The Kaduna State Government has warned that it will have no option than to shut down public spaces, including schools, markets, offices and places of worship if the current rate of Covid-19 infection persists.
There has been a steady raise in the rate of infection with 117 positive cases recorded on Friday.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday in Kaduna, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Mohammed-Baloni, said: “If the rate of spread retains or exceeds the current pace, then we will have no option than to recommend the temporary closure of public spaces, including schools, markets, offices and places of worship.”
Giving an update on the rising cases of the infection in the state, the commissioner appealed for urgent action by residents to help stop the spread of the disease and save lives.
“In absolute and relative terms, Kaduna State is now recording high infection figures reminiscent of the first wave of Covid-19 spread in April, May and June 2020.
“The lowering of the infection rate following the first wave encouraged the government to approve the recommendation of the state Covid-19 Taskforce for a significant reopening of the state.
However, we are saddened to report that the conditions that compelled the 75-day lockdown of the state are now being replicated,” the commissioner said.
According to her, “On 26th November, 2020, the state recorded 74 positive results from 531 samples.
“The quantum of infections since then suggest both high infection rates and the reality that a new wave of infections is spreading across the state.
“As at yesterday, 11th December, the state recorded 117 positive cases from 518 samples. This translates to almost one in four samples testing positive.”
She said the Ministry of Health expected some increase in infections after the reopening of schools, markets, places of worship and recreational centres, noting however, that the figures easily outstripped the estimated projection.
“While infections cut across age groups, this new wave especially affects those aged between 10 and 35.
“There is now a veritable danger to lives and livelihoods with the renewed Covid-19 infections.
“If the spread continues at the current rate, it may challenge and overwhelm the health system despite our efforts to improve the resilience of that sector.
“We cannot allow this to happen. Kaduna State contained the first wave because, among other measures, most citizens observed and practised the Covid-19 prevention protocols,” Baloni said.
She appealed to residents to recommit themselves to behaviours that protect them and their families from the infection by voluntarily complying with the Covid-19 protocols to avoid the worst case scenarios and limit the spread of the disease.
“We had previously observed the wholesale abandonment of any compliance with protective measures.
We cautioned against this and reminded citizens that the relaxation of lockdown measures did not mean that Covid-19 had been defeated or disappeared.
“The rising infection is a reminder that Covid-19 remains a potent danger to lives and livelihoods. Anyone who remembers the pains and sacrifices of the lockdown period will not want that to be repeated,” she stated.
The commissioner said that as the lead agency for implementing Covid-19 containment, the Ministry of Health will be availing the state Covid-19 Taskforce of all the relevant data to monitor and access the rate of voluntary compliance.
If the rate of spread retains or exceeds the current pace, then we will have no option than to recommend the temporary closure of public spaces, including schools, markets, offices and places of worship. But there is a less costly way out. And that involves citizens living their lives and conducting themselves in ways that do not spread the disease. That way, lives and livelihoods are protected, while public health officers try to contain and manage the disease without causing painful disruptions.
“I urge all citizens, businesses and organisations to appreciate the danger that we face and let us all work together to avoid emergency conditions. We have done it before. Let us do it again,” she said.
Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Saturday ordered the immediate closure of all boarding secondary schools in the state.
The directive followed the abduction of an unspecified number of students of the Government Science Secondary School Kankara by bandits on Friday night.
The Governor gave the directive during his visit to the school on Saturday for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.
He was accompanied by his Deputy, Alhaji Mannir Yakubu, and other top government officials.
The Governor, during the visit, also met with the school officials, some parents, traditional and religious leaders as well as security officials.
The Governor pleaded with residents to be patient and show restraint and understanding, assuring them that the government will do every necessary thing to ensure the release of all the abducted students. He said security officials comprising the military, the police, and the Department of State Security had swung into action and were on the trail of the abductors.
Governor Masari further assured that both the Federal and the state governments were doing their best to bring an end to banditry and other debilitating crimes in the state.
According to him, the government is very firm in its resolve to be ruthless in any engagement with the bandits.
Adamu disclosed this in Yola, the Adamawa State capital during the official commissioning of completed projects in the college.
The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has decried the continuous fall in the standard of education in the country.
According to The Nation, Adamu disclosed this in Yola, the Adamawa State capital during the official commissioning of completed projects in the college.
The Minister, who was represented by the Director of Tertiary Education in the Federal Ministry of Education, Hajia Rakiya Iliyasu, lamented a situation in which graduates can neither read nor write in a fair manner.
He said the situation was a cause for concern, adding that students and teachers needed to sit up and face their tasks squarely if the case was to be reversed.
“Some graduates of tertiary institutions across the country cannot read or write applications,” the minister noted.
The minister elaborated that students and even graduates were unable to write one full sentence without some correction to be made.
The minister urged all stakeholders in the education sector to sit up to ensure that the decline in the value of education is bridged within the shortest time possible.
Six completed projects, which included a computer Information and Communication Technology Centre, sports centre, a centre for early childhood education, an undergraduate studies complex, among others, were commissioned during the ceremony at the FCE main campus in Yola.
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, says the naira will regain its strength among the league of currencies.
He stated this on Saturday morning during the Church’s annual Holy Ghost Congress held at the RCCG International Headquarters along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The 78-year-old cleric prayed to God to intervene in Nigeria’s financial sector and change the hearts of policymakers who deliberately devalue the naira.
While sharing a testimony on instant financial breakthrough, Adeboye recalled that he had needed N5,000 some decades ago during the Church’s inaugural Convention. According to him, the naira was powerful then and N5,000 was a lot of money.
Adeboye said, “During our first Convention here at the Redemption Camp, I was bold, I asked everybody to come, free feeding. They came, I ran out of money. My wife came to me in the morning, ‘Sir, we need N5,000.’ “Naira was powerful then. It will become powerful again. Those who are deliberately devaluing our naira, before tomorrow morning, God will intervene. “So, my wife said we needed N5,000. I asked her, ‘Do you need it today or later?’ She said today. I didn’t have a kobo. I told her to go. I cried to God that I needed a breakthrough. It wasn’t long after that, one man drove in, he wasn’t a member of the church.
“He asked what’s going on and we said we are having a Convention…and then, he put his hands in his pocket and brought out an envelope with some money.
“I then called on my wife and asked her, ‘How much do you say you need?’”
Naira was exchanged to the dollar at 490/$ in the parallel market this week after it had sold for N500 last week. The Bureau De Change operators had attributed the devaluation the naira is currently experiencing to speculative activities of some operators. The Central Bank of Nigeria, however, retained the official exchange rate at N379/$ on its website.
Iran on Saturday executed Ruhollah Zam, a former opposition figure who had lived in exile in France and was implicated in anti-government protests, days after his sentence was upheld.
State television said the “counter-revolutionary” Zam was hanged in the morning after the supreme court upheld his sentence due to “the severity of the crimes” committed against the Islamic republic.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili had on Tuesday said Zam’s sentence was upheld by the supreme court “more than a month ago”.
London-based rights group Amnesty International, in a statement after his verdict was confirmed, described Zam as a “journalist and dissident”.
It said the confirmation marked “a shocking escalation in the use of the death penalty as a weapon of repression.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced the arrest of Zam in October 2019, claiming he had been “directed by France’s intelligence service”.
State television said he was “under the protection of several countries’ intelligence services.”
The official IRNA news agency said he was also convicted of espionage for France and an unnamed country in the region, cooperating with the “hostile government of America”, acting against “the country’s security”, insulting the “sanctity of Islam” and instigating violence during the 2017 protests.
At least 25 people were killed during the unrest in December 2017 and January 2018 that was sparked by economic hardship.
Zam, who was granted political asylum in France and reportedly lived in Paris, ran a channel on the Telegram messaging app called Amadnews.
Telegram shut down the channel after Iran demanded it removes the account for inciting an “armed uprising”.
Zam was charged with “corruption on earth” — one of the most serious offences under Iranian law — and sentenced to death in June.
State television aired an “interview” with him in July, in which he appears as saying he believed in reformism until he was detained in 2009 during protests against the disputed re-election of ultra-conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He also denied having instigated violence through his Telegram channel.
Amnesty has repeatedly called on Iran to stop broadcasting videos of “confessions” by suspects, saying they “violate the defendants’ rights”.
Zam is one of several people to have been put on death row over participation or links to protests that rocked Iran between 2017 and 2019.
Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestler, was executed at a prison in the southern city of Shiraz in September.
The judiciary said he had been found guilty of “voluntary homicide” for stabbing to death a government employee in August 2018.
Shiraz and several other urban centres across Iran had been the scene of anti-government protests and demonstrations at the time over economic and social hardship.
Three young men were also sentenced to death over links to deadly 2019 protests, but Iran’s supreme court said last week that it would retry them over a request by their defence team.
Their sentences were initially upheld by a tribunal over evidence the judiciary said was found on their phones of them setting alight banks, buses and public buildings during the wave of anti-government protests.
Amnesty International said Iran executed at least 251 people last year, the world’s second-highest toll after China.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said Friday she had enough evidence to open a full probe into ongoing violence in Nigeria by both Islamist insurgents and security forces.
Fatou Bensouda’s announcement comes as violence continues to wreak havoc in the northeast, where at least 76 people were slaughtered by Boko Haram jihadists two weeks ago.
“Following a thorough process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria have been met,” Bensouda said in a statement, issued at the ICC’s headquarters in The Hague.
ICC prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into the situation in Nigeria in 2010 but Bensouda now wants permission from judges to proceed to a full-blown formal probe.
Gambian-born Bensouda specifically referred to acts committed by Boko Haram, whose 11-year insurgency in the country have claimed the lives of at least 36,000 people.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.
Around two million others have been displaced, according to UN figures.
Boko Haram and its splinter groups have committed “acts that constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes” including murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and cruel treatment, Bensouda said.
But while the “vast majority” of crimes were committed by non-state perpetrators “we also found a reasonable basis to believe that members of the Nigerian Security Forces committed acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes”, Bensouda said.
This included murder, rape, torture, and cruel treatment as well as enforced disappearance and forcible transfer of the population and attacks directed at civilians. A full investigation by the ICC, set up in 2002 to try the world’s worst crimes, could eventually lead to charges over the violence in the oil-rich African nation, which has been fuelled by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Bensouda said Nigeria has made some effort to prosecute “mainly low-level captured” Boko Haram fighters, while military authorities told her they have “examined, and dismissed, allegations against their own troops”.
“I have given ample time for these proceedings to progress,” keeping in mind the ICC’s complementarity principle, which means it would only get involved in investigations and prosecutions if a member state was unable or unwilling to do so, she added.
“Our assessment is that none of these proceedings relate, even indirectly, to the forms of conduct or categories of persons that would likely form the focus of my investigations,” Bensouda said.
Boko Haram’s main group claimed responsibility earlier this month for the massacre of some 76 farm workers in an area outside Borno state’s capital Maiduguri, in which dozens of labourers were mowed down by gunmen on motorbikes.
Farm workers were also tied up and had their throats slit in the attack believed to be seeking revenge on villagers for seizing the group’s fighters and handing them over to the authorities.
The massacre provoked widespread international condemnation including by the head of the Catholic Church.
“I want to assure my prayers for Nigeria, where blood has unfortunately been spilled once more in a terrorist attack,” Pope Francis said at the Vatican during a weekly general audience earlier this month.
Meanwhile, state security sources said 10 Nigerian troops were killed on Monday in clashes with IS-linked jihadists in Borno state.
Fighting erupted when a team of soldiers stormed a camp of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in Alagarno village in Damboa district.
Alagarno, which lies 150 kilometres (90 miles) from regional capital Maiduguri, is a stronghold of ISWAP, which split from the Boko Haram jihadist group in 2016 and rose to become a dominant force.
ISWAP has increasingly been attacking civilians, killing and abducting people on highways as well as raiding villages for food supplies.
Violence in Nigeria has spread to neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militant groups.
READ THE ICC PROSECUTOR’S FULL STATEMENT:
Today, I announce the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the situation in Nigeria.
As I stated last year at the annual Assembly of States Parties, before I end my term as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or the “Court”), I intend to reach determinations on all files that have been under preliminary examination under my tenure, as far as I am able. In that statement, I also indicated the high likelihood that several preliminary examinations would progress to the investigative stage. Following a thorough process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria have been met.
Specifically, my Office has concluded that there is a reasonable basis to believe that members of Boko Haram and its splinter groups have committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder; rape, sexual slavery, including forced pregnancy and forced marriage; enslavement; torture; cruel treatment; outrages upon personal dignity; taking of hostages; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance; intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to education and to places of worship and similar institutions; conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed groups and using them to participate actively in hostilities; persecution on gender and religious grounds; and other inhumane acts.
While my Office recognises that the vast majority of criminality within the situation is attributable to non-state actors, we have also found a reasonable basis to believe that members of the Nigerian Security Forces (“NSF”) have committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder, rape, torture, and cruel treatment; enforced disappearance; forcible transfer of population; outrages upon personal dignity; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such and against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; unlawful imprisonment; conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces and using them to participate actively in hostilities; persecution on gender and political grounds; and other inhumane acts.
These allegations are also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by my Office, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. My Office will provide further details in our forthcoming annual Report on Preliminary Examination Activities.
The preliminary examination has been lengthy not because of the findings on crimes – indeed, as early as 2013, the Office announced its findings on crimes in Nigeria, which have been updated regularly since. The duration of the preliminary examination, open since 2010, was due to the priority given by my Office in supporting the Nigerian authorities in investigating and prosecuting these crimes domestically.
It has always been my conviction that the goals of the Rome Statute are best served by States executing their own primary responsibility to ensure accountability at the national level. I have repeatedly stressed my aspiration for the ability of the Nigerian judicial system to address these alleged crimes. We have engaged in multiple missions to Nigeria to support national efforts, shared our own assessments, and invited the authorities to act. We have seen some efforts made by the prosecuting authorities in Nigeria to hold members of Boko Haram to account in recent years, primarily against low-level captured fighters for membership in a terrorist organisation. The military authorities have also informed me that they have examined, and dismissed, allegations against their own troops.
I have given ample time for these proceedings to progress, bearing in mind the overarching requirements of partnership and vigilance that must guide our approach to complementarity. However, our assessment is that none of these proceedings relate, even indirectly, to the forms of conduct or categories of persons that would likely form the focus of my investigations. And while this does not foreclose the possibility for the authorities to conduct relevant and genuine proceedings, it does mean that, as things stand, the requirements under the Statute are met for my Office to proceed.
Moving forward, the next step will be to request authorisation from the Judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court to open investigations. The Office faces a situation where several preliminary examinations have reached or are approaching the same stage, at a time when we remain gripped by operational challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, on the one hand, and by the limitations of our operational capacity due to overextended resources, on the other. This is also occurring in the context of the pressures the pandemic is placing on the global economy. Against this backdrop, in the immediate period ahead, we will need to take several strategic and operational decisions on the prioritisation of the Office’s workload, which also duly take into account the legitimate expectations of victims and affected communities as well as other stakeholders. This is a matter that I will also discuss with the incoming Prosecutor, once elected, as part of the transition discussions I intend to have. In the interim, my Office will continue to take the necessary measures to ensure the integrity of future investigations in relation to the situation in Nigeria.
The predicament we are confronted with due to capacity constraints underscores the clear mismatch between the resources afforded to my Office and the ever growing demands placed upon it. It is a situation that requires not only prioritization on behalf of the Office, to which we remain firmly committed, but also open and frank discussions with the Assembly of States Parties, and other stakeholders of the Rome Statute system, on the real resource needs of my Office in order to effectively execute its statutory mandate.
As we move towards the next steps concerning the situation in Nigeria, I count on the full support of the Nigerian authorities, as well as of the Assembly of States Parties more generally, on whose support the Court ultimately depends. And as we look ahead to future investigations in the independent and impartial exercise of our mandate, I also look forward to a constructive and collaborative exchange with the Government of Nigeria to determine how justice may best be served under the shared framework of complementary domestic and international action.
The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC conducts independent and impartial preliminary examinations, investigations and prosecutions of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Since 2003, the Office has been conducting investigations in multiple situations within the ICC’s jurisdiction, namely in Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur, Sudan; the Central African Republic (two distinct situations); Kenya; Libya; Côte d’Ivoire; Mali; Georgia, Burundi Bangladesh/Myanmar and Afghanistan (subject to a pending article 18 deferral request). The Office is also currently conducting preliminary examinations relating to the situations in Bolivia; Colombia; Guinea; the Philippines; Ukraine; and Venezuela (I and II), while the situation in Palestine is pending a judicial ruling.
Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum in an interview on Channels Tv , spoke about the Zabarmari Massacre and the rescue of the remaining Chibok Girls.
Zulum stated the following; “As of now, because of the impact made by the people and the Nigerian military, the people of Zabarmari are free to go to their farmlands”. “We are yet to ascertain the total figures of those affected by the massacre. But, as of now, they are about 43. The government will soon come up with modalities to ensure the families are well taken care of”.
“Between 2015 till date, we have started witnessing the gradual return of peace in Borno…but notwithstanding, we have certain challenges in the precinct of the Lake Chad, Sambisa Lake Reserves, and in the Mandara Hills.”
“The difficult situation we are in now is accessibility. Most of the local government headquarters are now accessible. But we want to ensure people have access to their means of livelihood, to go to their farmlands.”
Ondo State Government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on Ode, Isinigbo communities following the escalation of violent clashes in the communities located in Akure North Local Government Area. The curfew takes is to hold with immediate effect.
This was announced in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo.
He added that the state governor Rotimi Akeredolu equally ordered a massive manhunt for perpetrators of the despicable violence just as investigations are already on to unravel the real cause(s) of same.
With respect to the curfew, security agencies have been directed to ensure total compliance with the order. For emphasis, both Ode and Isinigbo communities have been closed down for any unathourised human movement and activity until further notice.
A 70-year-old Edo chief, Clement Garuba, has urged the state panel of inquiry for into police brutality to compel the police to compensate him after tear gas left him blind on January 13 this year.
Garuba stated that life had been difficult for him since he became blind due to the negligence of the police officers.
He said, “We were having a meeting in our village in Ekpesa community, in the Akoko-Edo Local Government Area when some policemen stormed the gathering and shot tear gas into my eyes. “The police also arrested my fellow chiefs and I and took us to the station where we were detained for three days.
“Before the incidents, I was seeing with my two eyes, going to the farm and taking care of my nine children and my wife but now, I can’t. I am suffering.”
He said he decided to approach the panel for compensation, as well as invite the police officers who detained him and his fellow chiefs, so that they could face the full wrath of the law.
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday granted permission to a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), to travel for a medical check-up at the United Arab Emirate, where he was in exile for about five years.
Adoke had fled to the UAE shortly after leaving office in 2015.
He returned to the country and was immediately arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as he arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on December 19, 2019.
He has since been facing multiple charges, including money laundering, before various courts which had ordered the seizure of his passport as a bail condition.
Ruling on Adoke’s application for permission to travel to the UAE on Friday, Justice Ekwo ordered the release of his passport to enable him to travel to the foreign land on health grounds from December 15 and return on or before January 10, 2021, Punch reports.
Already, his trial alongside a businessman, Aliyu Abubakar, has been scheduled to resume before the court on January 11.
In granting Adoke’s request on Friday, Justice Ekwo rejected the objection raised by the prosecuting counsel, Bala Sanga.
The judge upheld the contention of Adoke’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN), saying such application was within the discretion of the court to grant.
He said the application was granted allowing the ex-AGF to travel to UAE on health grounds.
The EFCC accused Adoke and Abubakar of using large sums of money, which allegedly formed part of their unlawful activities, and accepting the amounts exceeding stated threshold outside a financial institution in violation of the money laundering law.
The federal government has said health workers and vulnerable citizens will be the first beneficiaries of the 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered to the country in early next year.
The development was confirmed in a statement by the executive secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, during the presidential task force on COVID-19 press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, December 10.
Shuaibu stated yesterday that Nigeria is a member of COVAX, an international coalition under the WHO umbrella, adding that upon arrival of the vaccines, it will first be given to workers in the health sector and vulnerable citizens.
He said; “We are on course to access safe vaccine in the first quarter of 2021. We will be leveraging on the polio platform to ensure effective delivery of vaccines to our vulnerable population. We have established a supra-ministerial advisory committee to ensure a seamless administration. A technical group meets every week and has devised a risk communication plan to deliver safe vaccines to Nigerians.”
In another news earlier, Naija News reported that the federal government of Nigeria has put all COVID-19 isolation centres nationwide on a re-opening alert over the recent increases in daily records of Coronavirus infection. The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, made this known on Thursday while speaking at the presidential task force on COVID-19 briefing.
The academic Staff Union of Universities has spent 1,500 days or 4.09 years on strike since the return to democracy in1999, findings by a newspaper suggest.
This implies that about 19.5 per cent of every academic year is spent on strike.
According to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, about 94 per cent of students attend Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions. However, most students spend more than the necessary time in school due to the usual clash between the government and lecturers.
For example, in 1992, during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, a decree was promulgated which made strikes by teachers a treasonable felony.
The lecturers stuck to their guns and the Babangida junta bowed to pressure.
However, findings shows that the advent of civilian rule seems not to have improved tertiary education in Nigeria going by the frequency of strikes.
In 1999, the same year President Olusegun Obasanjo was inaugurated, ASUU spent 150 days on strike and in 2001, the union spent 90 days on strike largely due to the sacking of some lecturers at the University of Ilorin. In 2003, ASUU embarked on a strike that lasted for six months and spilled to 2004.
Earlier in 2003, students had witnessed interruptions of their academic calendar due to a strike which was called by the Nigeria Labour Congress under the leadership of Adams Oshiomhole over the increment in petrol price by the Olusegun Obasanjo government from N26 to N44.
Between 2005 and 2006, ASUU spent only 10 days on strike but in 2007, the union embarked on strike for 90 days and then for one week in 2008. However, the strikes became more frequent from 2009.
In 2009, the union embarked on a strike that lasted for 120 days from June to October.
The government, in a bid to end the protracted strike, made several agreements with the lecturers’ union some of which included salary increments, improved funding for universities and amending the Pension Act such that the retirement age of professors would be put at 70.
However, nine months after the 2009 agreement, the South-East zone of ASUU embarked on a strike.
The schools that were affected include Ebonyi State University, Abia State University, Anambra State University, Enugu State University of Technology and Evans Enwerem University.
The strike, which affected over 250,000 students, started on July 22, 2010 and ended on January 18, 2011.
The reason for the strike was the refusal of the South-East governors to commit to the agreement made between the Federal Government and ASUU regarding salary increment. Although the strike was not nationwide, it was given full support by the national body of ASUU, led by its then President, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie.
Between 2011 and 2012, ASUU embarked on a nationwide strike that lasted for 90 days due to the refusal of the Federal Government to review the retirement age.
On July 1, 2013, the union again embarked on an industrial action because of the government’s failure to release special funds for universities as stated in the 2009 agreement.
Tensions heightened when the then acting Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, threatened to sack all lecturers if they refused to return to work.
The government eventually bowed to pressure and released $1.3bn into a fund at the Central Bank of Nigeria. The strike was eventually called off on December 17, 2013, after five months and 263 days.
There was respite in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as no major ASUU strikes occurred across the country except a seven-day warning strike in 2016. However, on August 17, 2017, ASUU embarked on a strike that lasted for 35 days due to the government’s failure to honour the agreements of 2009.
Similarly, on November 4, 2018, ASUU again embarked on a strike that lasted till February 7, 2019, a total of 95 days.
On March 23, 2020, ASUU embarked on an indefinite strike, the same week in which the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Government and ASUU have been at loggerheads over the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, a platform which the Federal Government said all lecturers must be registered on or they would not be paid a salary.
However, ASUU opposed IPPIS and insisted that lecturers would rather use the University Transparency and Accountability Solution. When contacted on the telephone, ASUU President, Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi, said the union had been doing well to put the government on its toes.
He said if not for ASUU, Nigerian public universities would have been worse than public primary and secondary schools.
Ogunyemi stated that it was through ASUU’s protests that TETFund was born.
Ogunyemi stated, “If you are looking at the negative side of the strikes, you should also look at the positive sides. If not for ASUU, there would be no TETFund. TETFund has been funding infrastructure and capital development both at federal and state levels with grants from TETFUND.”
Abuja is gradually becoming a hub of street urchins and hoodlums who attack passersby and vulnerable pedestrians with dangerous objects to rob them of their valuables.
Hoodlums have attacked a Dana Air Pilot, Captain Edward Johnson, while he was jogging in his residential area in Abuja, inflicting deep cuts on his face and body.
The incident occurred on Thursday morning during which the hoodlums, whose identities had yet to be known, also collected his phone.
After inflicting cuts on him, they ran away while Johnson was rushed to a hospital where he could be stabilised.
A source revealed , “Captain Edward Johnson was attacked early this morning while jogging. He had with him his phone, which he was using to record the distance covered. This was also taken away by the hoodlums.
“I have spoken with the wife. She told me he is in stable condition now. It happened in Abuja this morning. He is a Dana Air employee in Kaduna.”
Abuja is gradually becoming a hub of street urchins and hoodlums who attack passersby and vulnerable pedestrians with dangerous objects to rob them of their valuables.
The police recently said that bag snatching, one-chance robbery and car snatching were among the commonest crimes in the Federal Capital Territory.
The caucus described as “reckless” the claims by the Attorney General that by inviting Mr President to address Nigerians, the House of Representatives overstepped its bounds.
President Muhammadu Buhari was advised on Thursday by the minority caucus in the House of Representatives to disregard the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and appear before the House as soon as possible.
The caucus, in a statement signed by the minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, criticised the statement by the AGF that the National Assembly lacks constitutional powers to summon the president to address it on the deteriorating insecurity and killings.
He said the claim by the Attorney General was unlawful and reckless. “We as lawmakers, therefore, urge President Buhari not to allow officials like Abubakar Malami to ridicule his office and further alienate him from Nigerians”.
“Mr President, having agreed to appear before the House and given that the constitution backs the invitation, should take steps to honour the invitation and not allow himself to be distracted by persons who have demonstrated that they do not wish the nation well,” he stated.
The opposition leader noted that the same section 218 cited by the Attorney General as well as sections 88 and 89 grant the National Assembly the powers to request Mr President’s attention on his handling of security and operations of the armed forces.
“Section 89 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended empowers the Senate or the House of Representatives or a committee appointed in accordance with Section 62 of the Constitution, to procure evidence, written or oral, and to ‘summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place,” he stated.
Elumelu said that President Buhari, in response to the constitutional invitation, had already agreed to appear before the House to address Nigerians.
“Mr. President’s apparent backward steps on the invitation just because handlers like Abubakar Malami, are afraid of the people, puts him in very bad light before Nigerians and the world,” the caucus states.
The caucus described as “reckless” the claims by the Attorney General that by inviting Mr President to address Nigerians, the House of Representatives overstepped its bounds.
“Indeed, as lawmakers, we are surprised that an individual who calls himself a Senior Advocate of Nigerian and who sits in office as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation can reason in such a manner.”
According to the lawmakers, “the fundamental reason for the existence of any government is the security of life and property and such is directly vested on the President as the commander-in-chief.
“Today Nigerians are killed, kidnapped, and maimed every day in all parts of our country. Nigerians live in constant fear, and they are asking questions; they seek reassurances, which only Mr President can offer.
“As elected representatives of the Nigerian people, members of the House of Representatives are mandated by law to ask questions on the state of the nation, especially on issues of security, and that informed the invitation to President Buhari.
“It is therefore sad and a great disservice to the nation and the President that the only opportunity Mr President had to remedy his name by addressing Nigerians through their elected representatives is being thwarted by individuals pursuing their selfish interest not the interest of Mr President or that of the Nigerians people,” the lawmakers stated.
The caucus further expressed concerns over the interest and roles being played by the likes of Abubakar Malami, to frustrate efforts to tackle insecurity in the country.
New York(CNN Business)Time magazine has named Joe Biden and Kamala Harris 2020’s Person of the Year.
The two made history on November 7 when they beat Donald Trump in a bitter election that put him in a small club of presidents who served only one term. Harris on that day became the country’s first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president-elect.
“For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year,” wrote Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan was named Businessperson of the Year. The video chat service spiked in popularity amid a health crisis that forced people to work and learn from home.
In the category of Guardians of the Year, Time named activists Assa Traoré, Porche Bennett-Bey and racial-justice organizers; frontline health workers fighting the pandemic; and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Time magazine’s tradition of singling out an especially influential person started in 1927, launching as Man of the Year. The name was later changed to Person of the Year, which is bestowed on an individual, a group, a movement or an idea that had the most influence in the past year. In 2006, Time named “You” as Person of the Year to recognize the millions of people who contribute to content on the internet. Not everyone who made the cut wielded positive influence. Adolf Hitler, for example, was Man of the Year in 1938. In 2019, Time picked young climate activist, Greta Thunberg.
The shortlist unveiled earlier Thursday was a clear reflection of the year’s most dramatic events. Biden, Trump, Frontline Health Care Workers and Dr. Fauci and the Movement for Racial Justice were all major characters in a tumultuous year that included a deadly pandemic, social unrest over racial injustices and a contentious election.
NBA star LeBron James was named Athlete of the Year and Korean pop group BTS was Entertainer of the Year, both of which were revealed on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday morning. The Person of the Year was introduced in a special prime time broadcast on the network, marking the first time that NBC has partnered with the magazine’s Emmy-winning Time Studios on coverage of this scale for Person of the Year.
Actors Issa Rae and Matthew McConaughey kicked off the hour-long, star-studded event that included appearances by Vanessa Bryant, John Cena, Yo Yo Ma, BTS and H.E.R. Bruce Springsteen presented the Person of the Year.
Time expanded its Person of the Year franchise last year by introducing four additional categories including Businessperson of the Year. The decision came after Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff bought Time in 2018 from magazine conglomerate Meredith Corp (MDP), which had acquired Time Inc. in 2017.
Time’s cover for Athlete of the Year features a painting of LeBron James by 14-year-old Tyler Gordon
The TV event is the third such broadcast partnership for Time Studios this year. In place of its annual TIME100 gala, Time revealed its list of the 100 most influential people in September with a TV special on ABC. Last week, Time named its first-ever Kid of the Year on a TV special that aired on Nickelodeon and CBS.
The former dictator, whose election defeat to Adama Barrow in December 2016 forced him to flee, was one of three from the West African nation on an updated list targeting ten people across the globe.
Britain on Thursday slapped sanctions on The Gambia’s former president Yahya Jammeh as it widened travel bans and economic sanctions for human rights abuses worldwide, AFP reports.
The former dictator, whose election defeat to Adama Barrow in December 2016 forced him to flee, was one of three from the West African nation on an updated list targeting ten people across the globe.
Jammeh, his wife Zineb, and the former director-general of the country’s National Intelligence Agency, Yankuba Badjie, are all now subject to asset freezes and a UK travel ban.
London said Jammeh was behind “inciting, promoting, ordering and being directly involved in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, kidnappings, torture, rape, as well as wider human rights violations” after he seized power in a coup in 1994.
Zineb Jammeh was sanctioned for the same reason, and for using charities as a cover for the illicit transfer of funds between herself and her husband. Both are already under similar sanctions from the United States.
Others on the list include three members of the Venezuelan military, and the speaker of the parliament of the Russian region of Chechnya as well as the region’s Terek Special Rapid Response Unit.
It is accused of extrajudicial killings and torture, and a crackdown on gay men that drew international condemnation.
In Pakistan, Anwar Ahmed Khan, a former Karachi police “encounter specialist” suspected of being behind more than 190 “hits” that led to more than 400 deaths, also faces restrictions.
“Today’s sanctions send a clear message to human rights violations that the UK will hold them to account,” said UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
Britain, which left the European Union in January, introduced its own sanctions regime in July, identifying 49 “notorious” individuals and organisations accused of human rights abuses.
The first included 25 Russians allegedly involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, and 20 Saudis suspected of involvement in the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko was sanctioned in September in response to the disputed recent elections and crackdown on protesters.
There are now 65 people on the UK sanctions list and three organisations.
The government is coming under pressure to impose similar sanctions on Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam over abuses by the police against pro-democracy protesters, AFP reports.
According to Fayose, the President showed the sign of ‘a dictator’ by shunning the invitation extended to him by the legislative arm of government over the insecurity challenges in the country.
A former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has slammed President Muhammadu Buhari over his failure to appear before the House of Representatives on Thursday.
According to Fayose, the President showed the sign of ‘a dictator’ by shunning the invitation extended to him by the legislative arm of government over the insecurity challenges in the country.
“I said on December 1, that President Buhari wouldn’t honour the House of Reps’ invitation on the worsening security situation in the country. Truly he didn’t.”
“With a democratically elected President who does not have regard for other arms of government, how else do you describe a dictator?” The ex-Ekiti State governor wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
He added that those who supported Buhari’s ascension to power in 2015 should “publicly apologise for misleading Nigerians”.
Nigerian media had reported that the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, last week, invited Buhari over the rising insecurity and the killing of over 43 farmers by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State.
An aide to the President, Lauretta Onochie, had also revealed that Buhari would appear before a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday. However, reports began to filter in on Tuesday that the President had decided not to attend the meeting any longer.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), also said Wednesday that the National Assembly lacked the power to invite the President to speak on security matters.
As of the time of filing this report, the Presidency has yet to offer any explanation for Buhari’s absence at today’s House sitting.
With President-elect Joe Biden set to be sworn into office in 41 days, precautions are being taken to prevent any infections among new White House staff.
Dozens of cases have been tied to the White House or people who spent time near President Trump over the past several months.The General Services Administration will deploy a team to “thoroughly clean and disinfect” every part of the White House before Biden settles into the Oval Office, Politico reports.A private contractor will also provide “disinfectant misting services” to remove any lingering droplets.
The White House will be thoroughly disinfected following President Trump’s exit in January and before the incoming Biden administration moves in to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The Trump administration has seen its fair share of COVID-19 infections as it has continued to hold events amid a global pandemic that often disregard its own public health guidance on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Dozens of cases have been tied to the White House or people who spent time near President Trump over the past several months, including members of Trump’s family, campaign, administration and staff. The president himself announced in October he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19, and he was treated at Walter Reed Medical Center.
The virus that causes COVID-19 mostly spreads through respiratory droplets or small particles produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes. Droplets can also land on surfaces and objects and be transferred by touch, although it’s not the primary way the virus spreads, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The virus can survive on surfaces for hours and possibly days.
With President-elect Joe Biden set to be sworn into office in 41 days, precautions are being taken to prevent any infections among the new White House staff.
The General Services Administration will deploy a team that will “thoroughly clean and disinfect” every part of the White House touched by human hands, including furniture, doorknobs, handrails and light switches, before Biden settles into the Oval Office, Politico reports.
A private contractor will also provide “disinfectant misting services” to remove any lingering droplets.
The Biden team also plans to have a skeleton staff working onsite with the majority of staff working remotely from home.
Biden has made an effort to strictly adhere to public health guidelines outlined by the CDC over the course of the campaign and following his victory in the presidential election. He has consistently stressed the importance of social distancing and mask-wearing to the public as the outbreak in the U.S. continues to rage on.
Polytechnic student bags jail term over Internet scam. The convict, Oladipo Opeyemi Juwon, was asked by the judge to forfeit his mobile phones and restitute his victims.
A student of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State, Oladipo Opeyemi Juwon, was on Thursday, sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment by Mahmood Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin over his involvement in an internet scam. This was contained in a statement issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).
Mr Oladipo was arraigned by the Ilorin Zonal Office of the anti-graft agency on a three-count charge bordering on cheating and attempt to cheat contrary to and punishable under Section 324 of Penal Code Law of Kwara State.
Count one of the charge reads: “That you, Oladipo Opeyemi Juwon, sometime in the month of March 2019, in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation by portraying yourself as a white female named Frank Tinna via your email address franktinna66@gmail.com to one Bernard Fontenot and induced him to send you the sum of $235 United States Dollars vide gift cards a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 324 of the Penal Code and punishable under the same Section of the Law.”
The EFCC stated that Mr Oladipo pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him. Following his plea, Enoch Onyedikachi, an operative of the EFCC, was called into the witness box to review the facts of the case.
Mr Onyedikachi, while being led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Andrew Akoja, told the court how the crime was perpetuated.
On the 7th of September, 2020, the EFCC, Ilorin Zonal Office received anonymous petition from some concerned citizens in Offa about the activities of some internet fraudsters in the area. The Commission swiftly placed surveillance on the area.
Consequently, on the 14th of September, we raided the place leading to the arrest of the defendant and other suspects. Upon arrest, we recovered an iPhone from the defendant.
Polytechnic student bags jail term over Internet scam. The convict, Oladipo Opeyemi Juwon, was asked by the judge to forfeit his mobile phones and restitute his victims
A student of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State, Oladipo Opeyemi Juwon, was on Thursday, sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment by Mahmood Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin over his involvement in an internet scam.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).
Mr Oladipo was arraigned by the Ilorin Zonal Office of the anti-graft agency on a three-count charge bordering on cheating and attempt to cheat contrary to and punishable under Section 324 of Penal Code Law of Kwara State.
Count one of the charge reads: “That you, Oladipo Opeyemi Juwon, sometime in the month of March 2019, in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation by portraying yourself as a white female named Frank Tinna via your email address franktinna66@gmail.com to one Bernard Fontenot and induced him to send you the sum of $235 United States Dollars vide gift cards a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 324 of the Penal Code and punishable under the same Section of the Law.”
The EFCC stated that Mr Oladipo pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him.
Following his plea, Enoch Onyedikachi, an operative of the EFCC, was called into the witness box to review the facts of the case.
Mr Onyedikachi, while being led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Andrew Akoja, told the court how the crime was perpetuated.
On the 7th of September, 2020, the EFCC, Ilorin Zonal Office received anonymous petition from some concerned citizens in Offa about the activities of some internet fraudsters in the area. The Commission swiftly placed surveillance on the area.
“Consequently, on the 14th of September, we raided the place leading to the arrest of the defendant and other suspects. Upon arrest, we recovered an iPhone from the defendant.
“The defendant was brought to our Office on the 15th of September, 2020. We gave him a computer attestation form, which he filled. We analysed his phone and email address. Our findings revealed that the defendant was into internet fraud; a fact he admitted to in writing”.
In his judgment, Mr Abdulgafar said: “I have considered the totality of the evidence placed before me; the plea of the defendant; the exhibits tendered; the uncontradicted and unchallenged testimonies of the sole prosecution witness, Enoch Onyedikachi, I hold the view that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubts.”
The judge said further: “This court finds you, Oladipo Opeyemi Juwon, guilty as charged. I hereby sentence you to three months imprisonment on count 1 with option of fine of N100,000 (one hundred thousand naira only).
Three months’ imprisonment on count two with option of fine of N100,000 (one hundred thousand naira) and three months imprisonment on count three with N50,000 (fifty thousand naira) as option of fine”.
According to the judge, the sentence would commence on the 23rd of December, 2020 in view of the ongoing examinations at the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, involving the convict,” the commission noted. The judge also ordered the convict to forfeit his mobile phones and restitute his victims.
Incoming second gentleman Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, is set to join the faculty of Georgetown Law in January.
The law school, the nation’s largest, announced that Emhoff will serve as a distinguished visitor from practice, “drawing in part on his deep expertise in media and entertainment matters to teach related coursework, starting with ‘Entertainment Law Disputes’ in the upcoming spring semester.” He will also serve as a distinguished fellow of Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy.
“I am delighted that Douglas Emhoff will be joining our faculty,” said Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor. “Doug is one of the nation’s leading intellectual property and business litigators, and he has a strong commitment to social justice. I know our students will greatly benefit from his experience and insight, and I am eagerly looking forward to his arrival.”
Emhoff is an entertainment litigator with decades of legal experience. He became a partner at DLA Piper in 2017, though he took a leave of absence from the firm after Harris was tapped as President-elect Joe Biden’s running mate and will permanently leave the firm prior to Inauguration Day. “I’ve long wanted to teach and serve the next generation of young lawyers,” Emhoff said. “I couldn’t be more excited to join the Georgetown community.”
The Biden transition did not respond to a request for comment regarding the Emhoff’s role.
Emhoff will not be the only White House spouse to hold a teaching job during the new administration. Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, is set to continue teaching classes at Northern Virginia Community College.
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