Sahara Reporters Latest News Wednesday 6th February 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Wednesday 6th February 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 06/02/19

target=_blank>BREAKING: I Came Into Office In 2005, Says Buhari VIDEO

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday made another gaffe, something fast becoming a trademark of the presidential campaign rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking in Ekiti State during the day’s campaign rally, the President said he assumed office in 20o5 — the latest in a string of gaffes that include inventing the word ‘governotorial’, handing the party’s flag to someone entirely different from the recipient, saying he came to office on May 19, 2015, and mixing up the years during which he was Petroleum Minister.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, there is hardly anything new that I can tell you,” Buhari said on Tuesday.
“I am very pleased the Vice President is here and the Chairman of the National Economic Commission sic has told you in detail what we are doing, especially that affects your state. I assure you what the Minister of Transportation said — Amaechi — because he’s in charge, he told you what we’re doing about the railways from Lagos to Kano through the states along the Nile; that we’re very conscious of the promises we made when came in 2005.”

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I Came Into Office In 2005, Says Buhari

At the end of his speech after another presidential campaign rally in Warri, Delta State, on January 17, Buhari was to hand over the party’s flag to the Delta State governorship candidate of the party. However, he said: “I am handing over this flag of honour to our presidential candidate.”

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BREAKING: Another Faux Pas! Buhari Hands Over APC Flag To ‘Our Governortorial Candidate’

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When the man to his left corrected him, saying “gubernatorial”, Buhari responded with “to our senatorial candidate”.
Again, the man corrected him, saying “gubernatorial”. This time, Buhari said: “governortorial candidate”.
Also, speaking on January 16 at the presidential campaign rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lokoja, capital of Kogi State, Buhari had told the crowd: “I assure you that I am very aware of your appreciation of the efforts for what we were able to deliver since came in 19th of May, 2015.”

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BREAKING: I Came Into Office On 19th Of May 2015, Says Buhari

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Again, on January 17, while speaking in Warri, Buhari had said he was Petroleum Minister from 1978 to 1979.
“I am impressed by what previous speakers have said, especially the Minister of State for Petroleum who told you what we have been able to do in Delta State, because he happens to come from here and he happens to be my Junior Minister as Minister of petroleum Resources,” he told the audience.
“Since 1984, or 78 to 79 when I was the Minister, I never lost interest in the petroleum industry. I am acutely aware of your influence because God has placed you on top of this national asset. I hope you will understand and appreciate the favour God has done to you in favour of the rest of Nigerians.

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BREAKING: Buhari Forgets The Year He Was Petroleum Minister

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“I am trying to remind you to please reflect very seriously: where were we when we came in 2015, where are we now? What were we able to achieve with the resources available to us. I assure you, under this leadership, is to serve Nigeria.”
However, this is untrue. As Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Buhari as the Federal Commissioner (now known as Minister) for Petroleum and Natural Resources between March 1976 and June 1978. When the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was created in 1977, Buhari was also appointed as its Chairman; he held this position until 1978.

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target=_blank>Obanikoro Admits In Court That EFCC Investigated Him For Fraud

Former Minister Musiliu Obanikoro

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Musiliu Obanikoro, a former Minister of State for Defence, has admitted before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos that he was been investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for being privy to illicit transfer of funds.
Obanikoro made the statement on Tuesday while giving evidence in the criminal trial of Ayodele Fayose, the immediate past Governor of Ekiti State.
Fayose was arraigned by EFCC on October 22, 2018, alongside a company, Spotless Investment Limited, on an 11-count charge bordering on fraud.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the court had granted him bail in the sum of N50million with one surety in like sum.
Trial had commenced on November 19, 2018, with the EFCC calling four witnesses, while the court had then adjourned for continuation of trial.
At the resumed hearing on the matter on Tuesday, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) appeared for the EFCC, while Messrs Ola Olanipekun (SAN) and Olalekan Ojo (SAN) represented the first and second defendants, respectively.
Obanikoro, the fifth prosecution witness who began giving his evidence on January 21, and was cross-examined on February 4, mounted the witness box in continuation of his cross-examination.
During cross-examination by Ojo, Obanikoro told the court that during his tenure as Commissioner in Lagos in charge of Home Affairs and Culture, he had interfaced with various security agencies in the discharge of his duties.
According to him, he had sourced for a security outfit known as Silva Mcnamara, owned by one Kareem Taiwo, to the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), when the need arose to provide for security operations in Lagos State.
He said the outfit performed credibly.
Ojo then asked the witness: “You said Kareem Taiwo did a good job,” to which Obanikoro replied: “Yes”.
“Then are you not surprised that a petition was still written by the NSA against both of you, for having gotten money from the NSA illicitly,” to which Obanikoro replied in the affirmative, adding that “And I state that I deserve a medal of honour for the great work I did in securing Lagos State.”
Ojo next statement was: “I’m sure you are aware of the offences you were alleged to have committed for which you were granted bail by the EFCC.” Obanikoro replied: “Yes”.
The defence counsel then asked the witness to tell the court the offence, to which Obanikoro replied: “It was based on a petition sent by the NSA that about N4.6billion or thereabouts was sent in an account operated by me.”
Defence: Will I be right to say that the allegations consisted of fraud?
Witness: Until I see it.
Defence: Are you still on administrative bail?
Witness: Well, I have not been discharged to the best of my knowledge.
Defence: It was also alleged that there were no approvals for the funds alleged to have been transferred to a number of companies listed in exhibit I, including Silva Mcnamara.
Witness: Correct.
Defence: So, I suggest to you that at all material time, you were being investigated to have been privy to illicit transfer of funds.
Witness: Correct.
Defence: Till today, the allegation of illicit transfer of funds has not being withdrawn against you by the EFCC.
Witness: To the best of my knowledge, you are correct.
Defence: Did you produce any document to show the relationship between Kareem and the office of the NSA, contrary to allegations that the NSA does not know him?The witness replied ‘No’, and added that the office of the NSA had responsibility for coordination of security across the nation, some of which are clandestine and not documented.
On who gave instructions to Diamond Bank for the release of N1.2billion, Obanikoro replied that he did.
Defence: Can you tell the court by what means you gave the instruction and to whom?
Witness: Verbally, to the then MD of Diamond Bank, Mr Oti?
Defence: Was there any time your verbal instruction was reduced into writing?
Witness: No
Defence: So, I suggest to you that what you are telling this Court is that there is no written record for the release of N1.2billion by the bank.
Witness: Because of the nature of the job.
Defence: Look at Exhibit E9-E11 and mention the names of the Directors of Silva Mcnamara.
Witness: Ezekwe Ikenna, Oshodi Idowu, and Adebiyi Elizabeth.
Defence: Who owns House 9, Layi Bembem Park view Ikoyi?
Witness: That’s my house.
Defence: I suggest to you that Ikenna Ezekwe lived in that house at one time or the other.
Witness: Correct.
Subsequently, Ojo sought to tender an extrajudicial statement made by Justin Erukaa, the then SA to Obanikoro, and the prosecutor raised objection.
Following the objection by prosecution, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun adjourned the case until 9am on February 6, 2019, for counsel to address the court on the admissibility of an extrajudicial statement.

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target=_blank>Only A Few Of Our Hungry Old Men Endorsed Atiku, Say Niger Delta Youth

The youth wing of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has mocked some elders of the Niger Delta under the Pan Niger Delta forum over the decision to endorse Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to the youth, the endorsement is “the handiwork of few hungry old men”.
Leaders of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Northern Elders Forum, Pan-Niger Delta forum, the Middle Belt Forum, as well as a faction of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political group. endorsed Atiku at a summit held in Abuja on Sunday.

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JUST IN: Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Northern Elders Forum Endorse Atiku

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Arising from an emergency meeting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, they condemned what they regarded as the “desperation of an old dying generation of elders that lack integrity”.
The endorsement has caused a big rift in the Pan Niger Delta group, with Chief Sara-Igbe Anabs, Publicity Secretary of the group, saying that at no time did they meet as a body to take the decision.
Speaking on the matter, Sara-Igbe said: “The leader can say anything, but it should be on record that PANDEF has not met to take any such decision. As far as I am concerned, we have not met as a body and besides, the constitution of PANDEF bans the forum from being partisan.”
A statement signed after the meeting of the PANDEF youth wing on Tuesday, by Famous Daunemigha, the Youth Coordinator, as well as leaders from Edo and Delta states, General’ Don Ben and Abule Ateh, respectively, noted that PANDEF was apolitical and therefore the endorsement of Atiku by a few elders was “null, void and unconstitutional”.
The statement read: “PANDEF never endorsed Atiku, because what you saw is a bunch of old dying generation elders that lack integrity. PANDEF is a well organized body, made up of a very well enlightened people cut across the whole of Niger Delta states.
“PANDEF has a constitution. We are apolitical; it’s just a bunch of old men who collected money from Atiku and Obi, trying to fill their pockets, even when they are dying.
“PANDEF never had any meeting, or Congress, where we agreed to endorse any political party. What they did, was just some few greedy old dying men lack of integrity; that’s what happened.”
Speaking at the end of the meeting, the youth coordinator added: “It’s very very clear. I am an APC member, but I’ve never used PANDEF at any point, because we know that the constitution says that we should be apolitical. We have the rights to support whatever political party, but to not to endorse any person or candidate.
“The few people you saw there are just bunch of like minds. Chief E.K. Clark, the chairman of PANDEF, some other PDP members who are there, who feel that they are losing election, felt they wanted to use regional bodies to advocate for votes, but they will fail.
“PANDEF has not met. We never had a congress at any time to decide such endorsement. It was a bunch of greedy old people.”
He called on well meaning and law abiding youth not listen to the “ranting of few greedy old men who have been disgraced before in the 2015 general election”.
He continued: “They are aware that they have disgraced themselves, and as far as I am concerned, they can never gather in any place. This bunch of elders; they can never gather, and they don’t have what it takes to gather.
“Every time they are in government, they want to eat from government money freely. That’s why our state governors cannot even develop our states, because when they just give these few elderly people some money, then they (elders) go to the press, and make statements in support of such government.
“That is why the Niger Delta region is still lagging behind in development. They are gullible elders without any self dignity.”

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target=_blank>BREAKING: Police Tear-Gas Hungry IDPS Protesting On The Streets Of Maiduguri

Hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are currently protesting in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.
Led by women and little children, the IDPs from Kukawa and Guzamala local government areas of the state, took to the streets from Teachers’ Village IDP Camp to Mala Kachala bypass up to Bukumkutu Roundabout, where they were eventually tear-gassed by the Police.
Fatima Ibrahim, an IDP from Kukawa, told SaharaReporters that they had spent almost two hungry months at Teachers Village IDP camp.
“We are hungry; our children are seriously hungry,” she said. “Thirty persons share a bag of rice. We are in need of foodstuffs; please tell then to bring for us.”

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target=_blank>Oshiomhole On Atiku: The Kettle Calling The Pot Black By Kunle Wizeman Ajayi

APC National Chair, Adams Oshiomhole has started waxing radical again. In attacking Atiku Abubakar yesterday on TV, he posited thus:
“When you hear Atiku say ‘I will privatise NNPC even if they will kill me’, I don’t even know why he needed to add that one. Who will kill him? He is not speaking to you because you don’t have money to buy NNPC. I don’t know how many Nigerians have the money to buy NNPC. He is speaking to his western audience. When he says he will float the naira, you know whose language, whose values his parroting. Those are IMF agenda. He wants to float the naira. So, if in Atiku’s word, floating the dollar means $1 to N1,000, so be it. Do you think he doesn’t know what he is talking? Of course, there are countries which, if they have their way, they want Nigeria to remain perpetually under-developed”
It must be noted that while Atiku is openly professing his drunken love for the capitalist agenda of neo-liberalism, the Buhari/APC are closet lovers and implementers of IMF and World Bank anti-people ideas.
In November 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari and his team met with Christine Lagarde, the IMF Boss. She as well met with many organs of the government. Just five months later in April, Buhari implemented full deregulation and petrol price doubled from #87 to #145. Nigerians since then can testify to the pains that wicked decision has cost the masses. While the government later reintroduced fuel subsidies, the petrol price never got reduced. And tiil date, the Buhari government never refurbish the refineries as promised. Neither did they take back our oil rigs from private profiteers. Ogoni has not been cleaned up as promised. And a major gas company has been privatised in Port Harcourt.
Also, it is the Buhari government that also devalued the naira fully and started promoting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The rate to dollar rose from #160 to #350 now. There is no assurance that the rate won’t be higher if Buhari/APC gets elected.
Oshiomhole’ s APC is another face of a rotten coin with PDP on the other side. There is only a no difference. In fact, APC is much effective in implementing anti-poor policies. For instance, Oshiomhole himself as Edo state governor borrowed from World Bank and also implemented a disastrous state casualization despite being a former NLC president.
Adams Oshiomhole employed over 20, 000 graduates and injected them into workplaces under the name Youth Employment Scheme (YES). He used these workers to grow the GDP of Edo state for seven years and sacked them all. This is the same mass casualisation of work that Osun under Aregbesola (OYES); Ajimobi’s Oyo (YES O) and others did. Buhari is also replicating same with N.Power. It is N.Power that the Buhari’s government call employment. The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) have made us know that it is mass casualisation and never real employment by international and economic standards. Need we remind Oshiomhole that casualisation is a neo-liberal capitalist agenda to denigrate work and a particular condition for IMF/World Bank loans?!
Nigerians must be wary of Oshiomhole’s fake radicalism. He built only a higher institution all through his tenure as Edo state governor located in his home town, Iyahmo, near Auchi. I am sure there is no working family in Oshiomhole’ s home town that can afford the school fees. The commercialisation of education is obviously a capitalist agenda.
The western powers are like an average s** worker. They dance to the customer that can pay them anytime. That’s their permanent interest. They openly supported Buhari and APC the last time. Now they have found a customer in Atiku. For us who believes in another Nigeria without imperialism, we will support a people’s alternative in Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC). He doesn’t have the support of either the local capitalist powers nor that of the Western world. His support is rooted in the masses of Nigeria and his ideas are sowing seeds in streets, villages, towns, and cities all over the country. His support is rooted in an anti-capitalist agenda where the millions will surely matter more than the millionaires.
Let Adams Oshiomhole and his PDP opponents know that the wind has long blown and the yansh of their hen is exposed that their fight, to the masses, is like Arsenal playing Chelsea. Even the captain of Arsenal can move to Chelsea next season.

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target=_blank>After Passing The Night In The Bush, Adamawa Villagers Running From Boko Haram Troop Into Yola

Thousands of villagers in Adamawa State who fled for their lives due to Monday’s Boko Haram attacks are still trooping into Yola, capital of the state, after spending last night in the bush.
Boko Haram attacked communities in Madagali, Gulak, Shuwa, Michika and Baza on Monday evening, but villagers had started fleeing hours earlier when local sources sighted Boko Haram fighters mobilising around Kirchinga Village, near Shuwa town in Madagali Local Government Area.
According to the Army, which mobilised troops of the 28 battalion to repel the attack, two people were reported killed while many houses were torched.
Mohammed Bello, a Brigadier General, told SaharaReporters that peace had returned to the area. “Troops of the 28 battalion have repelled the terrorists, and I can confirm that normalcy has returned in the area,” he said.
However, the displaced villagers are still apprehensive.
A Michika resident who slept in the bush told SaharaReporters that the whole town was deserted last night.
“We all slept in the bush,” she said. “But thank God we learnt early this morning that soldiers have repelled the Boko Haram from Shuwa, that is why we came back. I know of no death recorded in Michika, however many people were wounded in the pandemonium.”
Another villager told Sahararareporters that the panic had yet to abate, as a large number of frightened people from the affected local governments were still trooping into Yola, the state capital, for safety.
“Even in the neighbouring Mubi town, people are on the run, reminiscent of 2014 experience, around the election period,” he said.
SaharaReporters understands the fleeing of residents has sparked concerns about the possibility of successful elections in the two local governments, and about citizen involvement in voting proper should elections hold there.

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target=_blank>CJN Case – Buhari A Dove Or A Hawk? By Bunmi Makinwa

In his initial actions on assuming office in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari was painstakingly slow. The list is long. He took six months to appoint a cabinet. Many important organizations and parastatals continued to be led by nominees of the previous government. Management boards of key governmental organizations and ambassadors for important foreign offices were not appointed or confirmed.
For a considerable time after becoming president, Buhari was not known to have articulated any clear policy statements on the three key areas of his campaign- security, economy and corruption.
As time went on, he accepted the label of “Baba go slow” and explained that it would not stop him from reaching his goal on retrieving stolen monies. Perhaps the slow posture helped to demonstrate his change of image from that of a past military dictator to that of a democratic president.  Maybe his ill-health explained the slow pace too, but the disappointment was real.
Meanwhile, the high profile cases of corruption that his government made loud noises about went nowhere or stalled due to court processes, also known as legal technicalities. Yet, many cases went to court, and large amounts of monies and assets were confiscated. But extremely few of the major allegedly corrupt persons got convicted.
Very quickly, the more than 15 million voters who brought Buhari into office settled into the new reality. The new leader and his government appeared to succeed reasonably in limiting the effectiveness of Boko Haram, which was a good thing. But the government would not be able to find an effective way to reduce corruption. Not in court, not in mobilization of people, not in policy clarity. At best it would scare some corrupt politicians within its ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)  party and in the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) party.
The system, thoroughly soaked in corrupt ways from top to bottom, has won. Despite his experience as former head of state, holder of several political offices, and his hunger to rule Nigeria, the new Buhari was a dove who would play the political game and not hurt. After all, the dove is a symbol of peace.
Many people were disappointed because they wanted a hawk – an aggressive and war-like leader who would find ways to correct the ills. But the political realities emasculated the government.
Like a thunderbolt, the allegation against the Chief Justice emerged. Buhari acted rapidly. His unusually quick and decisive step caused a massive uproar. The opposition and other critics found a rallying point.
It is probably the most controversial decision of Buhari’s government – the suspension of Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen and appointment of acting Chief Justice Tanko Muhammed to replace him. The CJN was allegedly found to have misrepresented his financial standing in the sworn declaration of assets.
The whirlwind of opinions, protests and statements on the decision continues within and outside Nigeria. Legal analysts and professionals voiced strong but opposing views on the situation There can only be finality when courts pronounce.
Buhari’s APC and the main opposition PDP hold diametrically opposing positions on the CJN issue. For APC, it is right that a CJN who “forgot” to state in his official papers that he had millions of dollars in bank accounts was guilty of misconduct. But the PDP differs.
Public opinion is an aggregate of the views and thoughts of the general public. The coming elections will reflect where supporters of APC and PDP and other parties stand on several issues, and perhaps, more importantly, the decision on the CJN, taking three weeks before the crucial election.
Many people and organizations have spoken and demonstrated against the decision. And as many have spoken and manifested their support for it. The supporters find the decision bold, correct and necessary.  Can it be the kind of decision that many people expected when they voted massively in 2015 to support APC and made sure that Buhari clinched the presidency?
USA’s president Donald Trump during his campaign did several things that were unorthodox. The more he showed Americans and the world that he was not a typical politician, the stronger his support base became. The more Trump angered mainstream America the more his followers cheered.
A large number of Americans were fed up with the political system. They were seeking a president unlike their politicians in the Senate, House of Representatives and Washington D.C., the political capital. The forgotten Americans wanted to turn the tables against politics as it was being played. They wanted a non-political leader.
In the USA, the media, opinionists, commentators and experts did not get the message of the disgruntled, voiceless people in open and hidden corners of America.  Trump got the message. He acted the part and played ball with the coalition of immigrant haters, faith fundamentalists, blue collar workers and such-like others. He fitted the bill and he won.
In so-called democratic Nigeria today, the average person has no right at any place or institution. It is a well-known fact that who-you-are and what-you-have are the sole determinants of what you get. Yet, the elites and dominant office holders are quick to claim the rule of law as the answer to resolve the disagreement.
More than some of the controversial issues of Buhari’s presidency – the cattle herders’ rampage, the allegedly Northern-bias in the appointment of key federal officers, and general un-hurried attention to crucial national issues – the public perception on the CJN issue may be the decisive factor of Buhari’s re-election.
The president has shown he could find a way within the rotten political and legal system to take a vital blow on seeming corrupt behaviour. The action may turn out to be the most populist decision by his government. Or it may be the most foolhardy. The decision of President Buhari will be validated or rejected by the result of the elections of February 16 when he squares up with his main rival, former Vice-President and candidate of the PDP, Abubakar Atiku.

Bunmi Makinwa is the CEO of AUNIQUEI Communication for Leadership.

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target=_blank>LASPOTECH: The Facts About CONTISS 15 Migration By Olanrewaju Kuye

Lagos State Polytechnic front gate

Lagos State Polytechnic

The agitation for the implementation of Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS 15) migration by the three Staff Unions is an issue that has thrown the Polytechnic community into unrest since 2016.
The CONTISS 15 migration is the movement of staff from one salary grade level to the next level provided the staff meets the necessary conditions stipulated by the National Board for Technical Eduication (NBTE) that such staff must have been employed before 1st August 2009., such staff must possess the basic academic/professional or both qualifications applicable to his/her competence in addition to compliance to Institutional policy and such staff must have spent a minimum of two years on the current position before the year of migration.
The lawlessness of the three staff unions and threats to the lives of members of the Governing Council along with the Principal Officers of the Polytechnic got to a peak that during a session of the  Governing Council’s  meeting; the council members were rounded up and locked up at the Board Room with threats  to set ablaze the entire building with the members inside. Charms were freely displayed and urine poured on the heads of elderly council members sent to appeal to them. Power supply was cut off and all members’ cars vandalised.
Following these threats, the Office of the Special Adviser to His Excellency on Education in order to save lives and property, directed the Governing Council to implement the CONTISS 15 migration scheme in order to pacify the rampaging Union members that held the Governing Council members hostage  for several hours. This implementation was on the terms presented by the three (3) Staff Unions which was later found to be defective.
The faulty implementation of the CONTISS 15 started immediately in October 2016, notwithstanding, the three staff Unions continued to agitate for the payment of the 87 months arrears calculated to N1.7billion which was a financial burden to accommodate.
Management at this instance, sent two members of staff to the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in Kaduna to seek clarification on the policy implementation of CONTISS 15 migration, specifically, a member of the Unions and another, a Deputy Registrar in the Personnel Department on behalf of Management.
Ironically, the two gentlemen sent to NBTE returned with two conflicting reports. The representative of the Unions came with a point to point movement implementation which was their position for October 2016 defective implementation, while the representative of Management insisted that the implementation was to be in line with the normal and usual promotional movement as it was done in 2004 when the Polytechnic implemented the Alignment of Nomenclature Policy  of 1998 of Lagos State Government.
Based on the conflicting positions of the representatives, the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education wrote directly to NBTE, seeking clarification on the implementation of the said NBTE guidelines.
The NBTE, in response, sent the policy guidelines directly to the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education (SAE).
The Office of SAE sent the policy papers to the Governing Council and other relevant agencies of Government for consideration and recommendation.
On receiving the NBTE document from the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education,  the Governing Council constituted a committee  with representatives from Governing Council,  Management and the three Staff  Unions to consider the document as directed by the State Government.  At the said meeting, the Unions insisted that the Polytechnic should implement the NBTE  CONTISS 15 Migration Guidelines holistically even though Management and Governing Council were not favourably disposed to this Union’s position for they believed that it should only be for Officers on CONTISS 11 downwards and CONTISS 12 upwards (where necessary) according to NBTE. To give peace a chance again the Governing Council/ Management obliged.
This position was part of the collective resolutions of the Governing Council, Management and the Unions that was forwarded later to the State Government for consideration and necessary approval in 2017.
The Unions at several intervals embarked on strike actions that disturbed the peace of the Institution. This forced the State Government to institute a court action against the Unions’ consistent strike actions.
The State House of Assembly intervened at the Unions’ instance but they were impatient to wait for the resolution before embarking on their usual trade mark – strike action.
They also waved off, in acts of arrogance and disrespect to constituted authority, the intervention of the high power Executive Council led by the Deputy Governor in the company of the Secretary to the State Government and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education.
Having disregarded the interventions of the Deputy Governor’s team and that of the State House of Assembly, the Lagos State Executive Council proceeded to deliberate on the Governing Council’s presentation on the NBTE documents and released its decision which was communicated to the Polytechnic Management for implementation effective July 1, 2018 but just commenced by the Polytechnic due to administrative inconveniences and court directive.
The Management hereby refutes unequivocally that no staff of the Polytechnic was being demoted as claimed by the Unions.
The State Government in an act of magnanimity overlooked all previous payments made in error since October, 2016 to staff involved in the migration scheme due to the defective position of the Unions before the approved implementation date of the State Executive Council.
Steps taken by the polytechnic management so far include series of meetings between the staff and management to explain the position of CONTISS 15 Migration, letters written to every member of staff involved in CONTISS 15 Migration by the Registrar, implementation of CONTISS 15 Migration in accordance with the NBTE guideline and as directed by the Lagos State Government and management directed all staff who may have issues on the implementation to forward their complaints to the Registrar for necessary action.
Both the Governing Council and Management have also taken a number of steps to cushion the effects of the salary realignment, including immediate promotion of staff that were due for the 2016/2017 appraisal year, immediate commencement of 2017/2018 appraisal, immediate implementation of annual increments from 2016 to date and payment of three months arrears of promotion to eligible staff member.

Kuye is the Deputy Registrar, Information and Public Relations of the Lagos State Polytechnic, (LASPOTECH) Ikorodu.

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target=_blank>BREAKING: Oshiomhole Explains Peter Obi’s Obsession With China

Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says Peter Obi, presidential running mate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is fascinated by China due to the stocking of his multi-billion-naira shopping mall, Next, with China-made goods.
Obi is known to regularly reference China when discussing the industrial and infrastructural advancement his party will bring to Nigeria if voted into power are the February 16 election.
Oshiomhole has taken pleasure in aiming digs at Obi’s China proclamations, famously describing the former Anambra Governor last week as “half China, half India”.

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BREAKING: Peter Obi Is ‘Half China And Half India’, Says Oshiomhole

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5 Days Ago

On Tuesday at the presidential campaign rally of his party in Ekiti State, Oshiomhole toed the same line, saying: “When I see Peter Obi talk about China, China, China, China… except that he doesn’t look like one of them. But I understand he buys all his goods from China.
“When you go to NEXT Supermarket in Abuja, 90% of the goods are Chinese-made, so you understand his bond with China, China, China.
“But what defined China’s development are precisely the opposite of the public policy pronouncements that Atiku has failed to articulate. The Chinese refused to float China’s currency; Atiku says he will float Nigeria’s currency. The Chinese invest in massive road and rail construction so that there is chance to move raw materials, goods and services, but Atiku has never spoken to what he will do on infrastructure.”
At the Sani Abacha Stadium, venue of last Thursday’s presidential campaign rally of the APC in Kano, Oshimhole had also attacked Obi, telling the mammoth crowd: “I was telling someone this morning: Atiku has made again another mistake of his life. The first time he contested for the presidency, he went for an Obi. After Obi, he failed; he returned to PDP. He tried again, he failed; he came back to APC. He tried again he failed; this time he went back to PDP and went to another Obi.
“This other Obi is half China and half India — because if he speaks three words, one will be Chinese, the second one will be Indian and the third one will be a mixture of Igbo and Yoruba. I have tried to teach him my own language but he is not likely to succeed.”

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BREAKING: Ambode Arrives Lagos Assembly For Budget Presentation

Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State, has arrived the Lagos State House of Assembly for the presentation of the 2019 Appropriation Bill.
The lawmakers had accused Ambode of incurring expenditure on the 2019 Appropriation Bill, which had not been presented to the House.
There were also talks of impeaching the Governor if the allegations turned out to be true.
He arrived at the Alausa venue of the Assembly on Tuesday afternoon.
Details later…

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SaharaReporters, New York

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