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The Police Service Commission workers have shut down the PSC headquarters, Abuja, over the reported takeover of the ongoing recruitment of 10,000 constables by the force headquarters.
The workers forced the Permanent Secretary, William Alo, and directors out of their offices as they declared a three-day warning strike with effect from today.
The staff are protesting the alleged takeover of the ongoing constables recruitment exercise, lack of staff promotion and training by the management.
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The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this in Cairo at a meeting with his counterpart, Egypt Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Dr Amir Talaat.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting was on the sidelines of a bilateral discussion with Africa Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) on how Nigeria can access funding to support its growing creative industry.
“The beauty of the engagement with Twitter is immense.
“Whatever applies to twitter will apply to all other social media platforms, be it WhatsApp, Facebook or any other.
“That is why we will be having a retreat to amend the NBC Act and the NBC Code to incorporate these new gains we made with the engagement with Twitter,’’ he said.
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The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said this when he featured on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme monitored by newsmen.
“It is a valid thing (to do),” he said, adding, “but is this done because of elections next year? No.”
“It is done because as the minister (of finance) stated, the timing is not auspicious, inflation is still high. In the past eight months, we saw inflation reducing but the last month, it went up again; further consultations need to happen with all the stakeholders… the timing is not right, it will exacerbate the hardship of the people and the President genuinely cares,” Adesina added.
“Politics is a part of our lives, but elections will just be one event in the life of the country. When elections come, they go, the country continues. This fuel subsidy, whether it stays or goes, is going to have a serious impact on the economy.”
Asked about the financial cost of the 18-month extension for subsidy removal, the presidential aide said, “Head or tail, Nigeria will have to pay a price; it is either we pay the price for the removal in consonance and in conjunction with the understanding of the people. The other cost is that borrowings may continue and things may be difficult fiscally for both the state and the federal government. You know how much could have been saved if the subsidy was removed and how it could have been diverted to other spheres of our lives…we have to pay a price.”
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THE Nigeria Labour Congress will continue with its planned nationwide protest on Thursday despite the announcement by the Federal Government that it would no longer remove the fuel subsidy for now.
Ahead of the mass rally, the NLC has written to the 36 state governors to demand the withdrawal of the removal of the fuel subsidy scheduled for June.
The NLC argued that the perennial hike in the pump price of petrol and other refined petroleum products was a transfer of government failure and inability to effectively govern the country.
But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; at the National Assembly on Monday said the Federal Government had suspended the plan to remove fuel subsidy.
Despite the new development, the Assistant General Secretary, NLC, Asuzu Echezona, confirmed that the rally would go on as planned. “We are continuing with preparation for the protests,” he clarified on Thursday night.
Also, the Ogun State Chairman of the NLC, Emmanuel Bankole, in an interview with The PUNCH, said the union was going ahead with the protest.
He stated, “The congress observed a game plan and deceit in the new development hence, there is no going back in the planned protest scheduled in the state against the plan by the Federal Government.
“We are aware (of the suspension of the fuel subsidy removal). We are going ahead with the Thursday protest. There is no going back.”
The board made this known in its weekly bulletin released by its Director of Public Relations, Dr Fabian Benjamin, and made available to The PUNCH in Abuja.
In the timeline of events attached to the bulletin, the board announced that the “UTME/DE registration starts 12th February 2022 and ends 19th March 2022. Mock examination holds on 20th April 2022. UTME holds from 20th to 30th April 2022”.
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Mutinous troops in restive Burkina Faso arrested President Christian Kabore and detained him in army barracks a day after staging an uprising, security sources told AFP.
“President Kabore, the head of parliament and the ministers are effectively in the hands of the soldiers” at the Sangoule Lamizana barracks in the capital Ouagadougou, a security source said, with another source confirming the arrest.
The situation was tense and confused in the capital, where mobile internet had been cut on Sunday, making it difficult to verify rumours of a coup in progress.
An AFP journalist said around 10 hooded troops had posted themselves in front of the national broadcaster RTB on Monday, but it was not immediately clear if they were from the mutineers or had been sent in by the government.
Kabore, first elected in 2015 before winning re-election five years later on campaign vows he would prioritise the fight against the jihadist insurgency, has faced rising public anger about the failure to stop the bloodshed.
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The ex-goalkeeper, Peter Idah, said on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme that it was wrong to have allowed the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema; and the President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, to address players during halftime.
Barely six hours before the game, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), made a video call to the team.
The CBN governor had also visited the eagles at halftime where he relayed a message from business tycoon, Femi Otedola, promising them $250,000 (N104m) if they won the cup. Onyema had also promised to give the team N10m for each goal scored.
“We can’t have the President of the NFF addressing the players in the second half. That is not his responsibility. We can’t have the CBN governor addressing the players at halftime. That is not his responsibility. We can’t have the owner of Air Peace addressing the players at halftime. What time will the coach have?” Idah asked.
Idah added, “We had won the gold in the bedroom. We had already started calling ourselves champions when we had not even qualified. I said it the other day that officials would begin to travel to the Super Eagles’ camp to make promises. ‘If you win the cup, this is the money you will get’. I mentioned this before.
“There is a psychology of football. When you go to play football, you start from zero. You don’t go as a winner because you underestimate your opponent. I said this before that in our dressing room, we had officials that were not football coaches going to address the players and I said this over and over again. The mindset of a player is very fickle.
“He has to think of the match 100 per cent. He doesn’t have to think about money; he doesn’t have to think about family problems or women. He has to think about football.”
Following threats by its workers to embark on a three-day warning strike this week, the Police Service Commission has summoned the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to a meeting on the ongoing recruitment of 10,000 constables.
A senior official, who confirmed the planned meeting, said, “The PSC management will meet with the police boss to reach a middle ground on the recruitment issue and avert the planned strike by the workers.”
Meanwhile, the workers have finalised plans to embark on strike in protest against the commission’s alleged abdication of its responsibility to the police.
The Chairman, Joint Union Congress, PSC chapter, Adoyi Adoyi, said the workers would this week hand over a three-day strike notice to the commission management if it failed to take over the ongoing recruitment of constables being handled by the police headquarters.
He said, “During our meeting with the commission management last week, we handed down a list of demands which include the retrieval of our mandate to recruit constables from the police, promotion of staff and annual staff training.
‘’The management promised to discuss our demands at their meeting. However, we will be issuing strike notice to them this week as we earlier informed them during our meeting last Tuesday.’’
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, 84, made this known when a PDP delegation led by the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, four former governors, and members of the party’s National Working Committee visited him at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
In the team include the PDP Vice-Presidential candidate in the 2019 election, Peter Obi; former Governors, Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Liyel Imoke (Cross River) and Donald Duke (Cross River).
Addressing the PDP delegation, Obasanjo said, “I’m no longer in partisan politics and there is nothing that can bring back. Anybody who wants my advice, I will always be there in the best interest of Nigeria.
“Whatever I do in my own life…because I became president on the platform of PDP, PDP will continue to be part of my life. Since the day I tore my PDP card, that was the day I ceased to be a member of PDP. That day I vowed not to be a member of any political party.
“I will continue to be a statesman.”
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The draw held in Douala, Cameroon was conducted by CAF Competitions Director Samson Adamu, assisted by CAF legends El Hadji Diouf and Emmanuel Adebayor.
Following are the encounters, set for next March.
Egypt v Senegal
Cameroon v Algeria
Ghana v Nigeria
DR Congo v Morocco
Mali v Tunisia
Two-leg ties to be played between March 21-29.
Five aggregate winners qualify for World Cup in Qatar.
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