Ease of doing business: Speaker Obasa challenges NIPOST on new ideas
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Mudashiru Obasa, has promised that the House would collaborate with any organisation that aims to assist the state with the ease of doing business.
Speaker Obasa made this promise on Wednesday when he received a team from the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) led by Dr. Ismail Adebayo Adewusi, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Post Master-General of the Federation.
“I want to assure you that Lagos is always ready to collaborate with any institution that is willing to work with us for the progress of the state.
“This House of Assembly is ready to work with you. The House is always ready to support with legislations and resolutions to enhance the ease of doing business in the state,” Obasa told the team.
The Speaker expressed optimism that NIPOST will succeed especially with the recent amendment to a law with the result being that the organisation now has the opportunity of a public/private partnership (PPP) arrangement.
“I commend the Senate, particularly the chairman, Committee on Communications, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for the good job done in amending the NIPOST law,” he said while urging the officials to take advantage of amendment to revolutionise the organisation’s mode of operations.
Noting that Nigerians now device various means of getting goods and services to their targets including using commercial bus drivers, the Speaker said he looked forward to that period when people’s interests in NIPOST would be rekindled like it was in the past.
Speaking earlier, Dr. Adewusi, who said he was proud to be associated with Lagos as a result of the successes recorded by state, commended Speaker Obasa and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for playing roles that have assisted the state with its growth and development.
Adewusi, a former commissioner for economic planning in Lagos, however, lamented that internet technology had altered the operational efficiency of the postal services across the world, but added that this had not deterred his team at NIPOST.
“We have started the process of reform which is culminating in the unbundling of the Nigerian Postal Service to now have a property company, a logistics and transport company, and a bank. We have started this process and I believe that by the time I conclude my five-year tenure, we would have succeeded,” he said.
Adewusi explained that by virtue of its assignments, NIPOST is supposed to regulate logistics and courier companies and that this include licensing of motorcycles used for such businesses.
He said his organisation needed the support of the House with legislations that would help ease the task before it especially as it relates to registration of dispatch riders, issuance of identity cards and tracking locations.
He also sought the support and collaboration of the House in the area of training arrangements for motorcyclists and the use of the ‘address verification solution’, an idea of NIPOST aimed at tackling insecurity and crime in the country.
Kaduna/NLC face off: Panel Demands Payment To disengaged workers
The payment of all entitlements to the workers disengaged by the Kaduna State government formed the plank of recommendations from the 10-man Bipartite Committee that looked into industrial dispute in the Northwest state.
The panel set up by the Federal Government to resolve the face-off between the Kaduna State government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) submitted its recommended yesterday.
It recommended that the disengaged staff of the Local Government, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the Primary Health Care Board and all those not paid, should be paid appropriate benefits.
Also recommended to be paid their due benefits are staff of the Kaduna State Development Company who were disengaged between 2017 and last year.
On July 10, the federal government inaugurated a 10-member committee to resolve the dispute between NLC and Kaduna State Government following the decision of the former to embark on a one-week warning strike.
The protest by the NCL was over alleged anti-Labour practices and sack of its members by the Governor Nasir El-Rufai-led administration.
The Committee, which was chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr. Peter Tarfa, submitted its interim report yesterday to Labour and Employment Minister Dr. Chris Ngige.
Tarfa said: “There is also need for consultation between the Government and Labour in line with the prescription of the Labour Act and other relevant Labour statutes.
“There is need for mutual respect and confidence building between the social partners, especially on issues of collective bargaining.”
He further stressed the need to bridge the communication gap between the government and union leaders, which the panel observed triggered strike.”
In terms of victimisation, tarfa said his committee recommended the re-issuance of letters to to override all the queries answered by nurses, who participated in the strike.
The Labour minister said the dispute could have been worse but for federal intervention, recalling that there has been no love lost between the Kaduna government and the NLC since the sack of teachers in 2017.
Ngige said: “It is the same matter we are handling. It is crystallising. In that one, teachers without requisite qualification were teaching children. We said no. We agreed on what should be done and it was done.
“I advised labour to tell their members to get the required qualification to ensure quality education and it was done. In this case, it was redundancy.”
He described the submission of the report as a new dawn and a very important landmark in the history of his ministry.
The minister said the need to halt the government/Labour crisis to prevent possible conflagration and spread into other Northwest states informed the federal intervention.
Ngige said: “Just like President Buhari said, Kaduna is the home of retired Generals, former Ministers, Police Chiefs, retired Permanent Secretaries and who is who in old Northern Region, just like Enugu is for the old Eastern Region and Ibadan for the Western Region.
“The President said we should do everything to arrest the situation in Kaduna. It has not been easy for me and the Permanent Secretary.
“We were on our phones talking to the NLC and Kaduna State Government. We are happy that it has been brought under control. It could have been worse.”
Ngige thanked members of the committee, pointing out that it would have been made a bipartite committee of the state and the NLC, but the members decided to make permanent secretary the their chairman.
The minister said: “I listened to the report presented by the Chairman. You kept to the original terms of reference you were given during the inauguration of the committee three weeks ago. That helps the work and the employees and their leaders seeing what has been done, will know that there is no victimisation as alleged. You have shown transparency.
“Somebody cannot be working without the necessary certification. Somebody who is not a nurse and is found in a hospital must go.
“People who have disciplinary matters of fraud and misappropriation of funds, you have the right to disengage them under the omnibus of redundancy.
“If as government, you are spending all your money on personnel, it does not make sense. That money is for everybody in the state. It is for social, educational and capital infrastructure. I am satisfied.”
NLC Deputy President and panel’s Co-Deputy Chairman Najeem Usman Yasin thanked Ngige and Tarfa, expressing the hope for implementation of the recommendations.
Secretary to the Kaduna State Government Balarabe Abbas Lawal also thanked the minister for his intervention, reassuring that they came with the sole aim of finding a lasting peace in the state.
12 Years after Fawehinmi’s Death, his Son, Mohammed Dies of Covid-19
Twelve years after a legal luminary of global reckoning, Chief Gani Fawehinmi passed, his scion, Mohammed, died last night of complications from Covid-19.
Mohammed reportedly died at a private hospital yesterday and the Minister of State for Niger Delta, Mr. Festus Keyamo, has confirmed the news.
Although some other sources claimed Mohammed died of an undisclosed ailment at a private hospital in Lagos, it was however confirmed he died of complications arising from Covid-19.
This news medium also has reasons to believe he might have died at a government facility in Lagos State.
But the family was yet to make a statement on his death as at the time of filing this report.
A reliable source at a government health facility, who confirmed he died of Covid-19 complications, told THISDAY that, “We have been managing him since morning, but unfortunately, he passed on. Yes, he died of Covid-19,” suggesting he died at a government hospital.
Keyamo, though confirmed the news without stating the cause and where he died, hadworked with the late Mohammed at the Fawehinmi chambers for many years.
In a statement, the junior minister lamented: “My brother, friend and son of my late boss, Mohammed Fawehinmi, is gone. I am speechless and heartbroken. I just spoke with the eldest daughter, Basirat and she confirmed it,” said Keyamo.
According to him, “Mohammed was energetic and very intellectually alert, despite his mishap. He kept the flame of his father burning. We will sorely miss him.”
Mohammed lost his ability to walk after a terrible auto accident in 2003. A graduate of Business Administration at the University of Lagos, before he ventured into law practice, he obtained an LLB degree from the University of Buckingham, England, and was called to Nigerian Bar in 1998. He has over 20 years of experience in the practice of law.
Until his death, he was the Head of Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers, Director, Nigerian Law Publications Limited, Director, Books Industries Nigeria Limited and Director, Gani Fawehinmi Library & Gallery Limited.
Mohammed once described growing up under his father as a military camp. “It was like growing up in a military camp. He gave the order, and you must comply. You failed to do so and you got thoroughly punished. I particularly have been displaced with any sort of rod that you can imagine.
“Until the anger in him calmed, he would not stop punishing you. The only time you would offend my father and he let you walk away was whenever he sighted his mother. No matter your offence, he would not punish you once she was there. Being the first child, my father made sure he disciplined me the most.”
Mohammed’s greatest ambition was to be an army officer, a move that his father rejected.
“I wanted to become an army general. I had three uncles in the army. Two of them were captains while one was a major. I loved the uniform and personality of military men, being like them was just what I wanted for myself.
“When I was 14, we were given forms in school for the Nigerian Defence Academy. I hurriedly filled mine and took it to my father for him to sign; I never knew I had courted trouble. Till he died, I don’t think he had ever been that angry. He said I wanted to go and join the people that were throwing him in jail all the time. He said I wanted to join those,who wanted to kill him. He said it was better he killed me before I joined his enemies.
“It took four senior lawyers to hold him down that day. One of them was OAR Ogunde, a senior advocate, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, Mike Philips and one other person. I had to run away from the scene as fast as I could and managed to jump the fence before tearing the form. I thought he had forgotten about everything but I was surprised when he woke me up with the cane at about 2:30 am the next morning. He dealt with me thoroughly that day.
“Later in life, I wanted to become a business administrator even though the desire to become a military man never left me. When I went to England to study law after my first degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos, I met a military general, who further aroused my interest in the profession.
“But immediately after I finished my studies, my father was on my neck to return to Nigeria to attend law school. For a while, that interest waned in me but whenever I come across a military cantonment and I see the way the officers move, I feel like being a part of them,” he said.
His father, Gani Fawehinmi, who was one of Nigeria’s most iconic legal minds, died on September 5, 2009.
In an interview he granted before his death, he said, “I just felt that I shouldn’t bother any woman with my condition. I didn’t want anybody to marry me out of pity. Even though I always have females around me, it is not every woman that can stay with a person with disability of my kind.
“Most of the women I have met in recent times are not the ones that can stay with a man, they are the type who would want to attend parties and keep all sorts of friends instead of looking after me. Of course, a few have come close to what I want but the temperament is nothing to write home about”.
Speaking about the challenge of practicing law while on a wheelchair, Mohammed said: I look at my ordeal as part of life’s ‘buffet’, just like it served my late father on several occasions. I feel I’m in a mini detention centre at the moment, but then, I’m positive that one day, I’ll be free. But I’m glad that I have been able to practice as a trained lawyer despite the tragedy that I’ve encountered in life.”
Meanwhile, a lawyer and rights activist, Dr Kayode Ajulo, has expressed sadness at the death of Mohammed Fawehinmi.
Ajulo described him as a comrade and brother who would be missed.
He said that Mohammed stayed on course until death.Ajulo prayed God to give succour to Mohammed’s family.
Also, The Centre for Human and Socioeconomic Rights, said demise of Mohammed Fawehinmi, was a terrible loss.
National President of the group, Mr. Alex Omotehinse, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) while reacting to the death of the lawyer.
Omotehinse said the news was a rude shock.
“The fact remains that among the children of the late legal icon, Mohammed was the only one who identified with us and remained with us, despite the challenges he faced.
“Mohammed stood with us in the struggle to defend the masses.
“Now that he has again dropped the baton, a very big vacuum has been created,” he said.
According to him, the death of Mohammed Fawehinmi, implies that Gani Fawehinmi’s household may be finally missed in the activism circle.
He added: “It is only Mohammed that carried the mantle, despite his health challenges.
“When some of us see him, we believe Gani was still alive, because he was bold, spoke like his father, he was courageous and never looked at his challenges.
The rights activist recalled how civil society groups, alongside Mohammed, attended the burial of late Mr. Yinka Odumakin, another activist, who died recently.
He added that the late younger Fawehinmi, also joined them recently, during a courtesy visit to the residence of another late activist, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma .
Omotehinse said the death was a huge loss and very sad one, praying God to console the late Mohammed’s mother and family.
Chelsea Lifts UEFA Super Cup After Penalty Drama With Villareal
UEFA Champions League winners, Chelsea defeated Villareal, winners of the Europa League on penalties to claim the UEFA Super Cup, on Wednesday night.
Moroccan international, Ziyech had given the Premier League side a first half lead, which was canceled out but Gerrard Moreno on the 73 minute.
Chelsea had the best of chances to kill the game but were kept at bay by their Spanish opponents for the whole of 90 minutes, and even till the end of extra time.
Kepa Arrizabalaga came on in the 119th minute and proved to be the hero of the night as he kept out two spot kicks from going in.
Chelsea won the UEFA Super Cup on 6-5 penalties after Kai Harvetz had missed the club’s first spot kick in the shootout.
The Blues next take on Crystal Palace for the opening league of the 2021/2022 Premier League season on Saturday.
A popular political activist and convener of Concerned Nigerians, Prince Deji Adeyanju, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari and his aides to stay off Twitter.
The former PDP member was reacting to the decision of the Federal Government to lift the ban on the micro-blogging site.
The disclosure was made on Wednesday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed while briefing newsmen shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
Mohammed stated that the government negotiation with the micro-blogging platform is at an advanced stage already, saying most of the conditions given to the platform have been accepted.
He revealed that areas still pending include setting up an office and having a Twitter staff of management cadre that will serve as the country representative.
Reacting in a post on Twitter, Deji Adeyanju claimed Buhari and his ‘clueless’ aides are eager to return to Twitter as they are tired of other social media platforms.
In a tweet, Adeyanju wrote: “Buhari is tired of KOO, wants to come back to Twitter urgently which is why they are looking for ways to suspend Twitter ban in Nigeria. We don’t want him and his clueless aides back on this app. KOO is where they belong permanently.”
The federal government of Nigeria has announced its intention to lift the ban on Twitter in a matter of days.
The disclosure was made on Wednesday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed while briefing newsmen shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
Mohammed stated that the government negotiation with the micro-blogging platform is at an advanced stage already, saying most of the conditions given to the platform have been accepted.
He revealed that areas still pending include setting up an office and having a Twitter staff of management cadre that will serve as the country representative.
The Minister expressed optimism that within a few days, or weeks, all pending issues should have been resolved.
A former minister of works, Adeseye Ogunlewe has said that the igbos will not be able to produce the next president of Nigeria because of their ‘lack of unity’.
Ogunlewe made this comment on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ programme on Wednesday. He added that said the Igbos must invest in party politics to stand a good chance at the next general election.
The 77 year old APC member said; “Another set of people that are appropriate, they are the people from the southeast but they have the problem of leadership,”.
“They are so endowed that they are spread all over Nigeria and they can gather a lot of votes, but they are too divided. An Imo person, an Enugu person, an Ebonyi man will not listen to themselves.
“They have the money. If they sit down and aggregate what they can offer, they have more money than almost everybody in Nigeria. But have you seen one person from the south-east that said ‘I am interested in the presidency, I will start to campaign all over Nigeria immediately, raise money for me?’ and influence the structure of the party?”
“You must invest in that structure, you must be able to determine who is going to be part of that structure because they are the ones to do the zoning, they are the ones to do the convention to pick a presidential candidate, so if you are not part of them, you are out. So if any easterner is interested, let him start now to invest in the structure of the party.”, he said.
Temmie Ovwasa, popularly known as YBNL Princess has taken to the microblogging platform, Twitter to disclose why it’s too late for her to stop being gay despite constant pressure from her family.
The young singer who recently opened up about her early life, revealing how knew other gay people until later years listed the benefits that come with her queerness noting it will be a downgrade to settle down with a cishet man.
According to Temmie, she can’t go from receiving multiple orgasms to wiping men’s butts to having pregnancy scares, adding that she would bring home a woman and not a man.
In her own words, she wrote; ‘When my family members remind me that I’ll be 25 this year, hoping that my lesbian phase has passed and I can bring a man home. No dear, i will bring a woman home but not your home, Mine. Cant go from multiple orgasms, genuine concerns from my partner, full autonomy because she knows she doesn’t own me and treats me as such to 2 strokes, pregnancy scares and an immature man child who can’t wash his ass or keep a straight woman interested. Dear Family, it’s too late.
How do I explain to these people that after years of being with women being remotely interested in a cishet man in a downgrade? Well, I don’t have to’
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has revealed that he considered leaving the opposition party a few weeks ago.
Speaking on Tuesday during an appearance on Channels Television, George said the Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee (NWC) was running the party like a private business.
George, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) added that he was thinking of retiring from politics, but was prevailed upon by some stakeholders and elders of the party.
“The way they were managing the party fell short of seriousness. So as a concerned member, I was thinking that I should leave the party and go home and rest because I won’t join any party after PDP,” he said.
George blamed the National Chairman of the party, Uche Secodnus, for the internal wrangling that rocked the PDP for some few weeks.
He noted that some party members who called for the resignation of Secondus as national chairman are right to do so, adding that the platform of the party was wobbling.
George, however, appreciated the party stakeholders who met in Abuja and proposed that the National Convention earlier scheduled for December will take place in October.
He said the party has woken up from its slumber and is ready to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.
He said: “As an elder, as a leader of this party, and as somebody who served for ten years at the NWC, I saw the platform of our party wobbling. You cannot do anything meaningful when your party is not stable,” he said.
“What I will tell Nigerians is this: today is a special day in the annals of the PDP’s history.
“That the elders, having considered, having seen what is going on in the party, decided to save the party because the founding fathers have a certain mission and that mission is so vital for the Nigerian state. We have been giving very adequate solid issues on national matters and we did it.
“It (PDP) became so petty and so rowdy. When you disregard the ground norm, the constitution of the party, then what are you doing? You are translating it as if it is your private company.
“We saw this and I won’t like to go further into the debris and filth.”
Marwa Vows To Dismantle Drug Cartel As NDLEA Operatives Recover 137.55kg Of Cocaine In Ondo, Nasarawa, Benue Raid
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have launched fresh raids in Nasarawa, Benue and Ondo states where no fewer than 43 dealers and consumers of illicit substances were arrested.
137.55 kilograms of assorted drugs was also recovered during the ‘offensive action.’
Femi Baba Femi, Director, Media & Advocacy of the agency disclosed this to NAOSRE in a press statement.
According to the NDLEA spokesman, operatives in Nasarawa state were backed by a detachment of soldiers from 177 battalion of the Nigerian Army, Keffi.
The team raided notorious drug joints located in Kara Masaka, Ruwa Ruwa Uke, Abattoir at the border with FCT, Filing Bala, Masaka U- Turn and others for two consecutive days between August 5 and 6.
During the raids, at least 41 suspects were arrested and assorted drugs such as cocaine, cannabis sativa, cough syrup with codeine, rohypnol and tramadol with a total weight of 65.250kg recovered from them.
Cannabis plants planted by the drug dealers in the adjoining bushes were destroyed while all the stalls in the drug markets were dismantled and set ablaze.
In the same vein, operatives of the Ondo state command of the Agency in the early hours of Monday, 9th August, 2021 raided Odopetu area of Akure in Akure South local government area of the state capital, where a 44-year-old Mrs. Folake Ademola was arrested while her husband escaped arrest.
Recovered from their home include: 65.400kg of cannabis sativa; skunk – 500grams; loud- 16grams; Colorado- 34grams, bringing the total of drugs seized from them to 65.950 kilograms.
In Benue state, a 34-year-old Iornum Emmanuel was arrested at the NDLEA Aliade checkpoint on Sunday 8th August, 2021 with different quantities of assorted illicit drugs, which include; tramadol -500grams; diazepam- 1.5kg and exol 5- 7.9kg.
Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the commanders, officers and men of the Nasarawa, Ondo and Benue state commands for their commitment to the goal of ridding the country of the menace of drug abuse and trafficking.
He charged them and their colleagues in other commands to continue on the offensive until the last drug cartel in Nigeria is dismantled.
