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ASUU Holds Crucial NEC Meeting

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU will hold an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja.

The crucial meeting, scheduled to take place at the ASUU Secretariat, will see the gathering of the union’s principal officers, national officers, zonal coordinators, and branch chairmen from across the nation to deliberate on pressing welfare issues affecting its members.

In preparation for the meeting, notifications have been sent to all those expected to participate, ensuring robust attendance for comprehensive discussions.

This gathering follows a prior meeting held at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, where specific tasks were assigned to zonal coordinators and branch chairmen.

A source, who preferred to remain anonymous, informed SunNewspaper that the agenda for the upcoming meeting would include a review of these assignments and further discussions on unresolved issues.

However, the source did not confirm whether the Federal Government had introduced any new proposals or taken decisive actions regarding the outstanding grievances that necessitated this emergency NEC meeting.

The source stated, “I am not aware of any new government positions on our demands. We have many outstanding demands that require the attention of the Federal Government. Several letters were written and no positive response.

“One thing that I can tell you is that our members are agitated over the withheld salaries, non-payment of the academic earned allowances, and other issues affecting public universities in the country, which the government has refused to address.”

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We Are On Strike, Stay At Home – NLC Tells Workers

The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, has instructed Nigerian workers to stay at home as it embarks on a Nationwide strike today, June 3.

The NLC made this known in a post shared on its X handle this morning June 3.

The decision of the Organised Labour to continue with its nationwide strike followed the deadlock meeting it had with the Federal Government and the National Assembly leaders over a new national minimum wage and reversal of the recent hike in electricity tariffs.

The labour unions argue that the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 can no longer cater to the wellbeing of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award which expired in April 2024, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Act should be reviewed every five years to meet up with contemporary economic demands of workers.

Labour later handed the Federal Government a May 31 deadline for the a new minimum wage. On May 31, the Labour union declared a nationwide strike beginning from Monday, June 3, 2024 over the government committee’s inability to agree on a new minimum wage and reversal of electricity tariff hike.

During the failed talks with the government, Labour rejected three government’s offers, the latest being N60,000. Both the TUC and the NLC subsequently pulled out of negotiations, insisting on ₦497,000 as the new minimum wage.

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NLC: ASUU Joins Nationwide Strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has instructed its members to join the ongoing strike led by the organized labour.

The NLC and TUC commenced a nationwide industrial action on Monday in protest against the N60,000 minimum wage proposal of the Federal Government.

ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, issued a statement on Monday, instructing branch chairpersons and zonal coordinators of ASUU to mobilize lecturers nationwide to participate in the strike as an affiliate of the congress.

The statement read, “The NLC has declared an indefinite strike action beginning from Monday, 3rd June, 2024, as a result of the failure of Government to conclude the renegotiation of minimum wage for Nigerian workers and reversal of hike in electricity tariff.

“Our branches are hereby enjoined to join in the strike action as an affiliate member of Congress.

“Consequently, branch chairpersons are to mobilise all members to participate in the strike action. Yours in the struggle.”

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GRID SHUT DOWN : UNION DELIBERATELY SHUT DOWN THE NATIONAL GRID.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby informs the general public that the Labour Union has shut down the national grid, resulting in black out nationwide. The national grid shut down occured at about 2.19am this morning, 3rd June 2024.

At about 1:15am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out of the control room and without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Center was brought to zero.

Other transmission substations that were shut down, by the Labour Union include the Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba and Osogbo Transmission Substations. Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union.

On the power generating side, power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants, the Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its generating units while three others in the same substation subsequently shut down on very high frequency. The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19am.

At about 3.23am, however, TCN commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation. The situation is such that the labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.

We will continue to make effort to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.

Ndidi Mbah
GM, Public Affairs
3/5/24

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Tapswap Gives Update Amidst Alleged Ban on Nigerians

Cryptocurrency mining company, Tapswap has made clarifications over reports that Nigerians have been banned from accessing the app.
This followed the difficulties Nigerians go through accessing the Telegram coin mining app.
Giving an update in a statement on X on Friday, May 24, the company stated that it has no plans to ban Nigerian users, attributing the access issues to technical challenges instead.
“Dear Nigerian community. We’ve heard concerns about limiting access to users from your country, but we want to clarify that this is not the case. We had to enable verification for the region from where DDoS attacks were initiated.
“As promised, we will disable this once our infrastructure is fully adapted. “We deeply appreciate every member of our community from all around the world and always welcome you here. Thank you for your understanding and support.”
See comments below:
ojehstephen stated: “Nigerians are your biggest supporters. Know this and know peace.”
love_ibanga opined: “All these ones na story. Make my tap tap no lost o. I don invest emotions already.”
winifred1_ articulated: “My fingers now tap tap on their own without my permission.”
smart_ech declared: “Me holding my hands now cause it’s already used to tapping, please rectify it fast, I cant hold it any longer.”
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EFCC Hands Over $22,000 From Convicted Internet Fraudster To FBI

The EFCC in Lagos has delivered $22,000, which was reclaimed from a convicted cybercriminal, Hakeem Ayotunde Olanrewaju, to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

This was made known by the EFCC via its X handle on Saturday, May 18.

It reads: “Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos had, on August 15, 2023, ordered that the money recovered from Olanrewaju, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment for identity theft and impersonation, be restituted to his victim in the United States of America, U.S.A.

“Speaking during the handover ceremony in Lagos, the Acting Director, Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC, Michael T. Wetkas, reaffirmed the Commission’s dedication to combating crimes and restoring sanity to the nation.

“We are delighted to be handing over this proceeds of crime today.

“The EFCC is willing and always ready to do more.”

“Responding, the FBI Legal Attaché, Charles Smith, said: “The EFCC and FBI work collaboratively together, and it is thanks to the EFCC that we can recover funds of this nature, especially from Business email Compromise, BEC.

“This type of crime cripples businesses in the US, and for them to recover the money within one to two years gives hope to the affected companies and brings some level of justice, even if not all subjects have been identified.

“We hope our relationship continues and fosters a more cohesive partnership between the two agencies. If there’s anything the FBI can do to support this investigation, we will do so.

“We appreciate this on behalf of the FBI and thank the EFCC.”

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Student Loan to Start With Federal Institutions — Nigerian Govt

The Federal Government has revealed where the student loan scheme will begin.
FG said the student loan scheme would be rolled out in phases, beginning with the federal institutions.

The Managing Director, Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Swayerr, who made this disclosure in an interview with Arise Television on Friday said the student loan application portal will be opened on the 24th of May for loan applications.
He further said the government is currently “in the midst of a sensitization campaign to inform Nigerians how the scheme will work.”
Swayerr explained that the loan scheme seeks to bridge the financing gap for students in Nigeria, enabling them to become more resourceful, and eventually aiding the country.
“On the 3rd of April 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed into law a monumental act that seeks to bridge the financing gap for applicants who want to get a higher education that is tertiary level.
 
“…and who wants to get vocational training to get proper qualifications that enables them to be more marketable and useful to the Nigerian society.
 
“The fund covers 100 percent of all the fees of tertiary institutions. There’s also upkeep for the student,” he said.
Swayerr noted that this plan will be rolled out in schemes, the first being the public institutions because of the large number of students in that sector requiring financial aid.
“We’re going to roll this plan out in phases. The first phase will be with federal institutions then to others. It’s going to be the public sector at the beginning because that’s where we find the bulk of students who perhaps need the financing cover and are most vulnerable.
 
“We have a system that hopefully makes this have a national spread and some degree of equal opportunities for those who have the desire, capacity, eligibility to engage in this scheme,” he said.
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JAMB Releases More 2024 UTME Results

An additional result of 36,540 candidates who sat for the recently concluded 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have been released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB)

In a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, the JAMB Spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin said the total results released now stand at 1,879,437 after previous results were released.

Benjamin said over 26,000 UTME results are still being withheld and under investigation over alleged examination misconduct.

He said: “Others found to be involved in any examination misconduct are still undergoing investigation as the Board would want to review all the footage of all CCTV cameras placed in all its accredited centres to ascertain the candidate’s culpability or otherwise.

“At the conclusion of this exercise, the Board would publish its findings.

Recall that the examination board had released 1,842,464 results withholding some 64,000 candidates’ results.

The JAMB registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, had explained at the time that 78 of the withheld results are under investigation for alleged examination misconduct, 4,594 for “procedural investigation of candidates, 2,896 “under investigation on verification,” and 57,056 for centre-based investigations.

Oloyede said more than 1.9 million candidates took the computer-based examination to assess candidates who seeking admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions.

He said 1,402,490, representing 76 per cent of candidates who sat the examination, scored below 200 from the maximum of 400 obtainable scores.

The JAMB boss said only 8,401, representing 0.5 per cent of candidates, scored 300 and above in the examination.

He said 77,070, representing 4.2 per cent, scored 250 and above and that 439,974, representing 24 per cent, scored 200 and above.

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LAUTECH Student Stabbed To Death In Ogbomoso

Adedokun Olamilekan, an undergraduate student at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso in Oyo State, has died.

The man was stabbed to death by yet-to-be-identified people at the Under G area in the town on Thursday night.

Olamilekan, a 200-level student of the Department of Information Science, was said to be running a business outfit known as Dcrown Unisex Salon at Under G before he was murdered by his assailants during an argument.

He was reportedly stabbed by yet-to-be-identified colleagues and later rushed to a nearby hospital, where he gave up the ghost.

One person who witnessed the incident said, “He was rushed immediately to the nearest hospital where he was confirmed dead.

 

“The case has been reported to Owode Police Station, Ogbomoso, Oyo state.”

All efforts to get the state Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso’s reactions were unsuccessful as his telephone mobile number was not reachable.

Also, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Fadeyi was not reachable as of press time.

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Registration Will Soon End – JAMB Warns Prospective DE Candidates

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has urged prospective Direct Entry (DE) candidates to expedite their registration process.

The board made the call on Friday via a post on its official X handle.

It noted that the DE registration was still ongoing but likely to be closed soon.

“Attention 2024 DE Applicants! This is to inform those who are yet to complete their registration that the registration is still ongoing and likely to be closed soon. You are by this notice urged to make hay while the sun shines,” the post read.

Recall that the examination board had postponed the closure of its DE registration indefinitely after saying it would end initially in March 28 and April 25, respectively.

JAMB then stated that the first deadline extension was to allow for more candidates to register for the examination following some challenges posed by the security screening measures put in place to tackle fake A’level results.