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BREAKING: Labour May Reconsider Planned Protest

On Tuesday, the Organised Labour gave an indication that it may reconsider its planned nationwide protest scheduled to commence on Wednesday, The Nation reports.

Secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Emma Ugbaja gave the indication at the end of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He argued that though the measures announced Monday evening by President Bola Tinubu were welcoming, they were not far-reaching enough.

He however said the Labour team would go back to the bodies they represent to consort to achieve consensus on the next line of action.

Details Shortly…

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Shehu Sani Mocks Tinubu Over National Broadcast

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has been mocked by former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani over his nationwide address on Monday.
Tinubu had addressed Nigerians on the current economic challenge in the country.
Tinubu in his speech on Monday, revealed that plans are underway to ease the current pain and hardship many Nigerians are facing as a result of the fuel subsidy removal.
The president also spoke on minimum wage for Nigerian workers, fuel subsidy which he said was mostly benefited by a selected group of individuals, approval of N50 billion for small-scale businesses and plans to roll out buses across states and local government for mass transit at affordable rates.
Reacting to the president’s speech in a Twitter post on Tuesday, Sani wrote: “When you listen to Buhari’s speech, you will need a hot cup of tea to warm you up. When you listen to Tinubu’s speech, you will need a fan.”
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Fuel Subsidy: Nigerians Lost Peace of Mind On May 29 – NLC Laments

The Nigeria Labour Congress has lamented the hardship in the country.
Speaking on Wednesday, NLC said Nigerians lost their peace of mind following the “Subsidy is gone” comment made by President Bola Tinubu during his May 29, 2023, inauguration.
The labour congress in a statement jointly signed by the national president, Joe Ajaero and Secretary-General, Emmanuel Ugboaja, in Abuja, faulted the Tinubu administration over its“unfriendly” policies while adding that the administration had continued to treat Nigerians as slaves.
The NLC, however, noted that it would mobilise a nationwide strike on August 2,2023 should the government fail to meet all its demands namely the immediate reversal of all “anti-poor policies such as the hike in price of Premium Motor Spirit; increase in public schools’ fees; increase in Value Added Tax among others”.
The statement partly reads, “The Central Working Committee of the NLC observed that the Federal Government has shown enormous disdain and contempt for Nigerian people and workers having acted and continued to act without regard to the welfare and cries of the citizenry.
That Government seems to have declared a war of attrition on Nigerian workers and masses without any care leaving them to the throes of hopelessness and helplessness; the Federal Government has refused to put in place safeguards to protect Nigerians from the harsh economic situation that its policies have inflicted on the people rather it has decided to insult the sensibilities of Nigerian masses by offering us N8,000 per family and offering themselves N70bn.
 
“That the Federal Government has frustrated and abandoned its own committee which was a product of social dialogue between the government and workers’ organisations in the country. While the committee has not met, the government embarked on unilateral actions and programmes.
 
“That since Mr. President’s “subsidy is gone forever” speech at the inauguration day; the peace of mind of Nigerians has gone; decent living gone increasing despair of unimaginable dimensions. That the federal government has continued to treat Nigerians as slaves and conquered people which it treats with impunity without any concern on the consequences.
 
“That the Federal Government has continued in an unholy mission of robbing the poor to pay the rich in Nigeria as typified by its continued frustration of the activation of the agreed alternatives to Premium Motor Spirit and new hike in prices of PMS to N617 per litre.”
 
Speaking further, the NLC noted that the Federal Government has continued to promote the“gang-up of the ruling elite against the Nigerian people and workers; churn out without relenting policies designed to emasculate Nigerian workers and people via not just increases in PMS prices with its spiralling effect but also increases in VAT, increases in school fees across all publicly-owned secondary and tertiary institutions of learning.”
 
On its next steps, the NLC noted that it had received pressure from Nigerians who have been calling on it to lead a national strike.
The congress also noted that it had reached a breaking point hence it would, “give the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum within which to meet all our demands and to embark on a nationwide action beginning Wednesday the 2nd of August, 2023 to compel the government to reverse its anti-poor and anti-workers policies.”
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Prison Officials Leave Court Without Emefiele

The officials of Nigeria Correctional Service has left the Federal High Court in Lagos without suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele in their custody.
This happened after a tussle between prison officials and the DSS on Tuesday.
The NCS officials left after the intervention of a senior female operative of the Department of State Services.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos had earlier granted Emefiele bail after he was arraigned for illegal firearms possession but the DSS refused to allow the Prison officials to take custody of the former CBN governor as ordered by the court.
Meanwhile, a free-for-all ensued between officials of the two agencies with a senior-ranking prisons official seriously beaten.
Moments after the fight, a senior female DSS official arrived at the court and had a brief discussion with prison officials who later vacated the court.
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DSS Ignores Court Order, Returns Emefiele to Custody

The Department of State Services, has ignored an order of a court and returned the suspended governor of the Central Bank, CBN, Godwin Emefiele to custody, according to Punch.
The order by the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had granted Emefiele bail.
The court had earlier granted bail to Emefiele after he pleaded not guilty to the two counts charge bordering on the alleged illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo who granted the bail, ordered that Emefiele be remanded in prison until he fulfils his bail conditions.
However, officials of the secret police and their counterparts in the Nigerian Correctional Services were engaged in a physical fight over who would move Emefiele from the court.
A few minutes ago, officials of the DSS succeeded in taking the suspended governor of the apex bank away from the court.
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Emefiele: DSS Arrests Ikoyi Prison Boss On Court Premises

There was drama on Tuesday as operatives of Department of State Services arrested a top official of Ikoyi Prisons.
The incident happened at the premises of Federal High Court in Lagos State.
The arrest may not be unconnected with the tussle for who keeps custody of the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
The Ikoyi prison official who was rough-handled and shuffled into the DSS vehicle was later released by the secret service operatives.
The PUNCH earlier reported that a mild drama played out at the Federal High Court, Lagos State, between DSS operatives and officials of Nigeria Correctional Service as they tussled over who keeps custody of Emefiele.
Emefiele was arraigned by the Federal Ministry of Justice for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition but was granted bail in the sum of N20m with one surety, following his “not guilty” plea.
As the defendant’s lawyers were trying to perfect his bail conditions, a mild drama played out within the court premises between DSS operatives who are fully hooded and NCS over who will take custody of the embattled CBN boss.
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Nigeria Has Disappointed Africa, World — Obasanjo

Ex-President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that Nigeria has not lived up to expectations and has disappointed not only Africa but the rest of the world.

According to him, Nigeria has been carried away with ethnic and religious crises, and can’t achieve an equitable society.

Obasanjo disclosed this while delivering the keynote address at the public presentation of the book titled ‘Reclaiming the Jewel of Africa,’ written by former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, who also served as Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga.

The book was unveiled by President Bola Tinubu through his Special Adviser on Monetary Policy, Olawale Edun. The event, which was held in Abuja, witnessed a large turnout of past and current senior government officials, as former President Goodluck Jonathan and Obasanjo spoke virtually.

In his address at the programme, Obasanjo said, “Over the last 63 years, we have not lived up to expectations. We have disappointed ourselves; we have disappointed Africa; we have disappointed the black race; and we have disappointed the world.”

He, however, stated that “what Segun (Aganga) has tried to identify, itemise and recommend in his book is the way forward.

“But the beginning of charting a new course for ourselves is to admit our failure because we have not always put the round peg in the round hole.


“We are carried along by ego and emotion of self, selfishness and self-centeredness, ethnic and religious jingoism, with total lack of understanding of the world we live in and gross misunderstanding of what development entails and how to move fast and continuously on the trajectory of development.”

The former President further identified two of the major issues that were interrelated in terms of factors for all-round development.

“These are peace and security, which we cannot achieve without justice, equity and inclusive society. And telling ourselves the truth, we have not done well on these scores in the recent past—in the last decade and a half.

“I will also point at the issue of education, where over 20 million children that should be in school are not in school. We do not need an oracle to tell us the consequences of that for tomorrow,”Obasanjo stated.

He said the skill acquisition, empowerment and employment of youth would seem to be ignored or not appreciated.

“We do not need to look far for the remote causes of banditry, Boko Haram, kidnapping and other organised crimes.

“We are living dangerously on a keg of gunpowder, driving more people into poverty through good policies poorly and thoughtlessly implemented or bad policy and no policy at all,” he stated.

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Dollar Now N876 As Forex Shortage Worsens

The naira has continued to depreciate against the dollar at the exchange rate market.
According to Punch, the naira traded 876/$ at the parallel market on Sunday.
Some Bureau de Change operators, who spoke to The PUNCH, said the local currency had earlier exchanged to the dollar at 820 a week earlier.
Since the unification of the exchange rates in the country by the Central Bank of Nigeria in recent weeks, the naira had continued to slide to the dollar, due to liquidity crunch, speculations, and other challenges.
Speaking with Punch correspondent, a BDC operator in Lagos, Alhaji Sanni Abdul, stated, “Naira is currently bought and sold at 850/$ and 876/$. The exchange rate has not been stable for some time now.”
Another BDC operator, Alli Ibrahim, said, “Things are getting more expensive. As of Friday, we were buying and selling the naira at 850/$ and 865/$.”
Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr. Muda Yusuf, said the foreign exchange market was evidently under pressure as a result of a number of factors.
He said there was a curious surge in monetary expansion in the last month.
Yusuf said, “Money supply grew by an unprecedented 15 per cent in one month between May and June 2023.  Broad money grew by over N9tn, from N55.7tn to N64.9tn. This surge in monetary growth is unprecedented. Obviously, this must have had an effect on the exchange rate.”
 
He said the monetary authorities should investigate this drastic growth in money supply and take steps to curb subsequent expansion.
“Such dramatic growth in money supply poses a significant risk to macroeconomic stability, especially price stability,” he said.
Over the last few years, he said, there had been a cumulative backlog of unmet foreign exchange demand, running into billions of dollars as a result of acute illiquidity in the foreign exchange market.
With a more liberalised forex market, he said, the pressure of the backlog of unmet demands and other maturing forex-related obligations had been unleashed on the investors’ and exporters’ window.
However, at the Investor & Exporter forex window, naira appreciated by 3.24 per cent against the dollar in the previous week.
According to the data from the official trading platform of FMDQ Securities, there was a slight appreciation of the naira by 3.24 basis per cent, bringing its value to 777.82/$. It ended the previous week at 803.90/$.
As of Friday, the naira traded at an intra-day high of 855/$ and a low of 665/$ with a total turnover of $77.99m.
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Deputy Senate President, Barau Makes New Appointments

Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau has confirmed the appointment of Professor Muhammad Ibn Abdullahi as his Chief of Staff.

In a statement by his media office, Barau named Professor Bashir Muhammad Fagge, Special Adviser (Policy & Monitoring); and the Deputy General Editor of Daily Trust Newspapers, Ismail Mudashir, Special Adviser, Media & Publicity.

He named Idris Abiola Ajimobi, the son of the late Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, as Special Adviser (Special Duties); Yusuf Aliyu Tumfafi, Special Adviser (Political); Mrs. Ngozi Ndawi Nkemdirim, a pioneer staff of the National Assembly, Special Adviser (Administration); and Shittu Madaki Kunchi, Special Assistant (Media & Publicity).

Naija News reports that Prof Muhammad Ibn Abdullahi, born in Faruruwa, Shanono LGA, Kano State, was until this appointment, the Head of Department, Education, School of Continuing Education of Bayero University Kano (BUK).

The professor of Guidance and Counselling obtained B.A. (Ed)/ Islamic Studies, BUK, M.Ed/Guidance and Counselling (Unijos) and Ph.D. in Guidance and Counselling, BUK.

Bashir Muhammad Fagge, a Professor of Animal Science, hails from Fagge in Fagge LGA of Kano State. He attended Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto for his B.Sc in Agriculture; and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University for his M.Sc and Ph.D.

He served as the Provost of the Federal College of Education Technical, Bichi, Kano State between 2015 and 2023. He was a member of the Senior Executive Course 40 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.

Ismail Mudashir, who hails from Kwara State, was born in Zamfara State. Until this appointment, he was the Deputy General Editor of the Daily Trust Newspapers.

While in Daily Trust, he held various positions including, Regional Editor (Kano), Group Politics Editor, State House correspondent and head of the National Assembly. He started his journalism career in 2003 at the New Nigerian Newspapers (NNN), Kaduna.

He studied Mass Communication at the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State; Kaduna Polytechnic; Bayero University Kano; and Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India, for his undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Idris Abiola Ajimobi, the son of the late Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, had his primary and secondary education in Nigeria before moving to England, where he furthered his studies and graduated with a degree in Business Management in 2004. He also obtained a Master’s degree in International Relations in London.

Mrs. Ngozi Ndawi Nkemdirim, who was born in Jos, Plateau State, hails from Imo State. The graduate of the University of Calabar, Cross River State, has three decades of experience at the National Assembly.

Until her appointment, she was the Director, Journals and Procedure of the Senate. In 2008, she obtained a Master’s in International Administration from the London Metropolitan University, UK. She has attended various training on legislative drafting and parliamentary procedure.

Barau, who represents Kano North Senatorial District, said the appointees were selected based on their track records in their respective professions. He said the appointments take immediate effect.

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Yoruba Nation Agitator, Sunday Igboho’s Mother Is Dead

The mother of Sunday Adeyemo, the embattled Yoruba nation agitator, also known as Sunday Igboho has died.

Mrs Adeyemo died Saturday evening.

Igboho confirmed her demise in an Instagram post.

He said: “My heart is heavy. I do not want you to leave just yet. I’m left alone in this complicated world. Mama mi, who would I turn to? It’s hard for me to say goodbye.

“The cold hands of death took you. It wriggles out from its dark depths and snatched you away. Mama mi, this is too much for me to bear. Too much.”

Also, Igboho’s spokesman, Olayomi Koiki, confirmed the death in a tweet saying; “I can confirm today Saturday 22nd of July 2023 that Dr. Chief Sunday Adeyemo’s (aka Sunday Igboho) mother died.”

Igboho has been unable to leave Benin Republic since his arrest and arraignment in 2021.