younglee's Blog

The Nigerian Senate has set up a committee to address the industrial crisis between the Federal Government and officials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Setting up the committee on Wednesday, Senate President Bukola Saraki said it would liaise with the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office to look into the outstanding financial demands of the union. Dr Saraki set up the committee during a meeting with ASUU officials in Abuja. He told members of the union that the Senate was mindful of the longstanding issues between the union and the Federal Government, but stressed that the upper chamber wanted a resolution of the problem. ASUU is embarking on a one week warning strike to protest the failure of the Federal Government to implement terms of the 2009 and 2013 agreements. Academic activities were shut down in most institutions across Nigeria on Wednesday, as a result of an industrial action by the union to push their demands. The directive for the n...

The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has said that the anti-corruption war is tough and grueling, with corruption fighting vigorously back, but assured that the battle would be won. The President made this known at a meeting with the American Secretary of State, John Kerry on Wednesday, at the climate change, COP22, in Marrakech, Morocco, President Buhari said corrupt people had accumulated a formidable arsenal of illicit wealth, which they were now deploying against the government on diverse fronts. “But it is a war we are determined to win, and which we will win,” President Buhari said. “People of goodwill are behind us, countries like America and many others are with us, and we will surely win.” The President also updated Mr Kerry on the war against insurgency in the North-east of Nigeria, efforts being made to tackle humanitarian problems caused by the insurgency, informing that a presidential committee had been launched “under Gen T.Y Danjuma, a man of high ...

As the 7-day warning strike declared by the national body of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) enters its second day, a faction of the lecturers at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun state have boycotted the nationwide strike. Channels Television’s visit to the university revealed that students are currently having their first semester examination for the 2015/16 academics session under the supervision of the lecturers. Speaking on the strike and their reason for not joining, the chairman of the Committee of Deans in OAU, Professor Adeagbo Amusan, said that the boycott was in the interest of the students, who had wasted so much time since the start of the session due to incessant strike. “It’s a unanimous decision that much as we are aware of the directive of NEC, we would want our examinations to go on unhindered. We key into the national body of ASUU but we have some local issues to sort out here and we don’t want to externalize our internal aff...

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to give government more time to sort out the shortfalls in salary payment and other related issues affecting the education sector. President Buhari made the plea as the visitor at the grand finale of the 68th Founders’ Day and convocation ceremony of the University of Ibadan which took place at the International Conference Center, Ibadan. Represented by the Director, Tertiary Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Fatimah Ahmad, President Buhari decried the standard of education which has left a vast majority of the people poorly educated. Describing the trend as unhealthy and saddening, the President reiterated his administration’s commitment to revamping the sector. Mrs Ahmad added that government was in dialogue with the affected unions and would continue to explore means of amicable resolutions. A total of 442 graduates bagged doctorate degrees in various fields wh...

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has described the sentencing to death of a Nigerian in Singapore for drug related offences as heartbreaking despite repeated calls for Nigerians to desist from criminal activities like drug peddling. In a statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Abdur-Rahman Balogun in Abuja, she said that since Singapore is determined to enforce its laws as a deterrent to drug trafficking, which has reduced as a result of its stringent capital punishment, nothing much can be done except to continue to appeal. She reiterated her appeal to Nigerians to avoid drug peddling in their host countries as laws of countries, whether acceptable or not, will be difficult to influence. “While we regret the death sentence passed on the Nigerian, we once again appeal to Nigerians to avoid crimes like drug trafficking with most countries especially in Asia declaring zero tolerance for drug trafficking,...

Amnesty International  on Wednesday, called on Singapore to immediately halt the execution of Chijoke Stephen Obioha, a Nigerian national, on death row for possession of drugs. The family of Mr Obioha was also informed on Wednesday that his appeal for clemency had been rejected and he was set to be executed on Friday 18, November 2016. “The Singapore government still has time to halt the execution of Chijoke Stephen Obioha. “We are dismayed that clemency has not been granted in his case but remain hopeful that they won’t carry out this cruel and irreversible punishment against a person sentenced to the mandatory death penalty, for a crime that should not even be punished by death,” Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Rafendi Djamin, said. Furthermore, he stressed that “the death penalty is never the solution. It will not rid Singapore of drugs. By executing people for drug-related offences, which do not meet the threshold of most serious...

Boko Haram has dramatically scaled back attacks in Cameroon in recent months, analysts said on Wednesday, suggesting a regional security force is gaining ground against the militants. The Islamist movement – which controlled an area the size of Belgium in northeast Nigeria last year and raided Cameroon and other neighbors to expand its “caliphate” – had since suffered a string of defeats, International Crisis Group (ICG) said. The report came days after security and U.N. sources said hundreds of Boko Haram fighters and their families had surrendered on another frontline in Chad. There was no comment from any of the factions of Boko Haram which is still seen as one of the main security threats in West Africa. “We’ve seen a dizzying downwards spiral in the number of attacks and suicide bombings,” said Hans De Marie Heungoup, one of the report’s authors. Two years ago, attacks were happening on an almost daily basis, he said. But the number had fallen to between six and eigh...