FG Stripped Off Jonathan’s aides passports

TWO months after leaving power,  no fewer than 12 close aides of former President Goodluck Jonathan have been stripped of their official passports.

A competent source told Saturday Vanguard that the decision to withdraw the official passports of the former aides of Dr Jonathan was to prevent misuse and conflict with new aides and officials of President Muhammadu Buhari, who assumed duties on May 29, 2015.

Reuben Abati

It could not be established last night whether the affected officials were ordered by the Presidency to surrender the passports or whether they did so voluntarily.

FG To Place Ban On Importation Of Rice

There is a strong indication that the Federal Government may soon place total ban on importation of rice, fish and other food items into the country.
Giving the hint in Lagos,the Senior Technical Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Dr Niyi Odunlami, said that government was desirous of stopping the importation of rice, fish, wheat and tomatoes.
Odunlami spoke as a member of the supervision team visiting staple crops processing zones of the World Bank-assisted Commercial Agriculture Development (CADP) project in Lagos.
He said that the Federal Government was working in partnership with state and local governments as well as Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to bring infrastructural development to rural farming areas.
”The Federal Government cannot do it alone; it needs the collaboration of states and local governments as well as LCDAs.
”The rural farming areas need to be developed in terms of infrastructure, so as to reduce or possibly eradicate the importation of what can be produced here, such as wheat, vegetable, rice and fish.
“The fish we import is not different from what we can find in the Nigerian waters,” Odunlami said, adding that there is absolute need to develop staple crop processing zones.
Some primary processing zones in the country had been selected as models.
They include Kogi, Kano, Niger, Lagos and Rivers states. The supervisory mission commenced work on Nov. 28, with a visit to the Lagos State Integrated Rice Processing Factory, Imota.

.... my very gud food, I hope it wot be costly

Credit: Vanguard

Asuu Strike Update: Lecturers Dares FG On Ultimatum

Striking university lecturers have called the bluff of the federal government which yesterday gave them a seven-day ultimatum.

The supervising minister of education, Nyesom Wike, ordered the striking lecturers under the umbrella of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resume work on or before December 4, 2013, or face the prospect of being sacked.

Wike, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, said government had reviewed the entire situation and come to the conclusion that the continuation of the strike is an attempt by ASUU to sabotage all efforts to address the issues.

He said: “It is amazing, however, that three weeks after the meeting with Mr President, ASUU responded by giving new conditions for suspending the five-month-old strike.

“As a responsible government, we cannot allow the continuous closure of our public universities for this length of time, as this poses danger to the education system.”

He said that, consequently, the federal government has directed that all vice chancellors of federal universities that are currently on strike should immediately reopen for academic and allied activities as directed by their pro-chancellors.

“Any academic staff who fails to resume on or before 4th December, 2013, automatically ceases to be a staff of the institution.

“Vice chancellors should ensure that staff who resume for work are provided with enabling environment for academic and allied activities.”

In a swift reaction to the ultimatum and threat of sack, however, ASUU dared the federal government to carry out its plan to sack university teachers, saying that it will fail.

The union said, with the plan, it has been vindicated that the federal government was not committed to implementing any resolutions it reached with the union.

While reacting to the threat by the government, ASUU national treasurer Dr Ademola Aremu said in Ibadan that the threat did not hold water as it had confirmed the fears that government cannot be trusted.

He said strike is a legal action and that the threat will fail, adding that Nigerian public universities needed 60,000 lecturers owing to failure of government to employ.

ASUU said government was wasting the time of Nigerians and youths in the country by failing to perfect the resolutions and get the strike suspended.

The academic union said it had reasons to be wary following the failure of government to honour its promises to ASUP, resident doctors, and health workers who have suspended their strikes.

ASUU further said the threat was an insult to the sense and sensibilities of Nigerians who were waiting on the federal government for a positive reaction.

Aremu: “With the latest action, the federal government has shown that they are not committed to all they have been saying. We are saying that since we agreed at the meeting that the sum of N200billion is for 2012 and 2013 revitalisation, the federal government should deposit same in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“We are already in November and December is around the corner. If they don’t do that now, when do they want to do it?. We are saying the non-victimisation clause should be included as agreed while the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement should be included as agreed with

the presidents.

“It is a pity if the federal government is not willing to perfect the resolutions reached with the union. This is why we find it difficult to trust our leaders by their words.

“How can someone be threatening to sack lecturers when universities are already short-staffed by almost 60,000. We are not in a military era. The military tried it and failed. This one will fail again. They can re-open the school. ASUU did not shut down the universities.

“It was the school management that ordered the students to go back home.”

Some university lecturers who reacted to the federal government’s directive said it was a joke.

Dr Oghenekaro Ogbinaka, chairman, University of Lagos branch of ASUU, told NAN that the development was strange and laughable.

He said that this was so, considering the fact that the union was yet to get back to the government, after their deliberations with President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Our reaction is simple. Let us just wait for the seven days to come around. What government has just done shows that they were not committed to the offer they made with the union that had the Trade Union Congress president and the minister of labour in attendance.

“We are not going to fall to that blackmail. Now, which one is better: government acceding to our demands or issuing out threats?

“Honestly, this whole thing ought to have been easily resolved, given the approach taken by President Jonathan, but it is like we want to be taken for granted after all and it is unfair,” he said.

Prof. Oyelowo Oyewo, immediate past dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, simply described the development as “a glorified joke and laughable’’.

Oyewo noted that it was funny that one of the parties which had before now been holding dialogue would try to intimidate the other .

FG To Stop Subsidizing Kerosene, Price To Shoot Up

There are indications that the Federal Government will stop kerosene subsidy in 2014 bringing to an end a scheme that has been widely criticised as corrupt and controversial.

Our correspondent learnt on Wednesday that no provision was made for kerosene subsidy in the N4.77tn 2014 budget proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Ministry of Finance sources, who gave the hint, said the budget proposal did not make any provision for kerosene subsidy.

The Federal Government spent N634bn to subsidise the retail price of kerosene in the past three years.

The Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Mr. Dakuku Peterside, who recently condemned this as wasteful spending, also said N110bn was spent on kerosene subsidy in 2010, N324bn in 2011 and N200bn in 2012, which came up to N634bn in the three years.

He said, “In the year 2010, we spent N110,068,533,988 to subsidise kerosene. This is not the cost of kerosene but the cost of subsidising the product alone. In 2011, it got worse and the government spent N324,089,961,319 on kerosene subsidy. Although we have yet to reconcile this, we spent N200bn in subsidising kerosene in 2012.

“So, in three years, we have spent N634bn subsidising kerosene. This is one third of what we spend in a year on capital budget.”

Despite the huge spending on Kerosene subsidy, the masses could not, until recently, buy the product at the regulated price of N40.90k per litre.

They had settled for alternative sources of energy such as firewood, charcoal, sawdust, electricity and gas.

However, this has recently changed as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, through the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, has been selling kerosene at N50 per litre.

Commenting on this, the President, Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, Mr. Dayo Adeshina, said it would be a welcome idea if kerosene subsidy could be stopped by the government.

He said, “Government needs to take a conscious decision to drive a mass shift from kerosene to LPG as it was done in Indonesia. The Indonesian government took a conscious decision to stop kerosene subsidy, which was gulping $9bn a year. They found that they would only need to invest $2bn in cylinder and cooking stoves to save $7bn.

“We need to get to that level when we will consciously shift from kerosene to LPG and that can only happen with the right government policy.”

Adeshina argued that the N634bn spent on kerosene subsidy had little impact on the masses, saying it enriched only a few people.

Credit: PUNCH.

Asuu Strike Update: FG Negotiations With Asuu Is Null And Void Witout Wages Commission - Senate

1Chairman, Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters, Aloysius  Etok,  said on Monday that the ongoing negotiations between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, “would be null and void without the input of the National Wages and Salaries Commission.”

Etok said this in Abuja during his committee’s oversight tour  on the activities of the agency.

“Under no guise should the Federal Government negotiate salary or wage increase without the input of the relevant commission,” he said.

The senator also advised the government against “sentimental negotiation for salary increase in the civil service.”

He noted  that such  negotiation was the cause of the incessant industrial actions in the country.

He said, “We have said this earlier that on no account should the Federal Government in particular go on negotiation for salary increase or anything that has to do with wages or salary without the input of the commission.

“They should avoid the issue of sentimental increase or negotiation. We should cancel exceptions. Four months is about a semester.

“The commission was expected to have played a prominent role in the 2009 agreement reached between the Federal Government and ASUU.”

Etok   chided the commission over the implementation of the 2013 budget as well as on why  the impact of the commission was not felt on Public workers’ salary crises that tended to cripple some sectors of the economy from time to time.

He said, “The commission might look small but  its importance cannot be under-estimated. We have come to know your level of implementation of the 2013 budget.

“We also want to know the relevance of the commission to the Federal Government and why your impact is not felt in the salary problems across the country.

“We should ensure that the commission would  be there when ASUU is on strike for months as well as who guided the Federal Government  in the agreement entered with ASUU in 2009. You cannot be ruled out in the scheme of things in this country.”

Etok also lamented the withholding of part of the 2013 budget of the commission and maintained that the commission required funds to carry out its research-based projects.

He said, “We frown on this situation and we want to call  on the Minister of Finance to do something so that you can lay a proper foundation for the commission.”

The Chairman, National Income, Salaries and Wages Commission, Dr. Richard Egbule,  exonerated the commission from the agreement reached between the Federal Government and ASUU.

He said, “The wages  commission has been up and doing in everything concerning wages and salary in this country.

“When the controversial agreement was reached in 2009, we were there but not as negotiators. We made it known to them that the route they were going was wrong.

“Today, I wish to say that ASUU did not go on strike because of salary due to the fact that we handled it very well.”

“What is controversial was the Excess Workload Allowance but we have asked them to employ more lecturers to avoid excess workload.”

Credit: PUNCH.

Don't Put Words Into My Mouth, Our Members Will Decide - Asuu Chairman

 

Read the details of the FG (President Jonathan) and ASUU Meeting outcome

After thirteen hours of negotiations, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge on tuesday morning was not forthcoming with the new Federal Government’s offer as he insisted that his members have the final say on the issue.

Speaking with State House correspondents, he said that the meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan discussed how to tackle the problem of University education system in the country.

He said: “Well we have had lengthy meeting with Mr. President, rubbing minds on how best to address the problem of University education in this country.”

“And we now have a message from Mr. President we are going to take to our members. And we are expecting that our members will respond appropriately to the message of Mr. President.”

On whether the lecturers are going back to the classroom, he said: “That is up to our members.”

Asked what the message was, he said: “I can’t tell you. Its not for you. It is for our members.”

If impressed with the message, he said: “Don’t put words into my mouth. Our members will determine that.”

Also speaking with journalists at the end of the meeting, the Minister of Labour Emeka Wogu said: “We made progress, the President of ASUU told you that they are going back with a message from the Federal Government back to their members. And the message is full of high expectations and hope.”

On whether the strike will be called off, he said: “That is why the message is full of high expectations and hope. So our prayers is that they come back with positive outcome. They might not even come back to meet us, they might take decisions there that will meet your expectations.”

“Nigerians should be patient for ASUU to finish their meetings and come out with a message to Nigerians.”

Responding to whether the Federal Government made a fresh offer, her said: “Well, the offer we made are the offer they are taking in line with the 2009 agreement. The issues that led to the strike are issues contained in the 2009 agreement and we did not go beyond the agreement.”

      

Asuu Update :We Shall Deliver Mr President's Message To Our Members - Asuu Chairman

              
After the end of the marathon meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja on Monday, which lasted for about 13 hours, the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said they would now go and brief their members on the details of the discussions.
The Chairman of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge, told the reporters in the early hours of November 5, 2013, Tuesday, at the State House that the leaders would take the President’s message back to their members.
Dr. Fagge, who wore broad smiles afar emerging from the meeting venue at about 3.35 a.m. did not say what the message was when he spoke with the correspondents.

The Labour Minister, Emeka Wogu, who also spoke with the press, just said what was discussed did not go beyond the 2009 agreement.
The meeting with the President had begun at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, around 2.40 p.m. on Monday, after ASUU had also met with the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark.
It would be mentioned that it was the first meeting between the striking union and President Goodluck Jonathan since the strike began 1 July, shutting down almost all state and Federal Government owned universities in Nigeria.
The Federal Government had initially offered the striking lecturers N30billion to pay for allowances piled up since government and the union hammered out an agreement in 2009. Government also offered N100billion to pay for improvements of facilities in the universities and later increased this to N200billion on a yearly basis.
ASUU rejected the offer as too small and insisted on government implementing in full the 2009 agreement.

From The Asuu - Fg Meeting

Just from what I know and how it use to be done, Mr president will not be sincere if he says the strike will be called off tonight, what I sure of is that the outcome of the asuuu fg meeting will not be disclosed to the public untilll the next asuu meeting where the faith of Nigerian student will be determined......let's go to bed plsssssss

Strike May Last yrs If FG Remains Adamant

From seminar halls and boardrooms where talks seem to have collapsed, university teachers have moved their battle for better education to the streets.

But, the police are stopping them from holding rallies and marches to convince the public that their four-month old action is right.

In Calabar, the police yesterday stopped a planned protest by lecturers of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) and the Cross River University.

But the lecturers addressed a rally on the UNICAL campus.

University of Ibadan (UI) lecturers had a town hall meeting to sensitise the people to the strike.

In Ile-Ife, Osun State, Obafemi Awolowo University lecturers marched on the streets, getting to the palace of the Ooni of Ife. They urged him to pravail on the government to implement the 2009 agreement it signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), without which the strike would continue.

President Goodluck Jonathan said during last month’s Presidential Chat that the government cannot fully implement the agreement, especially the financial aspect, because doing so would force a shutdown of other departments.

The Nigeria Labour Congrees (NLC), also yesterday, said although it would not call out workers on a solidarity strike with the lecturers, it would hold a meeting in Kaduna tomorrow to take a stand on the way forward.

No fewer than 200 policemen, most of them heavily armed, stopped ASUU members from carrying out an enlightenment walk in Calabar.

The walk, which was organised by the UNICAL and Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) branches of ASUU, was to take off from the UNICAL gate at 7am and go through some streets of Calabar, but the policemen ensured the teachers did not leave the campus

The policemen said they were acting on “orders from above”.

ASUU Chairman Dr James Okpiliya said: “Our union is law abiding. We wrote to the police and other security agencies on our intention of walking the streets in pursuance of our cause to put the records straight.

“Many groups have been walking the streets, giving people the wrong impression about the situation. We just want to put the records straight. The police are telling us that they have orders from above not to let us walk the streets of Calabar. It is a shame. You can all see the hypocrisy of government.

“They allowed youth and market women but they would not let us academics, peace loving people. We would remain resolute. No amount of provocation would stop us.”

Okpiliya went on: “We are not on strike because of our salaries. We are fighting for our students and the terrible conditions of our university. Most of our science students do not know the difference between Bunsen burner and a stove. They don’t even know the chemicals.

“The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) today has become a main funding source of our universities, but this is not to be so. TETFUND is only an intervention agency. Government has bailed out banks and even Nollywood, but not our universities.

“The strike would continue as long as the government remains adamant. The President said after all, the strike in Ghana lasted two years, so that means this one can continue even up to five years.

“It is a shame for the President to say the strike is political. The strike is not political. We are fighting for the good of our people. If there is anything political about this it is by him Jonathan. Let him implement the agreement and if the strike continues then he can say it is political. Any government that does not pay attention to the education sector is a dead government.”

The Chairman of ASUU, CRUTECH branch, Dr Nsing Ogar, said the Federal Government must honour the agreement.

A former president of ASUU and renowned author, Prof Festus Iyayi, said a government that does not respect agreements is calling for anarchy.

He said: “This is the final struggle. Even if it takes 10 years, the students should know we are struggling on their behalf. A day would come when the police would join us. A day would come when we would not care whether the police would stop or not. The state has failed.”

Another lecturer from UNICAL said: “If the strike is called off today, everybody will be worse off for it. People are not looking at the issues; they are just saying open the school, let the children graduate. Let them go to school. They are not bothered about the quality of education they are getting. In the future, whatever we say the government will never take us seriously.”

OAU chapter Chairman Prof. Peter Akinola, who led the protest, urged the Federal Government to accede to ASUU’s demands to enable the union suspend the industrial action.

Addressing residents at the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Akinola said the education sector deserved a better deal.

A member of the union, Prof. Gbolahan Babalola, said protest was to show the concern of ASUU for undergraduates who had stayed at home for months.

He urged traditional rulers and other stakeholders to resolve the impasse.

The Sarun Oodua, Chief Adekola Adeyeye, who represented the Ooni, praised ASUU for the peaceful conduct and show of concern for students.

Adeyeye said that the Ooni understood that education was the best legacy that any parent or government could bequeath to any child.

He promised that the union’s message would be relayed to the traditional ruler.

The OAU lecturers moved round major streets of Ile-Ife. Osun State University teachers staged their rally at the newly built Freedom Square near Old Garage in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

The Ile-Ife rally, which kicked off from the Oduduwa Hall of the OAU caused a traffic gridlock for many hours in the ancient town.

Osun State University branch Chairman Dr. Joseph Abiona was worried over the misinformation being dished out to Nigerians by the Federal Government as reason for the strike.

The NLC said it was in the process of mediating between the Federal Government and ASUU.

Oyo State NLC Chairman Comrade Bashiru Olarewaju spoke at a town hall meeting organised by ASUU to review the strike. The meeting was held at the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan (UI).

At the Town Hall meeting were hundreds of people, including civil society groups’ members, politicians, the clergy, traders who were presented with slide of the NEEDS ASSESSMENT REPORT of 2009 .

The NLC, according to Olarewaju , will meet tomorrow in Kaduna to take a decisive action on the ASUU strike.

He said: “The government and some other people have been trying to undermine the power, the influence and the ability of each group that can salvage this nation from collapse . And let me say this, that NLC has not been quiet. No, many people will want the NLC to go on strike. No; we will not go on strike on ASUU for now. But, anything can happen after Wednesday. This is because we have more than 40 affiliates. If an affiliate of NLC is in crisis and we now bring the entire workforce to join the strike, the train of the nation will not move forward. What we do in most cases is to mediate. ASUU is an affiliate of the NLC. ASUU is our partner. We will work together ,” the NLC chair said.

Prof. Remi Raji, Dean, Faculty of Arts, UI, said: “The way forward is for the government to look at the NEEDS ASSESSMENT report, which was presented to the government in November, 2012.

“In the next few days, it will be one year and nothing has been done of the 189 recommendations and we are saying that it is very crucial for government to deal with it squarely for the future of our children and our nation because a country that does not develop its own capacity within, to develop its own education standard to world class quality, cannot claim to be a giant of Africa, cannot claim to have a clean bill of economic health . This is the issue.”

UI chapter Chairman Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye said the appeal by President Jonathan to be patriotic is not needed but action and implementation of the agreement reached with the union.

He said it was sad that a President who claimed that corruption is not Nigeria’s problem can watch a Minister buy bullet proof vehicles for N255million, yet claiming there is no money to fund education.

He berated the President for speaking out publicly on the ongoing strike close to four months after it began, maintaining that he has not been patriotic and sensitive enough to the needs of the majority of Nigerians.

He said: “Will it have been possible for Mr. President to be quiet if his children are in one of our public institutions and be at home for four months? “How many years of appeal will make Mr. President implement a four year old agreement? The truth is we are tired of appeal. We need action. “

The Chairman of ASUU, Niger Delta University (NDU), Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Dr. Beke Sese, said the strike is to save the universities from collapse.

He maintained that the strike had no political undertone and not targeted at Jonathan or his administration.

Sese told reporters in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, that the industrial action was to protest the deplorable condition of public universities.

“Imputing political motive to the strike is a calculated attempt by some persons to deploy propaganda gimmicks to the cause of the university teachers, in order to divert attention from the real issues that informed the strike,” Sese said, adding:

“When the current Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, was ASUU president, the members did not compromise, when there was similar strike, during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha.

“This is the first time that ASUU members have embarked on a protracted strike, which centres on funding of the universities and improvement of the infrastructure. The funds so far released by the Federal Government are grossly inadequate. The 2009 agreement must be fully implemented.”