THE new British Prime Minister Liz Truss has selected a cabinet where for the first time a white man will not hold one of the country’s four most important ministerial positions. Truss appointed Kwasi Kwarteng – whose parents came from Ghana in the 1960s – as Britain’s first Black Finance Minister while James Cleverly is the first Black Foreign Minister. Cleverly, whose mother hails from Sierra Leone and whose father is white, has in the past spoken about being bullied as a mixed-race child and has said the party needs to do more to attract Black voters. Suella Braverman, whose…
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By Peace O. Aboje HUMAN rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana (SAN) has sued President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly and Comptroller General of Nigerian Correctional Service at the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court over the poor condition of prisons in Nigeria. Falana has alleged in the suit that federal authorities failed to provide monitoring devices such as Close Circuit Television (CCTV) and other instruments of restraint at the Kuje Prison, Abuja, which was attacked by terrorists last July when they freed over 600 inmates, including 64 Boko Haram terrorists. Falana is therefore praying the court to determine…
By Amos Aar FOUR sacked employees of the Benue State Government who served with the Government House, Makurdi, have cried out over what they described as undue delay in their suit challenging the termination of their appointments in 2017. The four employees, Agbo Lucky, Yaasa Simon Igbalagh, Godwin Gbande and Terver Gbakaan, whose employments were terminated two years into the administration of incumbent Governor Samuel Ortom in 2017 for alleged theft of a plasma TV and two generator batteries from Government House, had on 30th August 2017, dragged the Benue State Government to the Makurdi Division of the National…
STRIKES Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since 14th February. They have not been paid since the end of February. ASUU made its strike indefinite from 29th August. The strike is over the refusal of the Federal Government to implement the Memorandum of Agreement reached with ASUU to end its nine-month strike in December 2020 and includes the following demands: Finalisation of re-negotiation of the 2009 Agreement Establishing visitation panels and publication of their results Replace the Integrated Payment Payroll Information System (IPPIS) with UTAS Funding of University and Tertiary Education Sector Earned Allowances for both…
By Amos Aar BENUE State Governor Samuel Ortom and the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, have taken turns to engage each other in what can be best described as a war of words. Governor Ortom was reported to have said in an exclusive interview with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, on Monday that the President was shielding Fulani herders, his brothers, to perpetuate the killing of innocent Nigerians. The ICIR quoted Ortom as saying, “the challenge we face is the Federal Government’s action and inaction, which clearly shows us…
DESPITE significant progress in much of Asia and the Pacific, social protection policies still lag behind other areas of the world, according to a new ILO report. The reports states that fewer than half the population of Asia and the Pacific have access to any social protection benefits, and public spending on social protection in the region is significantly below the global average. Spending on social protection in the region has averaged 7.5 per cent of GDP over the past two years, with half of countries spending 2.6 per cent or less. This is significantly below the global average of…
THE National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), OXFAM and Connected Development (CODE) said the adoption of National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights remained key to effectively regulate business-related human rights violations. The stakeholders said this when a delegation from Connected Development (CODE) and OXFAM paid an advocacy visit to the commission, to discuss some of the challenges witnessed in oil-bearing communities. CODE in partnership with OXFAM, is working to domesticate the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights in Nigeria (NAP) as a tool to support the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business…
On Monday, ASUU declared to extend the strike it commenced on 14th February, 2022 because: “the demands of the Union had not been satisfactorily addressed. Consequently, NEC resolved to transmute the roll-over strike to a comprehensive, total and indefinite strike action beginning from 12.01a.m. on Monday, 29th August, 2022.” This action is in keeping with the tradition of long strikes to seek redress to ASUU grievances against the Federal Government. It is phenomenal that in spite of all the changes that have occurred in the last forty years, ASUU has been able to retain its radical engagement for over four…
By Amos Aar VICTIMS Support Fund (VSF) on Wednesday distributed food items to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Okpute Community of Oju local government area of Benue State. Also said to be donated were a tricycle ambulance and medical consumables to a Primary Health Care Centre in Okpute. Journalists were told the ambulance was being conveyed to the Oju Primary Health Care Centre as at the time of this briefing. VSF Chairperson, Toyosi Ogunsinji Akerele, told journalists at Okpute Community where the humanitarian organisation distributed food items to one thousand households displaced during the communal crisis between Bonta Community in…
FIVE fresh millionaires have emerged in Kano as part of the ongoing Dangote Cement promotion which started in July this year. Speaking at the presentation of cheques to the five new winners, Group Head, Sales and Marketing, Rabiu Umar, said the promo is a way of giving back to society and rewarding customers of Dangote Cement Plc. He said the ongoing “Bag of Goodies Season 3” National Consumer Promotion will see the company give out a whooping N1billion to its customers across the countries, adding that this huge money will further ginger economic activities as people are more able to…