Wednesday, 18 January 2017
FG assures non-academic staff unions of implementation of 2009 agreement …See Details
They are National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non – Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, gave the assurance at a reconciliatory meeting with The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the unions.
The unions had jointly declared their intention to embark on a five – day warning strike effective Jan. 16, 2017.
Ngige said the issues in contention were not different from those of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), adding that government was handling the issues holistically.
“The essence of this meeting is for us to agree to suspend your strike; we are doing so because, we know that you are very patriotic citizens of the country.
“You will understand that man hours lost in any industrial disputes is never easily recoverable. You know that a lot of the issues in disagreement and in contention are being addressed by the Ministry of Education.
“But what was just lacking was that you were not communicated that a formal meeting where these issues will be discussed as par social dialogue as recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), did not take place.
“I want to assure you that I have no doubt that after we have discussed the issue in contention; you will find that it is very necessary for you to suspend the strike as the issues raised by your unions are being addressed.
The issues raised by the unions are poor governance and administrative lapses in the university system, poor funding of universities, shortfall in payment of staff salaries and increasing corruption in the university system.
Also listed were inadequate physical infrastructure and abandoned projects, lack of adequate teaching and learning facilities and the non-payment of Earned Allowances being product of the 2009 Agreement, among others.
Mr Sani Suleman, Acting Chairman of JAC said that the unions decided to embark on the strike because “we have written letters to the Ministry of Education but no response or acknowledgment.
“The last one we wrote was on Dec. 8; we gave 35-day ultimatum so as to allow them to have enough time and even call us for a meeting but to no avail.
“So, after consultation with our principals, we decided to express our displeasure to government by declaring a five-day warning strike.
“We also want to express our displeasure on what was allocated for education in 2017 budget, it has continued to drop.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that we have resources for education so that our universities can be recognised worldwide”, he said.
He called on the minister to ensure that all issues in the 2009 agreement were fully implemented.
Mr Peters Adeyemi, Deputy President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said the strike declared by the unions was to draw government’s attention to issues in the university system.
Adeyemi said that the unions were willing to collaborate with the Federal Government in ensuring that the issues were resolved.
The representatives of Ministry of Education and National Universities Commission, among others, attended the meeting.
The post FG assures non-academic staff unions of implementation of 2009 agreement appeared first on Vanguard News.
FG assures non-academic staff unions of implementation of 2009 agreement
Pupil shoots, injures classmates in Mexico school …See Details
The pupil opened fire at Northeastern College in the city of Monterrey, civil protection official Oscar Aboytes told AFP.
He said the school initially told the civil protection service that three people had been killed, but when experts arrived at the school, they found those victims to be “extremely seriously” injured.
The shooter unsuccessfully tried to kill himself, Aboytes said.
In total five people were hurt, four seriously, including the shooter, state security secretary Aldo Fasci told reporters.
He said there was a video showing the boy shooting at a teacher and another pupil before shooting himself.
Mexico suffers regular gang violence but so far nothing appeared to indicate that the school shooting was gang-related.
“It is an unprecedented situation. Nothing like this has happened before” in schools in the surrounding state of Nuevo Leon, Fasci said.
Wednesday’s attack came as the northeastern state of Quintana Roo, hundreds of miles from Monterrey, reeled from two shootings, thought to be linked to gangs or drug dealers, that left nine people dead.
In 2014, 43 students from a teacher training college in southern Mexico went missing and are believed dead.
The post Pupil shoots, injures classmates in Mexico school appeared first on Vanguard News.
Pupil shoots, injures classmates in Mexico school
NPFL week 2 results …See Details
FC IFEANYIUBAH 4 MFM FC 0
NIGER TORNADOES 1 ABS FC 1
AKWA UNITED 1 RIVERS UTD 1
NASARAWA UTD 1 RANGERS FC 1
ABIA WARRIORS 2 KATSINA UTD 0
GOMBE UTD 2 REMO STARS 1
PLATEAU UTD 3 ENYIMBA INT’L 1
SUNSHINE STARS 1 3SC 0
The game between El-Kanemi and Wikki Tourists will be played Thursday, January 19th
The post NPFL week 2 results appeared first on Vanguard News.
NPFL week 2 results
Gambia : Air Force airlifts 200 personnel to force Jammeh out …See Details
By Joseph Erunke
ABUJA-THE Nigerian Air Force, yesterday, airlifted 200 personnel to Senegal to join troops of the Economic Community of West States for onward movement to Gambia for the enforcement of the country’s December 1 presidential election where the incumbent president, Yahya Jammeh reportedly lost to his Adama Barrow.
The airlift of the Air Force personnel is expected to be followed by the Nigerian Army, which Vanguard gathered, would airlift more than 500 troops today (Thursday) for the Gambian task.
A military source said the Army troops will be airlifted by the C-130 transport plane.
Recall that the Nigerian Navy had on Monday, in like manner, deployed its newest battle ship, NNS Unity to the tiniest West African nation.
The troops’ deployment to Gambia was a mandate of the Economic Community of West African States,ECOWAS, to enforce the results of the December 1,2016 presidential election in that country.
The Air Force personnel were airlifted from Kainji to Dakar in Senegal. The troops which included the Special Forces, Combat Support Group, Technicians, Medical officials, among others, were airborne in the Hercules C-130 military transport plane.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who addressed the troops, urged them to keep Nigeria’s flag flying by being professional and to conduct themselves to the Air Force high standard.
“You have been given the task which is very well defined, and we have put together all the air assets that we think are necessary to ensure that we are able to to successfully conduct this operation and that is what we have on ground here,” Abubakar said.
Among the platforms being deployed to the Gambia included fighter air planes, helicopters, C-130 and the large utility helicopter which will also be useful in the conduct of the operation.
“What we have here are men that are highly trained, highly skilled they know their job and they know their task, and as a professional service the commander of the air assets will work together with other commanders and they will come up with what is required in terms of plans, to be able to execute their tasks and come back home,” Abubakar said.
The post Gambia : Air Force airlifts 200 personnel to force Jammeh out appeared first on Vanguard News.
Gambia : Air Force airlifts 200 personnel to force Jammeh out
