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Last Tuesday,
President Goodluck Jonathan abruptly called off his trip to Lagos to
return to Abuja for a last ditch effort to head off a strike called for
last Wednesday by leaders of Nigeria’s labour unions. The gamble by Mr
Jonathan to insert himself into the lingering labour dialogue between
government and labour leaders had mixed results. Labour leaders
permitted the strike to go ahead on Wednesday, but they later called it
off same day to announce a one-month suspension.

“We have heard the
message of Mr President. We are going to go back to our organ
(executive council). The only thing we can say to you is that the
strike is on until it is called off by the organ,” Nigeria Labour
Congress acting president, Promise Adewusi said.

The plan is that
the National Executive Council (a gathering of state governors and
federal officials) which is the body handling the negotiations, would
have the opportunity to hold its next meeting and agree to terms with
Labour to increase the minimum wage to N18,000. The congress had
initially demanded N52,000 (346 dollars) as minimum wage for workers
but after negotiations with government, the union later accepted
N18,000.

But the agreement
with Labour, when it finally comes, is not going to bring to an end the
fondness of Nigerian workers – especially public officials – to turn
their backs on work anytime there is a dispute with their employees.
There are several strikes going on at various levels across the
country, but most have to do with state employees. Public service
doctors in Lagos have been on strike for more pay since August and
there doesn’t appear to be any end to that in sight. The same is true
of university lecturers in state owned universities in the five eastern
states who have been on strike over the past three months. Despite a
meeting with state officials at the weekend, the gap between the
demands of the lecturers and their employers are still wide.

That sometimes has
national implications. The national body of university teachers, the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and that of doctors,
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have both called national sympathy
strikes to draw attention to the angst of their chapters in the states.

Ayobode Williams,
the chairman of the Medical Guild in Lagos State blamed the action of
the doctors on the tin ear of government officials.

“Before the advent
of CONMESS (Consolidated Medical Salary Scale), half of the registered
under Nigeria Medical and Dental Council were working abroad, once they
graduate, they move abroad, so the idea of CONMESS is to bridge that
gap,” he said. “At least, it’s enough to give doctors a meaningful
lifestyle. Now, the federal government has been able to implement
CONMESS. So, what we are now fighting for is to prevent local brain
drain, doctors moving from Lagos State hospitals, to federal hospitals.
I can tell you that about 40% of doctors working in Lagos State have
left during this strike.” Government officials have played fast and
loose with the action of the striking workers, seeking to ‘outblink’
them, as it were. Lagos State officials, for instance claim the state
cannot afford to pay wages being demanded by the doctors. They also
say, with some justification, that if they agree to pay the doctors
what they crave, other categories of medical workers would equally
increase their demands.

Bloated government

Valentine
Obienyem, a senior aide to Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, described
the strike by the South-east lecturers as a the result of an attempt by
lecturers from other parts of the country to experiment with them
before making their own demands.

“The rest of the
country are only encouraging the south east to continue agitating so
that once they get what they are asking, they will use it as a
bargaining chip,” he said, adding that the lecturers from the south
east were inadvertently allowing themselves to be so used. “Why is it
that other state universities such as Rivers and LASU that have the
same problem are quietly seeking solution without unnecessary media
hype?” Jaja Nwanegbo, chairman of ASUU at the Anambra State university
however called this scare mongering. He also said government officials
were muddying the issues to win the propaganda battle.

“The only
unfortunate thing is the misconception the government is creating by
misinforming the public on what constituted the basis for the strike.
They make it look as if it is a salary issue only but we all know it
also has to do with quality of education,” he said.

As usual, Labour
dismisses claims of insufficient funds by government officials as
untrue. Peter Esele, national president of the Trade Union Congress,
said government can afford to improve the welfare of workers if it
reduces the overhead of political appointees.

“The state
governors keep complaining. Yet, they are the ones that have hundreds
of Senior Special Advisers, Special Assistants, Personal Assistant to
the Special Adviser, and so on. At the end of the day, the cost of
governance is over-bloated. In the final analysis, what one deduces is
that when all the mathematics are put together they can pay if they
plug the holes in the system,” he said.

Ekiti State
Governor, Kayode Fayemi has approved the implementation of the
Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and the Consolidated
Health Workers Salary Structure (CONHESS) for Medical and Health
workers in the state.

The state
government, in a circular signed by the Permanent Secretary, Office of
Establishment and Training, Kunle Abegunde, said the new salary scale
would take effect from October 1, 2010.

According to the
circular, the newly approved package for the Medical and Health Workers
in Ondo State was adopted for workers in all government health
Institutions in the state; while the new package would also be
applicable for workers at the University Teaching Hospital with due
cognizance to the institution’s autonomy as an extension of the
University of Ado Ekiti.

The agitation for
the payment of the CONMESS/CONHESS by the Ekiti State Health workers
dated back to January 2010, when the Federal Government approved the
salary structure and culminated in a nine-week industrial action by
doctors at the University of Ado Ekiti Teaching Hospital, which they
started on July 25.

However, with the approval of the new salary structure by Mr
Fayemi, the state became the second state in the South-West Nigeria to
implement the new wage regime.

A governorship
candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party {PDP} in Ogun State,
Isiaka Gboyega, yesterday said he was not threatened by the emergence
of Tunji Olurin, said to be the choice of former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo, as his main challenger for the party’s ticket.

Mr. Gboyega, who
was recently announced consensus candidate by some politicians from the
Ogun West senatorial zone, the same zone to which Mr. Olurin belongs,
said the party primaries would determine the flagbearer of the party.

Speaking with
journalists at his campaign office in Abeokuta, Mr. Gboyega said a
majority of those rooting for Mr. Olurin are not card carrying members
of the party, and cannot be delegates during the party primaries.

“If any elders tell
us we don’t have the experience to run the state, we will tell them
that please am sorry sir, this is an insult. Now, for anybody to say
with my little background, with my little experience, that I don’t have
experience to run the state, I think that would be an insult. I would
tell them so politely,” he said.

Behind the wheel

Still on the
allegation that Mr. Olurin is the more experienced person best suited
for the job, Mr. Gboyega said the situation is best likened to a
scenario where a 60-year-old man, who probably have been driving over
the last 40 years, now has a son who started driving 20 years after.

“They want to
travel and the man will now say, because I am the one that has more
experience, let me be at the wheel. It is not done,” he said.

He also said it was
an insult to people of his generation to be told they could not hold
the levers of power, saying it was time younger people take charge of
the country.

“Nobody can be telling us about experience now because we also know
the kind of experience that people have when they were also taking over
leadership some 20, 30 years ago,” he said.

The federal
government has approved the sum of N1.319 billion for the purchase of
anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDs patients in the country, in a bid to
sustain its policy on free treatment of people living with HIV/AIDs,
minister of state for information and communications, Labaran Maku, has
said.

There is an appropriation in the 2010 budget for the ministry to procure the ARV drugs.

Mr. Maku, who
briefed journalists on Wednesday’s federal executive council meeting,
said for the sustenance of government policy, as well as the health of
its citizens, council approved the contracts, which is expected to be
executed in eight weeks.

The drugs to be
procured include “100,000 packs of Tenofovir (30’s), in the unit price
of N3,150.00 and in the total sum of N31.5million; 200,000 packs of
Zidovudine/ Lamivudine (60’s), in the unit price of N1,352.00 and the
total of N270.4million; 371,091 packs of Zidovudine/ Lamivudine/
Nevirapine (60’s), in the unit price of N1,629.00 and the total
contract sum of N604.5million; 247,000 packs of Efavirenz (30’s), at
the unit price of N850.00 and the total contract sum of N209.9million;
and 300,000 Nevirapine (60’s), at the unit price of N676.20 and in the
total of N202.8million.”

Government started
the free treatment with Anti-Retroviral drugs in 2001 and, through 262
centres, provides service to about 6500 people.

Mr. Maku also said the council approved a five-year national health
plan that will gulp N3.997 trillion. Funding for the new policy, which
the minister said is aimed at upgrading the nation’s health facilities
and giving value for money, is expected to be sourced from proceeds
(tax) from the sale of tobacco and alcohol.

The Nigerian Police have commenced the recruitment of retired officers as lecturers in their training institutions.

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
correspondent who visited the Rivers Police Command headquarters in
Port Harcourt on Thursday found that a recruitment interview was going
on. There were indications that only 20 ex-police officers of Rivers
State origin applied for the exercise.

The command’s spokesperson Akin
Fakorede, told NAN that there was no rank or age barrier in the
recruitment exercise, but noted that the only barrier was if the
applicant had a bad record while in service.

Mr Fakorede said the recruitment was in
line with the recommendations of the Police Service Reform Committee
headed by former Inspector-General of Police, M.D Yusuf. Office from
the force headquarters in Abuja came in for the interview.

A bill to repeal
the Federal Immigration Act, one of the oldest in the country which
dates back to 1963 passed second reading at the House of
Representatives yesterday.

The immigration law
has several defects, including a lack of provision for the use of arms
by immigration officers. However, officials of the service have borne
arms illegally, lawmakers said yesterday and the overhaul, coming after
many amendments, will authorise such use and empower the Service other
areas.

The new law for
instance, will touch on the expatriate quota – a touchy labour issue,
particularly in the oil sector and other issues of immigration of
foreign nationals. It will also replace the present headship of the
service (Comptroller General) with a Director General.

Lawmakers noted
that most of the provisions of the 47-year old Act were no longer in
tune with present day challenges and therefore needed a long due
overhaul.

“This is why most
nations of the world take their immigration law very seriously to the
extent that it a very big issue during campaign for election into
public offices”, said Femi Gbajabiamila, (AC Lagos state.) The Nigerian
Immigration Service presently administers the Expatriate Quota system,
which outlines procedures and the size of foreign personnel working in
the country, particularly in the oil and gas sector.

Now new agency

Trade unions in the
sector have consistently raised complaints of domination by the
foreigners and have called for increased quotas for Nigerians and
technology transfer.

A proposal last
year to set up an Expatriate Quota Administration Agency, was opposed
by the federal government, which argued that it would amount to a waste
of funds since the Nigerian Immigration Service can function in that
regards if well funded.

Former Attorney
General, Michael Aondoakaa advised that funding to the NIS be improved
and that the proposal to establish a new Agency was “too shallow as it
is out to address on the Oil and Gas sector only.”

The new bill is to capture those areas according to Jerry Manwe, the
chairman House committee on Interior, because it touches on key issues
such as national security, labour, revenues and taxes among others.

Raymond Dokpesi,
the director general of Ibrahim Babangida’s presidential campaign
organisation, maintained at a Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday
that he had no connection with the Independence Day bomb blast which
killed 19 people.

The State Security
Service (SSS) had detained Mr Dokpesi shortly after two car bombs
exploded in Abuja on October 1. The service defended its questioning of
Mr Dokpesi, saying he had exchanged texts messages with some of the
persons suspected of complicity in the twin blasts.

Mr Dokpesi is suing
the service over the interrogation, which lasted several hours. He is
seeking a declaration that his arrest and detention were unlawful and a
violation of his rights. The SSS warned that if the court intervened in
the matter, it would tie up the hands of the service and impede its
efforts to promote national security.

Counsel to the SSS
and the Attorney General of the Federation, Alex Izinyion, said the
service was statutorily empowered to invite any person for questioning
on matters of national security. He said Mr Dokpesi had been invited to
clarify a statement made by Edmond Ebiware, a suspect arrested in
connection with the attack. Mr Ebiware said he had met Mr Dokpesi some
days before the attacks and claimed he received N4 million from him.

“In the process of
his investigation, Mr Dokpesi was granted bail and requested to show up
for further investigation,” said Mr Izinyon.

Dokpesi lays it bare

However, Kanu
Agabi, counsel to Mr Dokpesi, said his client was not aware of the
person referred to in the text messagse, noting that there were several
persons bearing the name Dokpesi.

“As such he is
seeking a declaration that since he is not involved in or in any way
associated with the person or persons, organisation or organisations
responsible for the bomb blast … He has committed no offence to
warrant his continued arrest or detention or questioning or harassment
or intimidation by 1st Respondent as a suspect in that connection,”
said Mr Agabi.

He urged the court
to dismiss the suit as “frivolous and constituting gross abuse of
judicial process.” Furthermore, Mr Agabi wanted a declaration that the
service’s arrest, detention, harassment and undue questioning
constituted a gross violation of Mr Dokpesi’s rights and was unlawful
and unconstitutional.

At the resumed
hearing of the matter on Thursday, Mr Agabi, said that he needed more
time to file a response to an earlier affidavit filed by SSS
challenging Mr Dokpesi’s claim that the service had violated his
fundamental human rights. Mr Izinyon also sought an extension of time
to file his objection and written addresses, in opposition to Mr
Dokesi’s claims. The presiding Judge, Abdullahi Kafarati adjounrned the
matter to December 8, for adoption of addresses.

Traditional rulers and prominent indigenes of the
nine local government areas that make up the Akwa Ibom North East
Senatorial District, have pledged to ensure that any senator
representing the district spends no more than two terms so that
indigenes of all the local councils take their turns for the seat.

The Oku Ibom Ibibio, Edidem Robert Obot 11, told the
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Rules and
Business and a senatorial aspirant, Ita Enang, who visited his palace
yesterday that the traditional rulers will do everything within their
powers to ensure that what is right for the people is done. Effiong
Bob, who currently represents the Uyo senatorial district, is spending
his second term in the upper house and has since declared his intention
to run for the seat a third time.

But Mr. Obot 11, who is also the Paramount ruler of
Nsit Ubium Local Government Area and who spoke on behalf of seven other
traditional rulers in the area, noted that though the royal fathers are
non-partisan, political aspirants ignore their opinions at their peril.

He praised Mr. Enang for being “a worthy
representative in the National Assembly”, and noted in particular, his
role in the struggle to abolish the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy
principles in the constitution.

“As royal fathers who should not be seen to be
partisan, let me, on behalf of the other traditional rulers in the
council, wish you success in your future aspirations, even though only
God knows the man who will win at the end, given that three persons are
vying for the same position from Ibiono Ibom,” he said.

Before departing the Oku Ibom’s palace, the king and
other traditional rulers performed the symbolic anointing of the
aspirant. “As this oil is poured on your head today, you shall shine
and win in all your endeavours,” he said.

Elders seek equity

The chairman of the Uyo Senatorial District Elders
Council, Edet Akpan and other prominent indigenes of the district, had
last month said that none of their representatives will be allowed to
spend more than two terms of four years in the legislature.

Mr Akpan, a retired military general and former director general of
the National Youth Service Coprs (NYSC), also argued that considering
that each of the nine Local Government Areas (Uyo, Uruan, Nsit Atai,
Nsit Ubium, Nsit Ibom, Ibiono Ibom, Ibesikpo/Asutan, Itu and Etinan)
that cut across three federal constituencies has equal stake and right
to serve in that capacity, it would neither promote equity nor enthrone
fairness among all stakeholders if Mr Etinan is allowed another
four-year term in 2011. Also, about 456 village heads from all the nine
Local Government Areas also met under the umbrella of the Conference of
Village Heads of Akwa Ibom State to urge the state governor, Godswill
Akpabio, to ensure their decision is respected “in the interest of
equity and justice.”

A former vice
president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant,
Atiku Abubakar has cautioned members of the National Assembly on the
proposed amendments to the Electoral Act 2010, saying that the
lawmakers should avoid a situation where excessive powers will be left
in one arm of the government.

Mr Atiku, who stated this on his
facebook page, urged the lawmakers to critically study the
amendments,especially the one seeking to make them members of the
National Executive Committee (NEC) of their respective parties before
approving them.

A bill which seeks
to amend the Electoral Act 2010 to allow the 469 senators and members
of the House of Representatives become party decision makers is
currently before the two chambers of the National Assembly.

The bill was
sponsored by Cyril Maduabum (PDP, Anambra).However, a similar bill in
the Senate sponsored by the deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu and
24 others, requires that all committee chairmen and the deputies as
well as the principal officers should be members of the NECs of their
parties.

While acknowledging
that the lawmakers are trying to avoid a situation where the parties
will be hijacked by a clique, Mr Atiku however advised them to weigh
the pros and cons of the amendment before passing it. “Excessive powers
and advantages in the hands of either the executive or legislative
branch of governmentmay lead to tyranny, which may in itself stifle the
growth of democracy,” he said. “Therefore, while welcoming the current
effort to amend the Electoral Act, seeking to make federal legislators
automatic members of their parties’ NECs, I urge the lawmakers to
examine the pros and cons of this amendment in order to sustain public
confidence in the legislative process.” The presidential aspirant noted
that one of the fears being expressed about the proposed amendment is
that it may be unwieldy to have all the members of the National
Assembly in NECs of their parties, which are the highest decision
making bodies.

Personal advantage

He asked the
lawmakers to allay public fears that they are not seeking personal
advantage by the proposed amendments, noting that it could undermine
the credibility of their efforts.

Mr Atiku, however,
admitted that the politics of exclusion and the hijacking of parties by
a clique may have compelled the intervention by the federal lawmakers.
“In doing so, however, I urge the National Assembly to debate the issue
clinically, critically and dispassionately so that in our efforts to
avert dictatorship, we don’t end up entrenching it in disguise,” he
said.

The former vice president said that democracy is a dynamic process
and that at every stage when challenges emerge, new initiatives also
evolve, designed to entrench democratic culture and ethos in the
country and among the existing political parties.

The UK’s International Development
Minister, Stephen O’Brien has announced that its government will double
the coverage of existing project across four northern states in
Northern Nigeria to improve the health of two million women of child
bearing age.

Mr Brien made this known in Jigawa on
Thursday saying “I am proud to announce this expansion of the UK’s
support to maternal and child health in Northern Nigeria. In this visit
I’m seeing with my own eyes the challenge, but also the success of our
support in saving lives. We must all continue to work together to bring
on these encouraging results – and there is a lot more that needs to be
done” he said.

According to the British High
Commission, the country’s development agency; DFID, support for routine
immunisation in four states in Northern Nigeria has seen the number of
children fully immunised double from less than 5% to nearly 10%. It
also raised the proportion of children vaccinated against polio from
14% to 38% leading to a 98% case reduction in polio in the past year.

It’s noted that DFID (with additional funding from the Norwegian
government) is working with state agencies to improve maternal and
child health services, and making these services more accountable by
involving communities and neighbourhoods.