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The striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria [JUSUN] in Ondo
State on Thursday insisted that it would continue with its on-going strike
pending the time the state government approves the agreement reached during
negotiations between the two bodies.

The union, in a statement issued by its secretary, Femi Ogunode,
said 60 percent basic pay for outfit allowance and 10 percent hazard allowance
proposed by government was unacceptable to them.

They maintained that the original position was that the state
government should implement either of the two consolidated judiciary salary
structure [CONJUSS] recommended by the federal government.

The letter said, in part: “After considering “The Caring Heart”
posture of Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his efforts to better the lots of the
people through various laudable programmes, we painfully agreed to abandon our
agitation for the implementation of either of the two salary structures
recommended by federal government.

“Instead, we opted for 85 percent basic salary for outfit
allowance, 85 percent Litigation allowance and 55 percent hazard allowance.”

Considerate staff

The judicial workers also stated that the agreement was to be
signed immediately, but the Head of Service said he would seek the approval of
Mr. Mimiko before he could endorse the agreement.

“The members of our union had sacrificed much for the state,
with the acceptance of 60 percent, 35 percent and 30 percent as outfit,
litigation and hazard allowances, respectively,” the letter said.

The Union recalled that some of their members, who were legally
qualified, had been enjoying 60 percent outfit allowance before, noting that
its members were only agitating that it should go across board.

It added that hazard and litigation allowances are exclusive of
all judicial workers nationwide.

The striking workers maintained that what they had conceded to the state
government was reasonable and urged Mr. Mimiko to approve the agreement reached
in the interest of industrial harmony in the state.

Amid protests and rowdiness, which spanned over an hour, the
House of Representatives dumped a proposal to institute a two-party system for
future elections in the country.

The House voted in support of a multi-party system by 172 votes
to 48, while one member abstained, when the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, called for
division. But members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Action Congress
(AC) and a handful of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the House who
wanted a two-party system, kicked against the result.

The House had, on two previous occasions, failed to vote on the
amendment to Section 80 of the Electoral Act 2006 to include a clause
regulating the number of parties in the country.

During the previous debates on the issue at similarly rowdy
plenary sessions, some members, particularly those of the PDP, had canvassed a
multi-party system while the opposition spoke in support of two parties. This
prompted Mr. Dimeji to defer voting to this week, citing faulty electronic
voting machines his reason.

But yesterday’s plenary was almost stalled as members disagreed
on the voting method. The Speaker consulted with key members and principal
officers even as some of the lawmakers lobbied on the method of voting.

After about 10 minutes, Mr Bankole said, “We’ve had enough
consultations, a lot of different advise and counter advise. The simple thing
to do is voice vote.” But this angered some of the lawmakers who sang No! No!
No! We no go gree o! We no go gree! However, the Speaker went ahead to put the
question, asking the proponent of the two-party system to say ‘yes’ and those
against to say ‘nay’. Although, those against the system won, the exercise
induced more protests from some members, some of who got up and moved to the
front to complain to Mr Bankole and his deputy, Usman Nafada who jointly
presided.

In the ensuing confusion, five staff from the serjeant-at-arms
were immediately deployed to protect the mace, the House symbol of authority.
Pleas by the Speaker, the chief whip, Emeka Ihedioha and his deputy, Aminu
Tambuwwal failed to calm the rowdy lawmakers or make them return to their
seats.

Complaining members

Bordered about the turmoil, Mr Bankole asked members who did
not come with their electronic voting cards to raise up their hands at the end
of which only about five of them indicated so.

“We’ve tried voice vote, members are complaining; we’ve divided
the House, members are complaining. Before I go to the next level, if you know
you are two-party system, move to my left, if you know you are for multi-party,
move to my right.” This infuriated the aggrieved members who shouted “No! No!
No!” While some members of the opposition shouted “two-party system! two-party
system!” others, apparently members of the PDP shouted “multi-party!
multi-party! Calls for ‘Point of Order’ by Sani Saleh Minjibir (ANPP, Kano) and
one other unidentified member were rebuffed by the Speaker.

Support for lawmakers

The Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) yesterday praised the
decision of the House. The group, in a statement signed by its publicity
secretary, Yinka Odumakin, said the only way to regulate political parties is
to allow the electorates to decide.

Nigerians should expect an increase in electricity tariff as
their new year present in 2011, the sole administrator of Nigeria Electricity
Regulatory Commission (NERC), Imamuddeen Talba, has said.

Mr Talba, who spoke at a workshop on the annual review of the
Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) organised by the commission, said the planned
increase would not be effected this year.

“The 2008 tariff order has frozen retail tariffs at N6.00 for
2008, N7.00 for 2009 and N8.50 for 2010 average per kilowatt hour (KWh). Let me
also assure you that the minor review we are about to conduct today will only
affect wholesale price and not the retail tariff,” he said.

Mr. Talba explained that electricity consumers, who pay the
retail tariff, would not be affected by the minor review, as the MYTO as well
as government subsidy had already taken care of it.

While explaining the reason for the minor review, Haliru Dikko,
the head of market competition and rates of the commission explained that the
commission took into consideration, “the rate of inflation, naira exchange rate,
and the gas price.”

Tariff will increase in
2011

Though the MYTO provides that the major tariff review will be
carried out once in every five years, which should have been in 2012, Mr. Talba
explained that to move this sector forward, the commission has decided to bring
backward the date for the major review of the MYTO to ensure that tariffs are
in line with present economic realities.

The time table for the major review was, after contribution by
attendees, approved by the commission. This includes provision for “draft
retail tariff determination.” Mr. Dikko, who explained the process for the
major review, stated that “the tariff (new tariff including retail) will become
operational from January 2011.” On the excuse by some electricity producers, particularly
subsidiaries of the PHCN, that unavailability of gas was their reason for not
meeting their generation target, Mr. Talba stated that the excuse was no longer
tenable.

“There is more than enough gas, so nobody should complain that
there is no gas,” he said, while confirming that the NNPC had agreed to supply
sufficient gas to any generating company that had an agreement with it.

While explaining that low use electricity consumers,
particularly those in the R1 and R2 category, would still enjoy government
subsidy beyond 2011, Mr. Talba stated that the Federal Government had only
released 43.9bn of the N177billion meant for electricity subsidy between 2008
and 2011.

The spending of the released sum has, however, become
contentious – making the NERC to call for an audit.

“Based on a number of concerns by the commission and
stakeholders on the administration of the subsidy so far released, we have
appointed a firm of auditors to review the subsidy disbursement,” Mr. Talba
said.

NEXT on Sunday, in its previous reports, had detailed how the management of
the first N32billion subsidy led to the dismissal of the former commissioners
of NERC.

Newly inaugurated
Vice president, Namadi Sambo resumed work at his new office at the
presidential villa, Abuja yesterday and was received by a delegation
led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed.

The former Kaduna State governor is the fourth Vice President of Nigeria.

Mr Sambo was taken
round the Vice President’s wing of the presidential complex where he
met some top government functionaries. He was all smiles as he toured
the complex, waving to the staff, security personnel and journalists
who all took turns to congratulate him.

The delegation
that received the vice president included the ministers of finance,
Olusegun Aganga and Remi Babalola; that of the national planning
commission, Shamusideen Usman and the acting Director General of Bureau
for Public Enterprises (BPE), Bolanle Onagoruwa, all of whose
activities fall under his supervisory purview as the head of
government’s economic team.

Later, the Vice
President received various visitors who came to congratulate him. One
of the early callers was the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido.

The vice president is, however billed to return to Kaduna tomorrow
to officially hand over power to his successor, Patrick Yakowa who was
sworn in yesterday.

Contrary to the
widely held belief that the Reform Group’s candidate had the backing of
the presidency as the national chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic
Party ( PDP), the pendulum has changed in favour of a new candidate,
NEXT has learnt.

Chieftains of the
party and some National Assembly leaders met with President Goodluck
Jonathan early Wednesday morning, and settled for Fidelis Ozichukwu as
a replacement for the former chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, who retired
last week.

Mr. Ozichukwu was the former national vice chairman of the party in the south-east, and hails from Imo State.

Mr. Ogbulafor
resigned his chairmanship last week Thursday, following the N200
million fraud discovered in the contract award when he was Minister of
Special Duties in 2004. Now, he is facing a court charge over the
criminal offence.

Several names,
including the former senate president, Anyim Pius Anyim, and Alphonsus
B.C. Nwosu, were peddled as the contenders for the job.

The decision to
settle for the less controversial candidate, a source said, was to
avoid another round of rancour between the president and the governors.

The governors were responsible for the emergence of Mr. Ogbulafor,
as against the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo’s preference for Sam
Egwu, the former governor of Ebonyi State.

A youth group, Jonathan Youth Vanguard, yesterday urged
President Goodluck Jonathan to facilitate the creation of wealth in the
nation’s economy to help harness the potential of the youths towards national
development.

The group, which said it formed to mobilise support for the
president to help him succeed in delivering his agenda to Nigerians, averred
that any nation whose citizens wallow in abject poverty and hunger cannot
develop.

“We are determined to mobilise support for President Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan to succeed as he leads our nation to prosperity and greatness,”
national convener of the group, George Turner, said. “We commend and
congratulate Mr. President on his four-point agenda, namely electoral reform,
power supply, security, and Niger Delta development as well as anti-corruption
crusade, which we view as the most critical areas of our national development
challenge.”

The group said the federal government needs to add wealth
creation as its fifth agenda, because a nation whose citizens wallow in abject
poverty and hunger cannot develop.

“Therefore, we call on the president to immediately create
wealth through the development of such institutions as small and medium-scale enterprises
(SMEs), as well as promote competitiveness in the nation’s industrial sector.
We are confident that he will empower the youths meaningfully in a manner that
their future will be securely guaranteed,” he said.

Mobilising for Jonathan

Mr. Turner said the group was established as a youth-based
political organisation that would provide the platform for youths across
Nigeria and in the Diaspora, to contribute to the development agenda and
strategic framework in Nigeria’s political affairs.

“Our agenda is not 2011. We are interested in good governance,
credible leadership of the country, accountability, and better Nigeria. It also
aims to engage the broad minds of Nigerian youths to debate on opportunities
and challenges in promoting principles such as democracy, good government,
social justice, and increased youth participation in politics and good
governance, particularly in meaningful participation of youths in shaping
public policy,” he said.

The group, which said Mr. Jonathan has never made a public
declaration about his interest in running for the 2011 presidential race,
disclosed that its members would not hesitate to mobilise support for him if he
delivers on his promises to Nigerians.

With the official
launch of the Information and Communications Technology for
Development, ICT4D plan document yesterday in Abuja, all the federal
government ministries, departments and agencies have been urged to
start full implementation of the ICT agenda relevant to them.

President Goodluck
Jonathan gave this directive at the opening of the e-Nigeria 2010
summit in Abuja. He said this was necessary, considering the place of
Information Technology in achieving sustainable socio-economic
development in the current global economy.

“We must bear in
mind that this document cannot implement itself,” he said. “It requires
that stakeholders should embark on specific actions and initiatives as
outlined in the plan for us to achieve the desired objective of
mainstreaming ICT into our national development agenda.”

On the part of the
government I direct that all ministries, departments, and agencies
should commence immediate implementation of areas of the Nigerian ICT4D
plan that are relevant to their respective mandates.”

Funding the project

The President, who
was represented at the event by Mohammed Abubakar, minister of science
and technology, said adequate budgetary provision should be made for
various projects and programmes in the implementation of the plan,
adding that the projects should be people oriented and will be
implemented in accordance with best practices and laid-down due process.

Other tiers of
government are to study the document and design mechanisms for active
participation in order to ensure that the process does not widen the
digital divide between the federal and other tiers of government. This
will ensure that all Nigerians play active role in the global
information society and the digital economy.

The ICT4D plan, according to him, is a major tool for driving the Vision 2020 target set by the federal government.

Mr. Jonathan called
on the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to
develop the mechanism, including key performance indicators, for proper
coordination and monitoring of the different programmes to be embarked
upon in the implementation of the Nigerian ICT4D plan.

“This will enable
us have regular reports and updates of progress made in the
implementation process,” he said. “This is in addition to the concerted
efforts to be put in place by all stakeholders in order to marshall
adequate resources for effective implementation.”

Bridging the digital divide

Cleopas Angaye,
director general of NITDA observed that the three-tiers of government
have integrated IT into their various functions with different level of
compliance.

“It is however
apparent that much is left to be done especially in the area of people
oriented IT programmes and initiatives in Nigeria,” he said. “It is in
pursuit of this people oriented programme that NITDA has developed the
Nigerian Information and Communications for Development action plan
which is expected to position Information Technology as engine of our
national development and by so doing, integrate the country into the
current global economy driven by technologies.

NITDA is therefore
using eNigeria 2010 to create awareness and present the document to all
Nigerians in order to aid the use of information technology in every
sector on Nigerian economy. All successful economies of the world are
knowledge based and technologically-driven. Nigeria cannot afford to be
left behind in working towards the globally shared vision of an
information society that enables people to fulfil their potentials,
enhance sustainable growth, accountability and transparency in
governance.”

Clement Dzidonu, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s
coordinator for Nigeria ICT4D plan said formulating appropriate ICT4D
plan will help move Nigeria to right side of the digital divide.

The World Service Trust of the British
Broadcasting Corporation {BBC}, has inaugurated a Media Committee for
Ogun State, towards enhancing the state’s response to HIV/AIDS.

Members of the committee include Dimeji
Kayode-Adedeji, NEXT Newspapers; Tunde Sodeke, Gateway Television;
Temitope Ugbechie, Gateway Radio; Timilehin Akinbode, Paramount F.M;
Afolabi Lawal, Nigeria Television Authority; Mojisola Solaja, Gateway
Television; and Kehinde Akinyemi, Daily Trust.

The BBC World Service Trust representative, Nasir
Nluazu-Isa, while inaugurating the committee, said they should
prioritise HIV issues to ensure that an appropriate HIV campaign,
relevant to the state, is developed and promoted.

The committee, he said, should also plan media
{radio and television} deployment for special events and seasons on a
thematic basis. He also called for effective design news feed for the
HIV news coverage by newspapers in the state.

“In this area, synergy will be encouraged between
civil society organisations and newspaper columnists for full
exploration of the state-relevant HIV issues under columns. Regular
meetings with the media committee members in all the states will help
track the progress of writing,” he said.

He stated further that the BBC World Service Trust will provide regular updates about HIV news and the campaign of the trust.

Half a dozen
members of the House of Representatives, who are staging an event to be
chaired by former military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida, have denied
fronting for the retired general’s 2011 presidential ambition.

The Initiative, a
relatively long-standing representatives’ group, which has existed
aloof of contentious national issues, stirred controversy Wednesday
after announcing its plan for inauguration, that will be chaired by Mr.
Babangida in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.

Responding to
journalists queries on why Mr. Babangida was chosen to lead the May 27,
2010 event, Eseme Eyibo, the group’s leader, said the former ruler was
named after three other shortlisted names were unavailable for that
date.

According to Mr.
Eyibo, who faced reporters with five other members of the group, former
military rulers, Yakubu Gowon, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and the former
Chief of Defence Staff, Awoye Azazi turned down invitations because of
other engagements.

He explained that
Mr. Babangida received the group’s invitation, and assured of his
attendance, months before making public his plans to contest the
presidential elections next year.

“We served the
invitation, and got assurances of his presence during the mourning days
of his late wife, Maryam Babangida six months ago,” he said.

As a group of
lawmakers, The Initiatives, regularly conducts sessions that brings
together commentators within and outside the legislature.

It has recently
completed an incorporation process-the first of such in the National
Assembly- with board members including, retired Chief Justice of the
Federation, Mohammed Uwais, former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim,
FCT minister, Sanusi Daggash and former Attorney General of the
Federation, Kanu Agabi.

Its inauguration is
to hold in Akwa Ibom and will have in attendance, Mr. Babangida, human
activist, Femi Falana, Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Sa’ad and the host
governor, Godswill Akpabio.

Right to contest

Asked if the
planned inauguration, at a time Mr. Babangida is facing severe
opposition to his ambitions, would not viewed as a platform intended to
prop up support for him, Mr. Eyiboh said the group supports no personal
ambition, but aims at helping to evolve good governance. However, he
said as a Nigerian, Mr. Babangida has the right to contest.

“Ibrahim Babangida
has the right to contest any election in this country that is his
private ambition, but The Initiative will not and is not a platform for
political parties, platform for any personal ambition different from
what would serve the interest of Nigeria,” he said.

He said the spread of the invitees indicates that the group has no such intention.

On the possibility
of a repeat of what occurred in Benin, Edo state, “One Man, One Vote”
campaign where the former ruler was openly told he was not qualified to
be in attendance, Mr. Eyiboh said “Falana will be present and Falana is
aware that General Babangida will be in attendance.

“We invited IBB and also invited Falana,” he said. “Babangida knows
Falana will be there, and Falana knows Babangida will be there. We did
not hide anything from anyone.”

The Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole yesterday said members will
work hard to ensure that marriages to underage girls are stopped in the
country.

At a meeting with
members of the Nigerian Children Parliament in Abuja who came to
present their resolution to him, Mr Bankole, who did not mention any
names, said the House has received about eight petitions on the
controversial marriage of a 13 year old girl by a Senator.

“You see, this is
not the first time it is happening; it has happened so many times in
this country and it is not necessary members of the National Assembly,
but even with people from different parts of Nigeria and I say again
people from different parts of Nigeria. It is not peculiar to a
section. But this time around, we are not having it, we are not taking
it lightly. I know that about seven to eight petitions in the House are
calling that we investigate it. And when it comes to the floor of the
House, we will also look into it. I know that the Human Rights
Commission is working hard on this issue and we hope that maybe, for
the first time, people should put a stop to that kind of attitude.”

Mr Bankole said
that he has always passed on the resolutions of the Nigeria Children
Parliament to the appropriate quarters and assured that he would
continue to do so in the interest of Nigerian children.

Unhappy children

The Speaker,
however asked the young parliamentarians not to be discouraged if their
resolutions do not receive immediate attention, adding that from his
experience, not all resolutions passed receive quick treatment. “It is
not everything you asked for you that you get but you have to make sure
that you keep asking believing that one day the executive will listen
to you. Don’t ever stop; keep passing those resolutions. The history of
being Senate President or Speaker is not that of a pleasant one,” Mr
Bankole said.

On the recurring crisis in Jos, the Plateau State capital, the
Speaker said he has visited the city about four times to commiserate
with the families of the victims, some of whom are children. Earlier,
the Senate President of the Nigerian Children Parliament, Esther
Afolayan, called for an increase in the budgetary allocation relating
to children’s welfare while the Speaker of the Parliament, Emmanuel
Attah regretted the slow domestication of the Child Rights Act and
asked Mr Bankole to help.