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Resident doctors in
the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) resumed duties
today after calling off a one week strike action yesterday.

The Lagos branch of
the Association of Resident Doctors (LASUTH-ARD) called of the strike
after a meeting it held at the hospital premises on Wednesday. The
strike, which lasted seven days, was observed to press for the payment
of the deducted 12 days’ pay from their salaries by the state
government, for participating in a nationwide strike called by the
National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) in April.

”We have just
called off the strike, so we will resume work 8 am tomorrow morning;
they (state government) have answered us,” said the association
president, Saliu Oseni, who described the state government’s action as
an insult to the medical profession. Dr. Oseni also said the
association had forwarded a memo stating its other demands to the state
government for consideration, prominent among which is the
implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS), an
improved salary structure.

Getting back to business

The withholding of
the salaries to punish the doctors had, however, met with criticisms
from some quarters, including the Democratic Peoples’ Alliance (DPA),
an opposition party, and NARD, which have pushed for the immediate
payment of the deducted salary.

In its protest, the
NARD gave the Lagos state government seven days to pay the deducted
money, threatening a nationwide strike of resident doctors if the
demand was not met by then; the ultimatum expired yesterday.

While the strike
lasted, various wards of the hospital were empty, except for the
emergency ward, where consultants were on hand to attend to the
patients. With the return of the doctors, patients will be relieved of
their suffering.

A patient, Kabiru
Mohammed described the news of the doctor’s strike call-off as “a
welcome development.” “I think it’s a good thing that both of them have
resolved their issues, because it’s we people that will suffer, not the
doctors, not the government,” he said.

The Nigeria Labour
Congress has described the task ahead of elections’ boss, Attahiru
Jega, as enormous, stating that the electoral commission presently
lacks the operating environment that is required for him to succeed in
the office

“The question of
financial autonomy of INEC is highly imperative at this time so that
the new INEC chair would hit the ground running given the enormous
responsibilities awaiting him especially in cleaning up the messed-up
electoral register and other critical logistics that will ensure a
smooth general election in 2011,” said Abdulwahed Omar, NLC president.

Meanwhile, the Mega
Party Movement, applauded the nomination of Mr Jega. In a statement
signed by its secretary, Wale Okuniyi, yesterday, the party said Mr.
Jega’s appointment was a major victory for Nigerians who have been
agitating for an electoral umpire with high pedigree and integrity. The
party described Mr Jega as an icon of the democratic struggle, adding
that his nomination has restored hope and opened a new vista of faith
in Nigeria’s electoral system ahead of the 2011 general elections.

The way forward

It also hailed the
selection of Lai Olurode and other members on the new board of INEC,
and advised them not to allow themselves to be tainted. The party also
advised the federal government to fully observe the process of
electoral reforms recommended by the Muhammadu Uwais-led panel.

Another group,
Human Rights’ Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has challenged Mr
Jega to put in place a credible voters’ register for Nigerians.

Born in Jega on 11
Jan., 1957, Attahiru Jega attended Sabon Gari Primary School between
1963 and 1969 and Government Secondary School, Birnin Kebbi. He went to
Bayero University, Kano (BUK) in 1974 and graduated in 1978 with second
class upper division B.Sc. in Political Science. He started his career
as a graduate assistant with BUK and rose to become a professor, and
then vice chancellor of the university in 2005. His tenure as vice
chancellor is expected to end in October.

Evidentiary hearing
into the cases of some former state executives is yet to commence,
nearly four years after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) filed criminal charges against them, the chairman of the
commission, Farida Waziri, has said.

Mrs. Farida Waziri,
who was speaking in Abuja yesterday at the public presentation of
Anti-Corruption Handbook authored by Tabi Joda, listed several
instances where the slow pace of court processes stalled the fight
against corruption.

Some of the ex-governors include Ayo Fayose, Saminu Turaki, and Joshua Dariye.

Mr. Fayose was
prosecuted on December 17, 2006 on a 51-count charge on financial
misappropriation totaling N1.2 billion; Turaki’s trial also commenced
on July 13, 2007, when he was arraigned on a 32-count charge for
laundering N36 billion; and Dariye’s was also set on the same date,
based on prima facie case of corrupt enrichment and money laundering of
N700 million.

While reiterating
her call for the establishment of special courts to try corruption
cases, Mrs. Waziri said court processes have frustrated the work of the
agency.

“I have also called
for laws that will enable us sequestrate the assets of accused persons
and convert them to government assets upon their conviction. Whereas
those are long term goals, I think the judiciary can do a lot to speed
up our trials,” she said.

She also added that
the commission has recovered $3.5 billion as proceeds of crime and over
N3 billion after investigating tax cases, which has been forwarded to
the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Minister of Police
Affairs, Adamu Waziri, and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bell Adoke, in
their goodwill messages both agreed that fighting corruption was the
collective responsibility of Nigerians. Mr. Adoke promised that attack
on EFCC operatives would be a thing of the past.

Mrs. Waziri said the police must be reformed to execute its constitutional duty.

The deputy Senate
president, Ike Ekweremadu, who is also the head of the Senate committee
on constitution review, has affirmed that the president need not sign
the amended constitution before it becomes binding and effective.

“I’m surprised that such an argument is coming up,” he told reporters in an interview in Abuja, earlier in the week.

He argued that the
constitution will automatically become effective once the required
two-third of the state Houses of Assembly assent to it.

“I don’t know who
is engineering that because section 9 says an Act of the National
Assembly for the alteration of constitution will be conducted in a
manner provided by that section 9. Don’t forget we copied from the
American constitution. Once the American Congress passes the
Constitution Amendment and it is sent to the state, just like in our
own, and you have the requisite number, it becomes automatically
operative. No American president has ever signed a constitutional
amendment. “

Last bus stop

He further argued
that for the constitution to make provision for two-third of the
members of the National Assembly and two-third of the state Houses of
Assembly to ratify it means that that alone is the “last bus stop.” The
deputy Senate president has always argued that since Nigeria’s
constitution is modelled after that of the United States of America, it
will not require the assent of the president to alter it.

“Amendment of the
constitution, according to section 9, does not require presidential
assent,” he said in a Senate workshop in Kaduna, October last year.

He had argued
against the opinion of Tayo Oyetibo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who
lectured the Senate on steps to successfully amend the Constitution in
that workshop.

Mr. Oyetibo had
said that unlike the American Constitution, which states clearly that a
law is valid with the assent of a certain majority of their National
and State Houses of Assembly, the Nigerian Constitution is ambiguous
about it, and that that leaves the president with the power to validate
any law.

Mr. Oyetibo then
advised the senators to rephrase section 9 of the 1999 Constitution to
reflect the validity of a law, with just the assent of a certain
majority of the National and State Houses of Assembly.

The deputy Senate
president also confirmed that the National Assembly is yet to transmit
the harmonised copy of the draft amended Constitution to the State
Assembly.

“We are meeting
with the Houses of Assembly on the 15th of this month to formally hand
over the harmonised version to them,” Mr. Ekweramdu said.

“We appeal to them
to deal with it in a matter of a week or two. We intend to extend
invitation to the governors, or at least find an opportunity of meeting
with them to also seek their support at this last lap of this exercise.
So, we are not expecting any problem.”

He further defended
the Senate’s position on some key issues in the amended constitution
that pitched the lawmakers against the public. Such issues like
allowing people indicted for corruption and embezzlement by
administrative panels to run for public offices, and cross carpeting
for elected lawmakers.

“The constitution
has made sufficient provisions on things that could disqualify you. If
you have been found guilty by a court for offences regarding
disqualification, you will not contest election. But it went further in
section 66(i) and said that if you are indicted by an administrative
panel of inquiry and that indictment is accepted by the Federal
Executive Council and State Executive Council, you are disqualified.
But we said no, that those other copious provisions, regarding areas of
disqualification on criminal ground, they are enough.

“Those who will be
disqualified are those who are found guilty by a court of competent
jurisdiction, and that is what is in our constitution. A lot of people
seem to misunderstand it clearly. In America, where we copied our own
constitution, people move from party A to B and they don’t lose their
seats. It is only the Parliament that it says if you cross carpet
without a genuine reason, you will lose your seat.

“But in the Executive, there is no such thing. Why isolate the
Parliament? And meanwhile, we have a provision in the constitution for
freedom of association. How do you reconcile it? And for you to amend
that section to say you cannot cross carpet, then you have to go and
amend the constitution regarding the freedom of association and that
requires a higher threshold,” Mr. Ekweramdu added

The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)
has called on the nominated INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega to create a
“re-branded INEC by flushing out all bad eggs” in the commission, as
soon as the National Assembly ratifies his appointment.

Sabo Muhammed, the party’s National
Director of Publicity, made the call in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Wednesday.

Mr. Muhammed, a former Public Relations Officer of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities when Mr Jega was its national president,
said, “notwithstanding Jega’s credibility and pedigree, government must
create an enabling environment for him to conduct a free, fair and
credible elections in 2011”.</