Lecturers in the nation's public universities on. Monday vowed to continue with their indefinite strike, declaring that President Goodluck Jonathan's decision to withhold their salaries would not stop their resolve to ensure the university system is made better once and for all.
"Yes, the non-payment of our August salary is another attempt by the government to stampede us into breaking the strike, and as usual, it will not work. The economic war the government is employing has never, and will never yield any dividend. Our next line of action is:
"To continue with the strike. We had, on July 2, commenced a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike action, and as long as the government does not meet our demand of implementing the FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement, the strike will continue."The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Abuja chapter, Dr. Clement Chup, stated this in a chat with Punch.
On comments by the leadership of NANS that the students were no longer supporting the strike, Chup said those making the call were "political and mercenary students."
"The NANS that say they do not support us are the mercenary students. They are the political, non-matriculated students. Our genuine students do understand the issues that warranted the strike, and are fully in our support."
He said government officials are only interested in awarding contracts in universities where they will benefit and not the quality of input and output in the higher institutions
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Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Finally Rick Ross Reveals His Twin Brother
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Delta State Governor Sends 16 Journalists For N250M Training In London
This comes as a crisis is currently brewing in the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), which could lead to the removal of its Chairman, Mr Norbert Chiazor, over the selection of the reporters for the London training.
Members of the NUJ in the state have condemned in strong terms the involvement of Mr. Chiazor, describing it as a sell-out, clandestine and compromise, stressing that the "corrupt" manner he led the selected private journalists to the jamboree said to be holding at the Thomson Reuters Foundation in London is an impeachable offence.
SaharaReporters investigations show that the state government in its bid to buy the media, hiding under its human capital development agenda, allegedly approved a whooping N250 million for the training of the 16 journalists in London for the second time.
Last year, the council chairman had risked impeachment following his involvement in controversial and corrupt circumstances with the state government to take 12 journalists in state for a similar jamboree at the Reuters/Thompson Foundation in London, United Kingdom.
Before now, the state chairman of the union has been accused by members of the NUJ in the state of corruption, flagrant disregard of the union's constitution, lack of transparency, respect for members, romance with government to the detriment of members, as well as intimidation and harassment of members.
It was reliably gathered that the embattled NUJ state chairman had reached an alleged deal with the state government to be sponsoring selected private sector journalists abroad for jamborees in the name of training so as to avoid any form of bad press throughout the reign of the administration.
According to a release from the office of the state Information Commissioner, Mr. Chike Ogeah, 16 journalists from the print and electronic media in the state have commenced a one-week training at the world renowned Thomson Reuters Institute in London under the sponsorship of the state government with the theme "Investigative Journalism" focusing on ethics and the principles of investigation in news writing.
Ogeah confirmed that the "Training is the second to be sponsored by the Delta State Government. Last year, 12 journalists were at the Thomson Reuters Institute for one-week training on News Writing."
He said Governor Uduaghan, who gave his approval for the training, is of the belief that it was in line with his administration's programme of human capital development.
It was revealed that apart from the 16 state-sponsored journalists, others including the General Manager of the state-owned Pointer Newspapers, Mr. Bioseh Iwobi, whose tenure has elapsed, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Mr. Austin Mowah due for retirement by 28th of this month, the special assistant and personal assistant to the commissioner led by Ogeah himself left the shores of the country on Sunday, September 22, 2013 for the jamboree in London which sources said would last for two weeks.
According to a Government House member of staff, "The governor is at good wasting public funds. Some of the persons on the list were the same persons who attended the first jamboree in London. Mowah, Ogeah, Chiazor, SA to the commissioner and few others currently in London were among the first set."
However, a group in the state chapel under the auspices of "Chapel Leaders Forum" were said to have started collating signatories towards the removal of the chairman. It was reliably gathered that the chapel leadership shall be meeting Wednesday to decide the fate of the embattled chairman.
According to the members, the chairman has been running the union like a private empire as well as his failure to hold monthly congresses which has breached Article F 6a of the union which states inter alia that "the state congress shall meet monthly."
Members of group are also not happy that Article 2 c has also been breached several times by the Norbert Chiazor-led executive as it has failed to "encourage the participation of members in decision making processes in the union."
The chapel's leadership and it's members were quick to mention the 2012 edition of the Press Week organized by the Council where the issue was not discussed at SEC or Congress before a committee was set up and inaugurated by the council.
"This led to a subtle boycott of the lecture aspect of the Week where Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan despite all efforts to flag-off the ceremony had to mandate his Deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN) to represent him due to the poor turnout of journalists for the event. Lagos-based lawyer and gubernatorial aspirant in Delta State, Festus Keyamo who delivered the lecture spoke to a hall that had less than 10 per cent of practising journalists in attendance," a reporter who is in the know of what is going on in the union, but craved anonymity said.
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Why This Man Has Nose On His Forehead (PHOTOS)
The 22-year-old man, identified only as 'Xiaolian,' damaged his nose in a vehicle accident back in August 2012, but decided not to seek medical treatment. An infection then gradually corroded the cartilage, and, when Xiaolian finally went to see a doctor, it was too late: the surgeons were helpless.
There was no other choice left but to grow a new nose to transplant it, replacing the damaged one.
The surgeons placed a skin tissue expander onto Xiaolian's forehead, cutting in into the shape of a nose and supporting it by cartilage taken from his ribs.
The medical procedure was carried out at a hospital in Fuzhou, China's Fujian province. Surgeons say the nose is well-developed, and the replacement surgery will be carried out soon.
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WOW: Ghanaian Lawyer Hangs Himself in His Office, Leaves Suicide Note
Yawson-Agyei, who was the Secretary of Ghana Institute of Surveyors, was found hanging with an electric cable in his CUA House office at Adabraka in Accra early yesterday morning.
Before his death, the deceased who was also a land surveyor, was said to have left a written note and signed a cheque for GH¢3000 directing it to be given to the wife, Felicia Yawson-Agyei. The body had since been deposited at the Police Hospital morgue awaiting autopsy.
Confirming the story to DAILY GUIDE, Chief Superintendent Frank Adufati, Accra Regional Crime Officer,
said KofI Yawson-Agyei was discovered dead in his office at Adabraka around 6:00am yesterday.
An on-the-spot enquiry revealed that at about 12 midnight that fateful day, the CEO of Property Lane Limited told the wife Felicia Agyei-Yawson that he was going for a stroll.
For a while, the deceased was not returning and so the wife informed friends and relatives about the development and a search was mounted for him.
At about 6:00am that same day, Mr Yawson-Agyei was found to have hanged himself in his office by the relatives.
A report was then lodged with the Accra Regional Police for investigations.
The deceased before his death left a suicide note and a signed Standard Bank cheque of GH¢3000, directing a lady by name Naa in his office to give it to his wife.
The note read, "Naa give the written Standard Cheque to my wife. Pick the cheque from Makola, pay in and use signed cheque for my wife. The balance in the Fidelity account is about GH¢3000 Plus about GH¢7000 from Makola. Mankoadze owes GH¢2000."
Police preliminary investigations suspected no foul play but investigations are on-going, according to the police Crime officer.
No marks of violence were found on the body at the scene,
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Niger Delta’s Most Wanted Kidnap Kingpin Arrested In Port Harcourt
Kelvin Ibruvwe, the Niger Delta's most wanted kidnap kingpin and leader of the Liberation Movement for the Urhobo People (LIMUP), he has been arrested today in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.
Mr. Ibruvwe's arrest came barely a week after he brashly gave the Federal and Delta State governments a 60-day ultimatum to develop the Urhobo area, particularly his community, Kokori in Ethiope East local government area, or risk heavy attacks on oil facilities.
Two security sources told SaharaReporters that the notorious kidnapper was arrested on Wednesday morning by a special squad of the State Security Services (SSS) deployed from the agency's headquarters in Abuja. "We were also assisted by some local security operatives based in Delta State to apprehended Henry at the early hours of today," one of the sources said.
Our correspondent was told that Kokori town had been taken over by men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) who mounted a coordinated attack to arrest other members of LIMUP as soon as the news of Ibruvwe's arrest filtered into the community.
A source in Kokori disclosed that the arrival of the JTF operatives sparked off an exchange of gun battle between members of LIMUP and the JTF. "The JTF people brutalized many people in our community. Some youths and men were arrested while some women were beaten for daring to prevent arrest of their husbands and children," the source said. The source added that many residents had fled the community for fear of further reprisals and possible mistreatment by the JTF.
Last week, Mr. Ibruvwe and other members of his gang staged a dramatic event where they brandished sophisticated weapons while issuing an ultimatum to the Goodluck Jonathan administration as well as the Delta State government. One police source told SaharaReporters that the group's high-profile event had embarrassed the state commissioner of police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, and the commandant of the JTF, adding that the two law enforcement officials almost earned reprimands from their bosses in Abuja.
"Because of the embarrassment Henry caused, orders were issued to trail him and arrest him by all means," said the source.
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Photo of the day: Lagos leaving Nigeria behind!
The Lagos –Badagry expressway is a Federal Government road which is currently being expanded to 10 lanes to accommodate a BRT lane and light rail through collaborative efforts of the state govt, the federal govt and international financial agencies.
Julius Berger is handling the 10 lane road segment while China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is handling the Light Rail section of the road.
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