NLC President, Wabba
NLC chief, others fault Buhari’s headship of oil ministry,police reform,economy
AS Nigerians marked the 55th anniversary of the country’s independence yesterday, protesters deplored the plight of students, workers and other suffering people in Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states.
At the federal level, reactions, mostly critical, have trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence anniversary speech with Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) frowning at his silence on agitation for the reform of the Nigeria Police Force.
The group, in a statement by its National Co-ordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Onwubiko, particularly criticised the President’s failure to use the occasion to unveil his government’s programme on comprehensive police reform.
HURIWA said an occasion such as the 55th Independence anniversary should have provided the opportunity for the Nigerian government under the new dispensation to provide clear guidelines and evidence-based programme of police reform given that armed kidnapping has proven to be one of the greatest national security threats after terrorism.
Also, a chieftain of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Issa Aremu, has canvassed a more proactive approach on the issues of oil and gas in Nigeria, saying that it would be needless for Buhari to assume the position of the nation’s petroleum minister.
Speaking at the Eighth-day Fidau prayer for his mother in Ilorin yesterday, Aremu said Nigeria should be less dependent on oil.
His words: “For him to assume the ministerial position of the petroleum resources means that we are still oil dependent in our focus. We should not reduce resources to exhaustible oil and gas. The greatest resource God gives all is the human resources. For me, oil and gas is being mismanaged because the human resources are not well managed.”
Students in Ekiti State yesterday protested against what they called “anti-education policies” and attempt to take education out of the reach of the poor.
Under the aegis of the Federation of Ekiti State Students Union (FESSU) and the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), they condemned the scrapping of free education by Governor Ayodele Fayose.
The placard-carrying students, who were mobilized from the state-owned tertiary institutions, poured into the streets of Ado Ekiti as early as 8.30 am yesterday chanting songs denouncing the government’s attitude to education.
Some of their placards read: “Ekiti Students Pass Vote of No Confidence on Fayose”, “Primary/Secondary Education Must Be Free In Ekiti”, “Ekiti Bursary, Nothing But A Scam”, “Blackout in Ekiti State University”, “College of Education, Ikere Ekiti Fees Must Be Reduced”, “No To N50,000 Acceptance Fee at College of Health Technology, Ijero”, “Don’t Stop Payment of WAEC Fees for Poor Students”, “We Reject Exclusion From Education Summit,” among others.
According to them, they chose to stage the protest on the 19th anniversary of the creation of Ekiti State to send a message that all is not well in the state and to kick against “bad government policies” in education sector.
The said they would be forced to continue the protest until Fayose accedes to their demands.
The march caused a huge traffic snarl at Ijigbo Roundabout with some officers of the Department of State Services (DSS) on hand to prevent hoodlums from hijacking the protest.
Addressing reporters during the protest, FESSU’s National President, Peter Obayemi, lamented that students no longer have access to bursary from the state government, accusing officials of the scholarship board of underhand dealings.
He alleged that he was detained on the orders of Deputy Governor Kolapo Olusola over his agitation for the payment of bursary to students at the board.
He said the student bodies would no longer tolerate intimidation by any government official no matter how highly placed, stressing that the Fayose administration had already declared war on students by its actions so far.
Obayemi said: “We should let the whole world know that Ekiti State government has neglected students. They organized Education Summit and they refused to invite students and instead they invited artisans, okada riders and market women.
“We are saying no to privatization of public schools in Ekiti, we reject all sorts of fees that have been reintroduced i public schools.
Government used to pay WAEC fees for students before; this government says it will no longer pay WAEC fees. We reject all these anti-student and anti-education policies.
“Many students have lost the joy of being admitted to the College of Science and Health Technology, Ijero Ekiti as they were unable to pay the N50,000 acceptance fee before the deadline.
“The Ijero College of Health Science and Technology is the only school in Nigeria paying such an outrageous acceptance fee of N50,000 that is non-refundable and this does not guarantee their admission”.
A NANS executive member, Oluwabunmi Aduloju, condemned the detention of FESSU boss by the state government for agitating for the students’ bursary.
He also criticized a policy introduced by the Scholarship Board that all students of Ekiti origin must travel down to Ado Ekiti to collect their bursaries.
Vice president of Ekiti State University (EKSU) Student Union Government, Sunmisola Ogunleye, said the campus had been in total darkness for 11 months without any action taken by the governor who is the Visitor to the institution.
She said: “The community has even used the privilege to extort money from the students who donated N1,000.00 per head for the restoration of electricity yet nothing was done by either the state government or the management of the institution.
“Unfortunately, the student area affected by the blackout is the constituency of Mr. Governor, his Chief of Staff, Honourable Commissioner for Budget and Planning.”
The students also demanded the resuscitation of the Ministry of Youth Affairs.
In Lagos and Osogbo, some workers and others also protested against the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola-led Osun State government policies which they condemned as wicked, selfish and generally anti-people.
The demonstrators particularly flayed Governor Aregbesola for owing workers salaries for many months.
Their stance was articulated by a rights activist, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman who also declared that Buhari’s present administration has no economic blueprint for the country, but mere propaganda by his party, All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sulaiman also described corruption as the bane of economy and political crisis facing the country, calling for urgent action from government at all levels with the cooperation of Nigerians to stamp out the cankerworm.
He regretted that that Buhari’s government failed to assert its position on whether to remove the oil subsidy or not whereas he had said it was being used to criminally enrich a few people.
The activist accused Aregbesola of executing anti-people policies, stressing that the governor was a disgrace to the human rights community in Nigeria which he claimed to be part of it in the past. He also alleged that some known members
of the community and intellectuals were backing Aregbesola’s “anti-masses agenda of running the state aground in the face of allocations from Federation
Account, putting Osun State into bankruptcy with the incurring of billion of naira loans from commercial banks, but what we saw in return ,was
Governor Aregbesola declaring openly that the financial crisis facing
the state was beyond his capacity and instead for Mr. Aregbesola to
resign honourably , thugs popularly known as “STATE BOYS” disrupt peaceful mass protests against him.”
Speaking yesterday in Lagos State as a guest speaker at a lecture/symposium entitled: ”Degenerating Economy and Political Crisis, which way forward for Nigeria,” organized by the National
Conscience Party(NCP) to mark its 21st formation anniversary of the party /independence lecture symposium, held at the Gani Fawehinmi
Memorial Organization(GAFAMORG) in Ikeja, Sulaiman who is the Chairman, Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State(CSCEO) further stressed that Buhari’s administration was “full of denial and lies of
electioneering campaign promises,” faulting the President resort to seeking foreign political, economic and military help.
He added: “And this is why nothing changes in our economy till today and the masses willcontinue wallowing in abject poverty and my heart bleeds for those who supported them dogmatically during the electioneering process without
asking a question. I strongly hold that it is very much in the national interest and national security to speak against the ills in our society, no matter whose ox is gored.
There is no way Buhari could fight the menace of corruption in the land without cleansing his own because a leader should lead by a good example. But how somebody that calls himself a ‘man of integrity’ would not ask where his party men sourced for fund to sponsor his electioneering campaign ?
“I am very sure and I stand to be corrected that Muhammadu Buhari’s
administration fights against corruption will fail because Buhari is
not ready to fight corruption within his party and with Buhari’s body language, you will see that this government will be at the end of the day, be the government as usual.”
And although labour unions in Ondo State have suspendeda two-day warning strike, they gave the government a 144-hour ultimatum to pay all outstanding salaries of workers or face another industrial action.
The decision was taken yesterday at a three-hour emergency meeting of unions under the public service Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), NLC and TUC, after much pressure from some quarters and the national headquarters of the unions.
The JNC chairman, Sunday Adeleye and the Secretary, Wole Akinlolu, alongside other the union leaders insisted that if by Wednesday next week the state government failed to pay July, August and September salaries, workers would embark on an indefinite strike.
The labour unions lamented that governor olusegun Mimiko was no longer sensitive to workers’ plight despite collecting the federal government’s bailout package for salary payment.
The union directed all workers of Ondo state to resume work, giving the state government some conditions, which include settlement of all deductions from May till date.
They insisted also that the government should pay all their salaries, reinstate all the workers sacked with immediate effect and desist from victimizing any union member who complied with the directives of organised labour.
But the government had in a statement said: “The Ondo State Government was embarrassed to discover that the Labour Unions went on strike when it was apparent that there were no major issues in contention.
“In the bid to ensure that workers in the state are paid despite the present economic challenges, the government joined other states to obtain a bailout loan to the tune of N14.6b for both state and local government council which will be enough to cover outstanding salaries up to August.
So far, the outstanding deductions for payment of Union dues, Cooperative and loans for May and June have been duly paid.
“Following the report of leakages and fraud in the system, government conducted a verification exercise which came out with shocking discoveries.
For instance:
1. it was established that some workers were receiving salaries from two departments of government;
2. some retired and or dead officers were still being paid salaries
3.some workers who have since retired were found to be collecting salaries in addition to their pensions.
4. there were established cases of fraudulent adjustments in grade levels with officer on lower grade levels drawing salaries that were well over and above their official status among others etc.
“Despite these anomalies, government has since paid all deductions and salaries up to July. Government further directed payment of salaries for the month of August as at Tuesday 29th September, 2015.
It should be noted that one week ago, specifically on the 23rd of September, government paid all the arrears of salaries due to the judicial arm of government.
“Labour leaders in the state were fully briefed of all these developments and were indeed part of the physical verification exercise.
Despite the eagerness of government to ensure the payment of salaries to its workforce, there were organised picketing of the office of the Accountant General specifically on 22nd September and today 30th September 2015, which disrupted the process of payment of the August salary for the remaining agencies and arms of government.
To the dismay of government, some labour leaders, forcefully closed public hospitals and schools against all labour laws and prevented law abiding workers from carrying out their lawful duties. Lives of patients were no doubt endangered.
“Government sees this behaviour as unacceptable and a violation of all laws governing trade disputes.
“Government uses this medium to appeal to all law-abiding workers to return to work.
“Government, it must be reiterated, is committed to discharging its duties and responsibilities, not only to workers but the entire residents of the state.”
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