ASUU Strike: Students Recruited For #endsars Protests — Ngige.


The Federal Government has lamented that university students who should be in the classrooms have been “recruited” to join the ongoing #endsars protests.

It blamed the development on the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said this at a reconciliation meeting between the government and ASUU officials on Thursday in Abuja.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Ngige said, “For the past one week, we have all been on our toes, we have been meeting and we pray that this meeting will yield good fruits.

“We don’t take pleasure to the fact that the children who are supposed to be in school are being recruited into the #endsars, #endstrike, #endswat campaigns.

“As much as possible, we will try to see how we can meet ourselves halfway, so that we can resolve this crisis to the benefits of all and the country at large.”

The minister said that FG has commenced the process of testing the University Transparency Accountability Solution platform created by ASUU.

He said that ASUU members have claimed that the platform will accommodate the peculiarities of the university systems and that the platform will involve three stages of tests to be concluded within the time frame the union gave the government.

“We have the preliminary report and the test-run on the UTAS, and we believe that with that, we will be able to get it right.

“Let me make it clear to members of the press, we never said UTAS will replace the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information as some are reporting.

“No! The UTAS developed by them is for the university systems and they feel that it captures the peculiarities that are configured to accommodate all the university systems, especially as it affects the professors and other teaching staff and even the non-academic staff.

“We, as government, feel we are going to put it up for tests – three stages of tests. We have done the first stage of test which is within the timeline of six months that ASUU promised.

“We are going to do other integrity tests — Alpha test, Beta test and the one they call roll-over and other whatever test. It is the technologists that know all those tests. But this is the round we are going on now,” he said.

On his part, ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, commended Senate President Ahmed Lawan, Ngige, amongst others for making the discussion possible between the concerned parties.

He said, “We are here with an open mind and at the same time, we need to put it on record that our members out there expect much from this meeting.

“Our members are ready and willing to go back to class because it is a matter of national interest. Just like every other person’s child is at home, our children are also at home.”

#punchng

Soldiers beat policemen extorting motorists, cyclists in Aba, forced to refund victims (video)

Nigerians may have reason to restore trust in security agents following a surfaced footage involving soldiers and mobile policemen clashed over extortion.

#nairaland

9 NYSC Members To Repeat Service In Imo



Alh. Ahmed Ikaka, the Director in NYSC South East Area Office, said nine of the corps members deployed to Imo would have their service extended for going against the rules and regulations of the scheme.

Ikaka said this while monitoring the passing out exercise of the 2019 Batch ‘C’ Stream 1 corps members in Imo held at Owerri on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ikaka was in the company of the State NYSC Coordinator, Alh. Suleman Abdul, during the exercise.


He said the management of the scheme would always reward and encourage corps members that lived up to expectations, but also reprimand those that eered.

Ikaka enjoined the out going corps members to remain disciplined, committed, steadfast and resourceful as they were starting their post service journey after the national service.

He advised the corps members to avoid undesirable elements in the various communities or endeavours they found themselves.



The area director urged them to make concerted efforts to put into good use all the things they learnt from the scheme, especially from the Skill Aquisition and Enterpreneurship Development (SAED) programme.

Abdul, the State Coordinator, told news men that a total of 1,279 corps members passed out from the 2019 batch.

He said they would receive their certificates of national service in the 27 local government areas of the state.

Abdul said that a good number of the corps members added value to the people in their respective places of primary assignment and in host communities.

He said such would be rewarded in due time for their exemplary conducts.

Abdul congratulated them for discharging their duties mertoriously and wished them well in their future endeavours.(NAN)

#orientdailynews

#endsars: Obiano Sacks Aide As Protesters Ground Vehicular Movement In Awka


Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra on Thursday relived his Senior Special Assistant on Security, CSP James Nwafor, of his appointment, promising to secure freedom for all illegally detained suspects under custody of the defunct Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS).

Obiano said this while addressing the mammoth crowd who thronged the Anambra Government House, Awka, as part of the anti-SARS protest going on in most states.

Nwafor, a retired Police Officer, was a former Commander at the Awkuzu SARS office, and had come under a series of attacks over alleged high spate of extra judicial killing during his reign.


He also announced that a special panel headed by the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice had been set up to document human rights violations and abuses by the defunct SARS with a view to getting justice for victims and bringing closure to old injuries.

He assured the people that he would personally visit all the facilities of the defunct SARS in the state and effect immediate release of suspects who are unlawfully held in the cells and commended the protesters for conducting themselves peacefully so far.



Meanwhile, traffic on Enugu-Onitsha expressway was grounded by the team of anti-SARS protesters and other group of Nigerians who were clamouring for reopening the nations universities.

The gridlock spans from Immigration junction through Aromma to around Regina Caeli which make up half of the stretch of the road through the capital.

Smaller vehicles who knew the terrain tried to meander their way through the link roads with the town.

Some motorists who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) expressed frustration as a result of the setback the gridlock had on their journeys.

James Nnaji, a truck driver, said he was heading to Lagos but had given up on the journey until the road became clear.

Nnaji urged the Federal Government to address the demands of the protesters so that things would return to normal. (NAN)

#orientdailynews

#endsars: FG Blames Civil Unrest On ASUU Strike


The Federal Government has blamed the ongoing civil unrest by youths across the country on the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) in the country.

Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, said this in a reconciliation meeting between the Federal Government and ASUU on Thursday in Abuja.

According to Ngige, “for the past one week, we have all been on our toes, we have been meeting and we pray that this meeting will yield good fruits.


“We don’t take pleasure to the fact that the children who are supposed to be in school are being recruited into the EndSARS, #endstrike, #endswat campaign.

“As much as possible, we will try to see how we can meet ourselves halfway, so that we can resolve this crisis to the benefits of all and the country at large,” he said.

The minister said that the Federal Government has commenced the process of testing the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) platform, created by ASUU.

He said that ASUU members have claimed that the platform will accommodate the peculiarities of the university systems and that the platform will involve three stages of test to be concluded within the time frame the union gave the government.

“We have the preliminary report and the testrun on the UTAS, and we believe that with that, we will be able to get it right.



“Let me make it clear to members of the press, we never said UTAS will replace Integrated Personnel Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as some of you are reporting.

“No! The UTAS developed by them is for the University systems and they feel that it captures the peculiarities that are configured to accommodate all the University systems, especially as it affects the Professors and other teaching staff and even the Non-Academic Staff.

“We, as government, feel we are going to put it up for tests – three stages of test. We have done the first stage of test which is within the timeline of six months that ASUU promised.

“We are going to do other integrity test, Alpha test, Beta test and the one they call roll-over and other whatever test. It is the technologists that know all those tests. But this is the round we are going on now,”he said.

Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU President, commended the Senate President and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Accountant General of the Federation, among others, for making discussion possible between the concerned parties.

According to him, “we are here with open mind and at the same time we need to put it on record that our members out there expect much from this meeting.

“Our members are ready and willing to go back to class because it is a matter of national interest. Just like every other person’s child is at home, our children are also at home,” he said.

Ogunyemi also added that it was a matter of interest that “we are doing, and we are conscious of our place in history. If academic does not defend the academia, who defends the academics”.

He therefore appealed to all to look at the issues affecting the university system as a national emergency in the country. (NAN)

#orientdailynews

2023: APC’ll Wrest Power From PDP In Ebonyi – Onu


The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi says it’s poised to wrest political power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology, has said.

Onu stated this at a meeting tagged ‘Unity, Peace and Progress’ meeting held on Thursday in Abakaliki.

The minister said that APC in the state would hoist its flag at the Ebonyi Government House in 2023 and urged party faithful to unite to achieve a common destiny.


Onu noted that the party could surmount any challenge if united by a common bond and thanked leaders of the party for burying their differences in the interest of the party.

“If we work together as a party there is no mountain we cannot climb and I want to assure you that it is very important that we do so.

“APC will take over power in the state and we are going to hoist our party’s flag in the Government House by 2023; all we need do is come together and remain united,” Onu said.

The minister said that the APC-led Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari had done a lot to rewrite the country’s ugly past.

He said that road infrastructure, security, youth empowerment and job creation had received boost under the Buhari administration.

He said that South-East geopolitical zone had benefitted from the President’s developmental strides and called on party faithful in Ebonyi and the zone to continue their support for the president.

Onu explained that the Enugu/Onitsha, Enugu/PorthHarcourt and other major roads in the zone under rehabilitation were at various levels of completion.



The minister applauded the president for the speedy work going on at the second Niger bridge as well as the completion of renovation work at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu.

He said: “The administration of Buhari remembers you, the administration remembers South-East and we have seen that projects that were not completed for 16 years under PDP, some have been completed and many are in the process of completion.

“The Zik’s Musoleum started many years ago and abandoned was completed by this administration and today we virtually have a brand new airport with a runway that is one of the best in the country that can take any aircraft.

“Enugu/PorthHarcourt express road abandoned for many years and turned into a farmland is almost completed while the Umuahia Federal Medical Centre has been upgraded to world class standard with state-of-the art medical equipment.”

Meanwhile, Mr Eze Nwachukwu, an APC chieftain, while briefing newsmen after the meeting noted that the meeting was aimed at strengthening the party in the state after its poor outing in the 2019 general elections.

Nwachukwu said that the meeting addressed bickerings and other crises that rocked it after the 2019 election.

He added that the reconciliation would make APC stronger and better repositioned to win elections in the state by 2023.

“From today all bickerings, all factions have been buried for us to move forward as we strategise to win elections in 2023,” Nwachukwu said.

He appealed to members to eschew all forms of anti party activities stressing that the party would deal with anybody caught engaging in acts capable of undermining the party in the state.

The chairman frowned at the alleged marginalisation of APC members in the distribution of federal incentives coming to the state and appealed to Buhari to appoint a presidential liaison officer for the state. (NAN)

#orientdailynews

SARS TO SWAT, No Reform At All

It is no news that the dreaded and now despised Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a unit of the Nigerian Police Force, has been abused by majority of the police personnel deployed there, a development that has led to the currently snowballing incidence of protests across the southern states of the country.

While many protesters demand the total eradication of the outfit, some others demand mere reform of the whole police system in the country.


It is really heart-breaking that in this our so-called democracy, the will of the people doesn’t even matter. The reaction of Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers state tells it all. The governor summarily placed a ban on the protests in his state, a directive that was ignored by angry protesters. As reported by Orient Daily on Wednesday, hundreds of youths, Tuesday morning, defied that order and staged their protest against police brutality in Port Harcourt under a coalition of civil society organisations. The #endsars protest in Rivers state planned to march through Port Harcourt up to Wike’s seat of government, Government House. Democracy never prohibits protests.

I would not want to accept the speculation that SARS is one of the many tools of the north-dominated federal government fashioned purely for the purpose of getting back at the southerners, even in the face of the general security high command structure of the country which may show elements of truth in that speculation.

This is the more so given that there doesn’t appear to have been any incident of the Nigerian police squad, harassing or brutalizing the populace beyond the south, as borne out by the indifference of areas outside the south to the current against police brutality. The national security apparatchik has, rather, been deployed only when thought useful to rescue and protect the Fulani when they commit crimes in the south and thought to be in danger of punishment by victim farmers and villagers.

However, Nigerian youths have been enduring, though not condoning, forgiving and forgetting many excesses by government institutions, including academic, electoral misconducts in the past, but the dehumanising mistreatment seems unforgivable as the number of protesters keeps increasing across and outside the country.

In response to the protests, the federal government, through the inspector general of police, IGP, renamed SARS as Special Weapons and Tactics, SWAT, is the cheapest prank of the century.

If the brutality and abuses perpetrated by most of these police officers could ever be stopped by mere change of name, then there wouldn’t have been any form of police brutality.

It has been a regime of brutality since the late 1992 formation of SARS. In May 2010, Amnesty International disclosed that it would be suing the Nigerian Police over human rights abuses, stating that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Borokiri, Port Harcourt, arrested three motorcycle riders, detained them for over one week and had the poor lads “beaten every night with the butt of a gun and iron belt.” On May 20, 2010, a Federal High Court in Enugu state, ordered the then IGP, Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo, to produce a Special Anti-Robbery Squad officer who had gunned down a 15-year-old boy in high school. According to the SARS officer, the teenager was mistaken for someone else associated to a crime case the police was dealing with.



It would be recalled that, in December 2016, Segun Awosanya took up an online advocacy campaign to end SARS brutality in the country. The public responded well to the hashtag with people all over Nigeria posting their various SARS experiences. The campaign got international media attention and, by August 2018, then acting president of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, ordered immediate “overhaul” of the controversial police unit. The order was following reports of widely reported human rights violation. The acting president ordered the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris, to reform SARS as well as carry out an independent investigation after “persistent complaints and reports” that concerned human rights violation. After the order, the IGP announced that the unit would be renamed to Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, FSARS.

Despite that change in name, there was no evident improvement or change in the mode of operation of the SARS officers. Rather, the level of their brutality and extortion became more heightened and dehumanising. Before the name was changed to FSARS, the SARS officers were notorious for negotiating with cyber criminals and indulging in other forms of extortion. Thereafter, the situation got worse, with the personnel getting as desperate as moving around with a POS machine to oil their extortion tactics. It soon became a crime to move around with an iPhone or a laptop.

They would not ask any questions before concluding that one was a cybercriminal who had no option except to be forced to negotiate the financial terms of one’s freedom and paying this off using their handy POS machine. Isn’t this criminal?

To men of the FSARS, it became a crime for people, especially young folks, to wear cute casuals. Such dressers were ready victims of harassment. When these unscrupulous officers tried stopping anyone and he or she ignored them or was not servile then you are in for serious troubles which might claim your life.

Moreover, is it constitutional for a police officer to kill a suspect who hasn’t been convicted by a court?

Now, let’s not dwell much on the past. The question in the minds of many Nigerian is: what benefit will SWAT be to Nigerians? We are talking of a SWAT with no specified modus operandi stated in the release of the new name and no remedial induction or re-training scheme planned for the men of the unit. Where, then, is the reformation?

For me, the Nigerian police system doesn’t merit the name Special Weapon and Tactics. What constitutes tactics in a police force that so clearly lacks finesse and intelligence? SWAT will only worsen the situation and further increase the level of brutality meted on Nigerian youths.

There is no intelligence at all in the SARS system and every operation and investigation by these officers is all about force, extortion and intimidation. The magazines of their rifles, always doubled, do not indicate that they should be in a civil society; perhaps better suited for the Sambisa Forest, like many protesters have suggested.

The ruggedness and show of force, often exhibited by these officers, would not be a total waste, if only they could be constituted into a new squad to fight terrorism at the borders of Nigerian or assist the Nigerian military in future interventions and anti-terrorist war in the country. Whichever way they are to be used for will be fine with the intimidated and brutalized Nigerian populace for as long as they won’t operate on the streets of this country.

SWAT will only be useful and a reasonable alternative to SARS if its personnel are properly groomed for the task of decency in policing, a task that calls for far more than mere rebaptism and, so, a waste if time.


#orientdailynews

Flood Submerges Anambra LGAs, Displaces 34,000 People

No fewer than 34, 000 persons are displaced with 9,000 presently taking refuge in various Holding Camps as a result of flood that ravaged six local government areas (LGAs) of Anambra.

Mr Chukwudi Onyejekwe, a Director in Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (ASEMA), who led newsmen on tour of Anambra East and Anambra West LGAs disclosed this on Thursday.

Onyejekwe, who was joined by a team of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) from Enugu office, described the situation in the areas as a disaster of monumental proportion.


He said that Anambra East, Anambra West and Ogbaru Local Government Areas were completely submerged, while Awka North, Anyamelum and Ihiala were partially submerged.

He said the Anambra Government was responding to the emergency within the limits of resources available, including creation of camps, evacuation of affected people and provision of minimum comfort for the displaced persons in camps.


Onyejekwe appealed that much was still needed to appropriately address the challenge at hand.

“It is a pathetic situation, Anambra is under siege because about 50 per cent of the land area of the state is submerged.



“In Enugu-Otu, Mpku-Nando, Eziagulu-Otu the towns are deserted, people are fishing in their homes” he said.

On his part, Mr Chinedu Ekeh, who represented Fred Anusim, the Enugu Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, said their mission was to have physical assessment of the disaster to enable the agency plan its responses.

“Our mission is to carry out on-the-spot assessment of the situation here based on NIMET and Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency prediction on flooding and we have seen the devastation.

“The six local governments are under water; at Eziagulu-Otu I was moved to tears, the place is totally submerged, people are displaced, a few of them were stuck upstairs and they now fish in the streets and market areas.

“The areas affected are inhabited areas, we shall take the report to the office,” he said.

Kachi Okoye, who is a victim of the flood seen fishing at the Village Square, appealed to the government to come to their aid and alleviate their plight.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some residents of the flooded areas were still living on the first floor of their houses and using canoes to move about.

Churches and schools are shut with no operational medical facilities in the area. (NAN)

#orientdailynews

EndSARS: MBH Power Suspends Staff For Participating In Protest

The management of MBH Power Limited has suspended one of its staff, Samuel Adekojo, for allegedly participating in the ongoing protest against police brutality in the country.

Adekojo is an I.T Assistant in the company.

MBH Power is an energy solutions company and a member of the Tolaram Group of companies.

A letter of suspension posted by Adekojo staff on Twitter and obtained by IDOMA VOICE, claimed his involvement in the protest negates Management decision to keep them away from public.

The letter signed by the HR reads below.

LETTER OF SUSPENSION

I wish to officially inform you that Management has placed you on suspension from the Company from today Tuesday 13. October, 2020till further notice.

This is due to your participation in the ongoing #endsarsbrutality# that has been going on now for some days all over the Country.

You will recall that Management has been doing its best to keep all employees safe since the beginning of COVID-19 Pandemic by asking us to work from home and when it is compulsory to come to work, official vehicle is being provided to avoid mingling with general public.

Your involvement in the protest negate Management decision to keep us away from public and for that reason you have to be on suspension till further notice to avoid spreading the disease among staff.

Yours faithfully, HR.

#idomavoice #endsars