The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has accused the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities (CVCNU) of spreading lies and misinformation with regards to the salaries received by senior polytechnic lecturers.
ASUP said that the claim made by the Vice Chancellors that senior lecturers in polytechnics earned more than university professors was false and could cause issues during negotiations for polytechnic lecturers.
ASUP, in a statement today, September 7 by its Secretary General, Abdullahi Yalwa, said: “Our Union’s attention has been drawn to a statement from the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities contained in the report submitted by the body to the government during the meeting of Vice Chancellors, Chairmen of Governing Councils of Federal Universities and the Minister of Education on September 6, 2022.
“An extract from the submission made by the CVCNU was emphatic in conveying the erroneous impression that chief lecturers in Nigeria’s polytechnics (and colleges of education) earn more than professors in the nation’s universities.
“The position of the CVCNU was made in order to justify the legitimate demands of our sister union, the Academic Staff Union of Universities for a wage increase.
“While we understand the disposition of the CVCNU to support the aspirations of ASUU, putting out fallacious statements as it affects the emoluments of other workers in the other tiers of tertiary education in the country will only undermine same aspiration.
“Apart from the falsehood, it is improper for the CVCNU to have made such statement at a time that our Union is also renegotiating emoluments for our members as it has the potentials of creating the wrong impression about the emoluments of workers in polytechnics and Colleges of Education, thereby undermining the ongoing renegotiation process between the FGN and Polytechnics.
“Without doubt, the CVCNU has access to the salary structures of the different cadres of staff across the tertiary education landscape and therefore has no basis to indulge in needless extrapolation. The agitation for wage review in the university system can indeed proceed creditably without such fallacious reference by parties as such can only breed needless rivalry in the sector,” the statement read.
Cote D’Ivoire has called for immediate intervention of the regional group, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in what it called hostage-taking of its 46 soldiers by the Mali authorities.
Briefing President Muhammadu Buhari today, September 7, at the Presidential villa, Abuja, on the face-off between Mali and Cote D’Ivoire over detained Ivorian soldiers, Special Envoy to ECOWAS and former President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan stressed the need for intervention of ECOWAS leaders.
Dr. Jonathan said that about 49 Ivorian soldiers were initially detained in Mali for ‘unlawful entry,’ and that three females in the team were later released, leaving 46.
According to the former President, this development is threatening a rupture in the relationship between the two countries.
Responding, President Buhari said that Nigeria is committed to promoting peace and harmony among the ECOWAS countries and promised to come out with initiative towards immediate resolution of the impasse.
Federal Government of Nigeria has made it clear to foreign airlines operating from the country that they will not be allowed to sell their tickets in dollars, stressing that dollar is not the legal tender in Nigeria but the Naira.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who spoke to news men today, September 7, shortly after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential villa, Abuja, said that the federal government will sanction foreign airlines that are selling air tickets to Nigerians in dollars.
Hadi Sirika warned the airlines to desist from writing sensitive issues on their social media accounts, coming on the heels of recent developments in the Nigerian aviation sector where foreign airlines like Turkish Airlines and British Airways began to sell their tickets in dollars.
In July, the International Air Transport Association said foreign airlines have $465m of un-repatriated revenue trapped with the Central Bank of Nigeria. But the Central Bank recently release the sum of $465 million for the settlement of the un-repatriate airline revenue from sales of tickets. Consequently, Emirates Airline had threatened to withdraw operations in Nigeria from September over $85m trapped revenue, but relaxed its plans after the CBN released $265m to the foreign airlines.
Turkish Airlines said it will charge the highest fare for economy and business class tickets. The Minister said, “Reports are reaching us that some of the airlines are refusing to sell tickets in Naira. That is a violation of our local laws, they will not be allowed. The high and the mighty amongst them will be sanctioned, if they’re caught doing that. “NCAA has been directed to swing into action and once we find any airline violating this, we will definitely deal with them. Also, they blocked the travel agents from access. They also made only the expensive tickets available and so on and so forth. “Our regulators are not sleeping; we have a very vibrant Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Once they find any airline guilty, that airline will be dealt with because we need to protect our people. It is according to our agreements, to what we have signed and this is according to international convention.
“So, going forward, they should desist from doing things that are outside of the law. They should also desist from writing to us and putting things in social media. They should go through diplomatic channels if they want a response from the federal government.” The minister also revealed how foreign airlines made over $1.1bn from Nigeria in 2016. He said during the period, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration cleared the $600m inherited from the Goodluck Jonathan government.
He reiterated that the CBN has released $265m out of $484m un-repatriated revenue belonging to them. The Minister further revealed that Nigeria has signed a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with the State of Kuwait.
“Today we had two memoranda in front of Council, both of which have been approved graciously by council. Memo number one is to do the Bilateral Air Service Agreement between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the State of Kuwait. That memorandum has been approved that we should sign the Bilateral Air Service Agreement with the State of Kuwait.
“And of course, this is in line with the provisions of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s requirements in line with the convention of December 7, 1944, to which both countries are signatories. It provides reciprocal rights and privileges for both countries and airlines therefrom.”
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has denied receiving $150 million allegedly donated by Nigerians in the Diaspora for his campaign.
According to Obi, nobody has given him anything towards the presidential bid, dismissing the allegation as mere propaganda.
Obi, who is the former Anambra Governor, left Nigeria on 25 August to solicit support from Nigerians abroad.
“Nobody has given me anything. That is speculation. What I need is not what they would give me. But what they would give Nigeria, because we need them to turn around Nigeria.
“This is the energy, the capacity that we need to turn around Nigeria. Every country that was turned around, was done by the diaspora. Even in the Bible, Joseph who left later came back to feed his people.
“It is not campaign, it is consultation. I am consulting Nigerian diasporans to know why they should be involved in the Nigerian electoral process. And you can see from my conversation and everything that what I am doing is saying let’s get involved.
“They are the most critical components of turning around Nigeria. The investment Nigeria needs to turn around is Diasporans. If they believe in Nigeria and bring their resources, both in terms of their material, talent and energy, we will turn around the country.
“Nigeria 2023 election should not be based on ethnicity, religion, connection, ‘my turn’, or any bias. It must be on character, competence, capacity and determination to deal with the problems of Nigeria.”
Our Editor-In-Chief, Yusuf Ozi-Usman, who authored Standard Egbira-English Dictionary and participated in the translation of the Holy Qur’an into Egbira language, among others, took his time off to carefully translate the words spoken in Egbira language, by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, to the people of his country home, the Ihima community at a function, on Saturday, September 3, 2022. The speech has been twisted in many circles and has created controversies and generated outcries.
Because of the unique nature of the language, the translation slightly contravenes the English grammatical rules. The tail end of the speech is not included.
Please, read on:
God, God, God, it is you I always lean on, uptil now and till tomorrow. After calling God, we would call the gods: that is why I’m shouting (the name) of the gods of Ihima. After calling God, the Earth, the gods, we would call women. The right way to climb a tree is the right way (I am climbing it).
When you are doing the right thing, you would be courageous. (This is) the first time I’m stepping into the Technical College, first one in Ihima; the land of gods. Therefore, the good tidings we brought are the good that would follow us back to our houses. We will complete the beneficial project we brought (to Ihima) to its logical conclusion and will spread (the project) to Ihima crevices, as well as the Kogi State as a whole, with Nigeria benefiting (in one way or the other).
I want you to deny bad people the pleasure of enjoying their lies.
A few moments in the past, there was misunderstanding. I want (you) to prove that the Ihima we knew, are made up of people that love themselves; bring that glorious moment back and henceforth. I want you to show that Ihima people love themselves, and (I want you to) support Didat, who I chose to be the leader in Okehi, politically, in my cabinet. But administratively, the Executive chairman of Okehi local government area is number one. The two are working in synergy.
Before I continue, I heard a whisper from somewhere that (turned to singing) ‘our Ihima fellows, if I were to say, are the sensible, kind ones, why don’t we imitate them; the rest of Egbira people? Ihima insists that they love themselves. They don’t hate themselves.’
When this government came, I discovered that there was hatred (amongst the people). The issue of clan should not be used negatively. Even if you resort to clannish leaning, it should not be the basis for division, to the point of killing one another, as it was done in the past.
When this government came, we were constructing roads, providing water, electricity, schools, hospitals and the rest.
Other governments before my government did not achieve one-third of my achievements, especially, in Egbira land. It is a truism that if you don’t have executive power, even if you are a Senate President, you cannot do all such developmental infrastructure.
Therefore, the power which God gives me is meant to develop the state and in doing so, we have heard all sort of criticisms. Some of our detractors were pointing dangerous fingers at us. We ignored such criticisms that are not justified. I continued to caution my people to ignore such critics because they didn’t know what they were doing.
But from henceforth, we will not tolerate dangerous fingers being pointed at us. This time around, even a bad finger pointed at us from the distance, we will chop off such finger. We will seek God’s backing, put our feet firmly on the ground and call to the gods and cut off the finger. It is not because of us; it is because we will not allow anybody to take us back to the bad past. God will not allow it.
We must complete our good plans for the state. We will not beg anyone to ask us to do the good thing we set ourselves to achieve. We must do it.
Therefore, the upcoming politics (campaign) will be hot for those who want to prove difficult; the good ones have no problem. For those who want to play hot, I will personally give them fire. I will personally be in the forefront with firelight to touch the side of the body of such bad people. Whoever survives should thank God. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Before now, we used to appeal but now we are warning, not begging.
After seeing what we are doing and what we have achieved, whether you are a man or a woman or Egbira or none Egbira, and you don’t acknowledge them, I’m ready for such people squarely. I expect all the traditional rulers, who are the owners of the communities, to begin to call everybody in their domains to caution their children that are bad. No father should allow his child to call him, because when a child is calling his father, it is a sign of bad omen.
May God grant our prayers in Mosques, Churches and through herbalists for good thing for us, because what I wish for myself is good thing. My mother asked me all through her life to be doing good and that is what I will continue to do. My mother did not wish bad for other person’s child, so anyone who wishes me bad, such bad thing will go back to him. Such bad person will go and lie with my mother (in the grave) and be serving her till we join them.
I’m fully ready from now on. If I send a message through anybody and the person delivers wrong message, he will see the other side of me. Even if you murmur inside your room and I ask that you should be brought to me and whoever fails to bring you should be ready to be dealt with in lieu of you.
That’s why I am saying it loud and clear for all the people in Kogi. The bad people who are determined to continue in their bad ways, some of them older than me, will see the other side of me. Let them know that I can handle “weree Chimengwu” (reference to gun in a slang) more than them.
I want you to record and play this message, and send it far and wide to them to hear me out. We have done good things and will continue to do them. Those bad people want to continue in their old ways and if I cannot defend the good things I have done in Kogi, then I will consider myself a failure. And I am not a failure.
When it is time, we will hand over to whoever we like, for them to continue with our good work. Whoever has bad habit, no matter how small, should stop it or be ready to vomit it by force.
The Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation (AACO) has disowned an undated letter issued under the authority of a “Campaign Coordinator/ President” of a group calling itself the Atiku Abubakar Business Supporters in Diaspora (AABSID).
A statement from the Campaign Organisation today, September 6 quoted, the letter with title “Fundraising Dinner Event for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Presidential Election Campaign 2023,” saying that the letter asked potential donors and members of the general public to donate to the presidential campaign of Atiku Abubakar, in exchange for unfettered access to Atiku Abubakar, among other promises.
The statement said that the Atiku Abubakar Business Supporters in Diaspora (AABSID)is a body or organisation that is not known to the Atiku.
“Neither he nor the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation has authorised any such fundraising event to be held on his behalf nor on behalf of his Campaign Organisation.
“The general public is hereby notified that the aforementioned Atiku Abubakar Business Supporters in Diaspora (AABSID) is not in any way affiliated or related to Atiku Abubakar and the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, and has not been mandated or authorised in any way whatsoever to represent the candidate or his campaign in any matter whatsoever.
“In line with the foregoing, any person or organisation dealing with the aforementioned Atiku Abubakar Business Supporters in Diaspora (AABSID) and/or its Campaign Coordinator/President or indeed with any other organization for the purposes of raising funds for our presidential candidate does so at their own risk and responsibility.
The governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello has made it clear that he is now prepared to give bloody nose to criminals, bad people and those who are inciting others against his government.
Speaking in Egbira language while addressing the people of Ihima in the State recently, Governor Yahaya Bello said that he had tolerated those who have been inciting people against his government in the past, but that this time around, he would not take it kindly.
He also asked the people in the State to caution and restrain their criminally minded children and others, warning that anyone harbouring such criminals and bad people would be grouped together for necessary actions.
Parts of the speech is translated hereunder:
I want you to deny bad people their falsehood. When you are doing good thing, you are courageous. A few years before now, there were some misunderstandings in the Ihima community but I want you to return to the glorious past where love reigned. Show clearly that Ihima is made up of people that love themselves.
When my government came, we insisted that we should not be hateful to one another; that we should not use clan as basis of division or for inter-relation amongst the people. When we came in, we began to construct roads, providing electricity, water, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. Other governments before my government did not achieve one-third of my achievements, especially, in Egbira land. It is a truism that if you don’t have executive power, even if you are a Senate President, you cannot do all such developmental infrastructure.
Therefore, the power which God gives me is meant to develop the state and in doing so, we have heard all sort of criticisms. Some of our detractors were pointing dangerous fingers at us. We ignored such criticisms that are not justified. I continued to caution my people to ignore such critics because they didn’t know what they were doing.
But from henceforth, we will not tolerate dangerous fingers being pointed at us. This time around, even a bad finger pointed at us from the distance, we will chop off such finger. We will seek God’s backing, put our feet firmly on the ground and call to the gods and cut off the finger. It is not because of us; it is because we will not allow anybody to take us back to the bad past. God will not allow it.
We must complete our good plans for the state. We will not beg anyone to ask us to do the good thing we set ourselves to achieve. We must do it.
Therefore, the upcoming politics (campaign) will be hot for those who want to prove difficult; the good ones have no problem. For those who want to play hot, I will personally give them fire. I will personally be in the forefront with firelight to touch the side of the body of such bad people. Whoever survives should thank God. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Before now, we used to appeal but now we are warning not begging.
After seeing what we are doing and what we have achieved, whether you are a man or a woman or Egbira or none Egbira, and you don’t acknowledge them, I’m ready for such people squarely. I expect all the traditional rulers, who are the owners of the communities, to begin to call everybody in their domains to caution their children that are bad. No father should allow his child to call him, because when a child is calling his father, it is a sign of bad omen.
May God grant our prayers in Mosques, Churches and through herbalists for good thing for individuals, because what I wish for myself is good thing. My mother asked me all through her to be doing good and that is what I will continue to do. My mother did not wish bad for anyone and so anyone who wishes me bad, such bad thing will go back to him…such bad person will go and lie with my mother (in the grave).
I’m fully ready from now on. If I send a message through anybody and the person delivers wrong message, he will see the other side of me. Even if you murmur inside your room and I ask that you should be brought to me and whoever fails to bring you should be ready to be dealt with in lieu of you.
That’s why I am saying it loud and clear for all the people in Kogi. The bad people who are determined to continue in their bad ways, some of them older than me, will see the other side of me. Let them know that I can hold “weree Chimengwu” (reference to gun in a slang) more than them.
I want you to record and play this message, and send it far and wide to them to hear me out. We have done good things and will continue to do them. Those bad people want to continue in their old ways and if I cannot defend the good things I have done in Kogi, then I will consider myself a failure. And I am not a failure.
When it is time, we will hand over to whoever we like, for them to continue with our good work. Whoever has bad habit, no matter how small, should stop it or be ready to vomit it by force.
Nigeria and Poland have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Agriculture, pledging their willingness to enlarge the fields of economic cooperation in the energy and manufacturing sectors.
The signing took place during the State Visit of President Andrezej Duda of Poland, the first by a Polish leader to Nigeria since the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries in 1961.
Addressing a joint press conference with the visiting Head of State, President Buhari said Nigeria is gratified by the existing fruitful cooperation with Poland in the fields of maritime, education and defence.
On agriculture, which is one of the priority areas of the Nigerian government, the President said cooperation in this area will be a win-win for the two countries, especially in the context of global food insecurity occasioned by the conflict in Ukraine.
He said that in view of the numerous global challenges, Nigeria would like to develop new mechanisms for cooperation including regular strategic dialogues and political consultations to cover not only bilateral relations but also to address regional and international issues.
“Our cooperation in education has a long history and we wish to encourage the extension of that cooperation to the sharing of knowledge and experience between our educational institutions in areas such as science and technology as well as Information and Communication Technology, in order to help drive innovation in our countries in this competitive global knowledge economy.”
The Nigerian leader described the two-day visit of the Polish President as significant, underscoring the cordial relations that exist between both countries, commending the efforts of the Government of Poland in providing assistance to the large number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, including a significant number of Nigerians.
“I also wish to express our sincere gratitude for the kind and generous support extended during our government’s evacuation of our fleeing nationals.
“We also appreciate greatly the opportunity given to some of our nationals to remain in Poland to continue with their studies.
“As regards trade relations, we would like to see an increase in the level of trade, as it remains relatively low in spite of the long period of relations between our two countries.”
Buhari welcomed the hosting of a Dialogue that will bring together various members of the business sectors of Nigeria and Poland, during the State Visit, adding that it is an excellent initiative to increase the level of trade between both countries.
Duda said Nigeria was the only African country Poland has signed an agreement of strategic dialogue with, which includes the MoU on agriculture cooperation.
“What was pivotal in our conversation today both in our tete-a-tete as well as the plenary session was how to provide food and energy security.
“It is important to us to strengthen the relations between Poland and Nigeria and the MOU we have signed is very important for the future of both nations on food security.”
On energy security, he lauded the delivery of liquefied natural gas to Poland from Nigeria, as well as shipments of crude oil.
“We want to further this cooperation and we want to increase the supplies from Nigeria to Poland and by this way we want to contribute to the development of economic cooperation between the two countries.”
President Duda noted that Nigeria and Poland have enjoyed excellent bilateral relations in the last 60 years, buoyed at the people-to-people level with the presence of many Nigerians at Polish higher institutions of learning as well as the input of Polish engineers and scientists in the building of infrastructure in Nigeria.
The minister of education, Adamu Adamu has confessed that he has never, in his entire life, been in a dark period of personal anguish and internal turmoil as he has been since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on nationwide strike.
The minister, who spoke today, September 6 at a meeting with Vice-Chancellors and Pro-Chancellors of the Federal Universities at the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja, said: “for me, the past two weeks have been a very dark period of personal anguish and internal turmoil.
“I used to deceive myself that in a climate of frankness, and with mutual goodwill, it will fall to my lot to bring an end to the incessant strikes in the education sector.”
The minister regretted that his sincere moves to quickly end the strike which began in February, 2022, has not proved possible, or, at least, not as easy, quickly and straightforward, “as I used to think.
“Distinguished Chairmen, vice-chancellors, I called you today not to share with you my anguish but to share with you the details of what we have done and what remains to be done. And certainly, a lot remains to be done. But for very different reasons, the current positions of Government and ASUU on the future of negotiations seem to have coincided.
“For me, this is a position I would have wanted us to reach after an amicable resolution of all the issues contained in the 2009 Agreements. It appears that we are running ahead of the negotiations but not for the right reasons. The President of ASUU has been reported to have said the Union would no longer negotiate with the current Federal Government.
“This position must be resisted. Government and ASU have no option than to continue talking until our universities have reopened their doors to students, who clearly are the principal victims of the seemingly unending strikes. In the circumstances, therefore, all Councils and Senates of our universities are enjoined to rise up to their responsibilities.
Information reaching us at Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper indicated how a group of armed bandits ‘arrested’ a scavenger, a middle-aged man, who specializes in uprooting metal rods and removing iron bars, from deserted buildings at a deserted village in Katsina State.
It was learnt that the suspected criminal scavenger was caught by the bandits while they were on a ‘patrol’ on their motorcycles.
An exclusive video showed the bandit-terrorists parading the scavenger and his stolen metal rods inside a cart before a community leader.
Though the date of the incident could not be confirmed from the video but the bandits warned the thief about the danger of stealing.
“Don’t you know that it is a criminal offence to steal? You are lucky that we are handing you over to the authority. We could have executed you for engaging in criminal activities,” the bandits said.
The terrorists, who in the video wielded sophisticated guns, told the community leader to ensure the ‘scavenger thief’ is dealt with according to the law to deter others from stealing.
It was gathered that the bandits did not only hand over their ‘catch’ to the Katsina community chief but also ensured he was later whisked away by security personnel for interrogation.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has accused the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities (CVCNU) of spreading lies and misinformation with regards to the salaries received by senior polytechnic lecturers.
Cote D’Ivoire has called for immediate intervention of the regional group, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in what it called hostage-taking of its 46 soldiers by the Mali authorities.
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has denied receiving $150 million allegedly donated by Nigerians in the Diaspora for his campaign.
