scott M. Carter, has been charged with first-degree hindering prosecution.

On Tuesday, Kytana’s family released a statement hours after the documents were released, KITV reports.

“At this time our family would like to say thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragement that have been extended to us in this very trying and heartbreaking time. We are devastated to hear the details of what happened to Kytana on February 4th,” the family said. “If anyone knows where Kytana is, please come forward so we can bring her home and lay our sweet baby girl to rest.”

Rodrigues and Carter remain behind bars on bail— Rodrigues for $2 million and Carter for $1 million. Attorney information for both men was unclear Wendesday.

The search for Kytana’s body continues.

Not all bandits are criminals – Matawalle

By

Chris Ottah

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February 18, 2021

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The governor of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle, has said that not all bandits are criminals.

Speaking with journalists after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock on Wednesday, Matawalle said some of the “bandits” took the law into their own hands because they were ill-treated by some vigilante groups.

Zamfara, in the north-west, has recorded high cases of banditry and kidnapping in recent times.

The governor said some of the conflicts recorded in the north-west are reprisal attacks by the “bandits” on members of vigilante groups.

“Not all of them are criminals,” he said.

“If you investigate what is happening, and what made them take the laws into their hands, some of them, sometimes were cheated by so-called vigilante groups.

“They normally go to their settlements and destroy property and take their animals. They did not have anyone to speak with, so sometimes, they go for revenge. When the vigilante group attacks them, they go for reprisals.”

Matawalle said leaders should get to the genesis of the problem and not conclude that all bandits are criminals.

“It is important for us as leaders to sit down with them and understand what is the genesis. You can’t just conclude that this person is a criminal,” he said.

“You have to listen to him. What led him to go into such activities? It is not all Fulanis that are criminals.

“Some are good citizens, but due to some circumstances, they subscribed to such criminality but when we had the information, we called their leaders and sat with them, they told us their grudges and we sorted out the way the communities and the Fulanis can resolve their issues without any serious crisis.”

A BANDIT is a robber or outlaw belonging to a gang and typically operating in an isolated or lawless area.

I’m not sure what he means here?

Buhari: Peace of Niger Republic must matter to Nigeria, it’s important

By

Chris Ottah

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February 18, 2021

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President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the peace of Niger Republic must matter to Nigeria, being “our very close neighbour.”

He, therefore, commended the country’s outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufou and his government for keeping to their country’s Constitution with respect to run-off polls scheduled for February 21, 2021.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President spoke while receiving in audience former Nigerian Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who is ECOWAS Head of Mission on the elections in Niger Republic.

The statement was titled “Nigerien run-off polls: President Buhari praises outgoing government for following the constitution.”

The statement quoted Buhari as congratulating Sambo on the first round of the elections, which produced no clear winner, thus compelling a run-off set for February 21, 2021 as prescribed by the Constitution of the country.

Noting that Niger was our very close neighbour, the President said the peace of the country must matter to Nigeria.

“Neighbourliness, whether national or individual, is very important, as the peace of your neighbour, or lack of it, may also affect your own well-being,” Buhari stated.

He wished Republic of Niger, Sambo and his team best of luck, as the run-off polls hold over the weekend.

The ECOWAS Head of Mission said campaigns have been peaceful thus far, as the contending political parties seal deals and alliances for outright victory.

In the first round of election, Mohamed Bazoum, former minister of interior and foreign affairs led with 39.33 per cent of the vote compared to former president Mahamane Ousmane who polled 17 per cent, both scores falling short of the required 50 per cent for outright presidential victory.

Turkish Women’s Cup: Super Falcons impress Waldrum ahead of opener against CSKA Moscow

By

Emenike Agu

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February 18, 2021

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Coach Randy Waldrum has expressed satisfaction with the quality of players in the Super Falcons’ camp ahead of the African champions’ Turkish Women’s Cup opener against CSKA Moscow’s ladies squad at the Emir Sports Complex, Antalya on Thursday.

“I am really impressed with the group as a whole; I am happy to see players show so much talent. The opportunity to see a lot of players is really important to me especially this year that is not a qualification year.

“I want to expand the net to look at the other foreign-based and local players.”

While admitting that Nigeria has an abundance of talented players, the American tactician asserted that the pool of players must necessarily be expanded to look far and near and get the very best to represent Nigeria.

“We need to give opportunity especially to the young players that are up and coming from the various age-grade National Teams. Some of the players who featured at the last FIFA World Cup are getting older. It is important to develop the young players, give them confidence and get them ready for the next two FIFA World Cups. It is very important to look at the players in the domestic league.”

The former Coach of Trinidad and Tobago looked ahead and stated his vision, saying he wants to build on the accomplishments of the nine-time African champions and see how to push them up as credible contenders for global glory.

“The goal is to consistently qualify from the group stage, have a deep run in the FIFA World Cup and push hard to become champions.”

The Super Falcons will take on CSKA Moscow at the Emir Sports Complex in Antalya on Thursday at 8.30am, before further clashes with the women’s National Team of Uzbekistan on Saturday (5pm) and with Nzalang National of Equatorial Guinea (2008 and 2012 African champions) on Tuesday next week (9am).

NFF partners UK-based company on digitization, technological solutions

The Nigeria Football Federation has approved a proposal by a UK-based global information and communication technology service company, AJ Consult, to embark on the digitalization of certain operations of the Federation alongside developing wholisitc software to solve the general needs of the football-governing body.

AJ Consult prides itself on capacity to offer innovative software development, hardware development, IT outsourcing and consulting services, and “actively helping governments and global corporations to transform and address critical business issues by applying innovative information technology solutions.”

It also has “unparalleled experience and comprehensive capabilities across verticals and business functions,” enabling businesses to “reduce time-to-market and drive transformational growth. Our global delivery and mature engagement models are designed to improve efficiency, governance and predictability. We constantly innovate and implement new methodologies, frameworks and best practices giving our clients the winning edge.”

The company will develop, among other platforms and solutions, all-in-one media/communication platform for media management, technical team platform and a third-party performance monitoring management system, game-day data management system, record management solution in form of e-library and online live media platform for viewers via pay-per-view format.

NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, stated that “the present NFF administration is one that is untiring in seeking new and refreshing ways of doing things, and upscaling its methods and strategies to meet with ever-changing technological demands. This desire for new thinking, new formats and conformity with global best practice in all our operations informed certain decisions and resolutions that have accorded the Pinnick-led NFF remarkable national and international regard, and won it global appeal as it works assiduously towards achieving self-funding.

“Our acceptance of this proposal is based on the need to take our media and communication operations to new levels with the tremendous opportunities available in the digital communication space of today.”