C.O.E Minna has embark on an indefinite strike.

 The Niger State College of Education had embarked on a indefinite strike action which commences today according to the statement issued on the above picture by the congress of COEASU C.O.E. Minna branch.
The first part of the statement which reads as follows " This is to remind you that the 21 working days ultimatum given to the Government as agreed by congress held on 3rd day of June, 2014 expires on the 2nd of July, 2014"
"The Government has not issued any written commitment to our demands"
"The suspended strike action which is Total resumes on the 3rd of July, 2014"
"Please search your conscience and comply accordingly" reads the statement.
The federal chapter of the College of Education Academic staff Union have being on strike since July last year. Some of the state chapter had inadvently refused to join in the spirit of patriotism.
Its not clear if the leaders of the country will issue any solution to the demands of the striking education sector since it did not affect their kids studying in private or foreign institution.
 The education sector has been hit by numerous strike action from the tertiary institution workers.
As at last year almost all the Unions of the institutions ranging from Universities, diploma and certificate awarding institutions- probably polytechnics and Colleges of Education- had one time or another being on strike.
What will be your say on this issue?

The battle between Mr. President and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

 The announcement of Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Emir of Kano had come as a big punch to the personality of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before he was unanimously suspended by the President. The president suspended Malam Sanusi amidst speculation on the missing 20 billion naira from the coffers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

It is still unclear why the president suspended the Governor although the president answered a question concerning the issue in his April edition of media chat and his answer was that Malam Sanusi might increase the amount to more than 20 billion in the future if he is allowed to continue.

The President has also placed Mallam Sanusi under serious investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The Governor did not sit down to watch the President fight a one-sided battle, instead he retaliated by taking the case to the court.

With the case still in court and Mallam Sanusi being installed as the new Emir of Kano, there is no assurance that one of the biggest battle in Nigeria between A president and A Governor of CBN will continue as expected.

On the day of the announcement of the new Emir, some People's Democratic Party (PDP) members went about congratulating Mallam Sanusi Ado Bayero, the son of the former Emir of Kano, Mallam Ado Bayero, as the new Emir even before the Governor of Kano State made an official announcement.

I am not really familiar with constitution of the federation but I know of a section of the constitution that gives power to a state Governor of inuagurating an Emir, an Oba or Obi etc - considering which is in question - after the Kingmakers have selected three reputable gentlemen with a specific qualifications.

Syrian war: American commits suicide for al Qaeda.

Nearly 13 years after the 9/11 attacks, many Americans were likely surprised to learn that one of their fellow citizens had committed suicide on behalf of al Qaeda in a massive bombing attack last week in northern Syria.

 

The American al Qaeda recruit's name was Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, according to the U.S. State Department, and he grew up in Vero Beach, Florida, where he played high school football.

Abu-Salha, who was 22, is the first American suicide bomber in Syria, but he is not the first U.S. citizen to die in a suicide attack on behalf of an al Qaeda-affiliated group. In the past six years, at least three Americans have conducted suicide attacks in Somalia for Al-Shabaab, al Qaeda's Somali affiliate.

It is cases like that of Abu-Salha that explain why senior U.S. counterterrorism officials tell me that they are "all Syria, all the time."

Insurgencies such as the one going on in Syria against the Bashar al-Assad regime can go on for many years. Indeed, since World War II, the average insurgency has lasted at least a decade, according to an authoritative study by RAND.

The Syrian conflict is now only in its fourth year, so Syria could well prove an important training ground for foreign fighters for many years in the future. Also, al Qaeda-affiliated groups now control territory stretching from Aleppo in western Syria to Falluja in Iraq, 400 miles to the east. This is a large safe haven for al Qaeda in the heart of the Middle East.

Boko Haram's twisted agenda devastating

A large part of northern and central Nigeria is now at the mercy of intensified attacks by Boko Haram, and the group seems to be embarking on a new phase of its campaign against the Nigerian state -- piling further pressure on the government of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Last week we have seen devastating bomb attacks in Jos, in central Nigeria, as well as a suicide bombing in Kano - the largest city in the north. Two more villages in the state of Borno, Boko Haram's stronghold in the northeast, came under attack, with at least 30 civilians killed. There have also been two bomb attacks in the federal capital, Abuja, in the last five weeks.

What alarms analysts is the way Boko Haram and its supporters are able to carry out multiple attacks on targets far apart, all within days of each other. Jos and Kano are more than 300 miles from Borno.

The double car-bomb attack against a market in Jos on Tuesday, which killed 118 people, according to the National Emergency Management Agency, is typical of its strategy beyond Borno: to strike soft targets in places where sectarian tensions are already high, with massive force. The use of two bombs some 30 minutes apart copied an al Qaeda tactic.

Boko Haram kills 33 security personnel in Nigeria attacks, sources say

Militants with Islamist terror group Boko Haram killed at least 33 security personnel in attacks this week on a military base and a police station in northeastern Nigeria's Yobe state, security sources said Wednesday.

Monday night's attacks in the town of Buni Yadi killed 18 soldiers and 15 police, the sources said.

"There were attacks by Boko Haram insurgents in Buni Yadi, but details are still sketchy," Yobe state police commissioner Sanusi Rufa'i said.

The attacks come more than a month after the group abducted an estimated 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, also in northeastern Nigeria. Dozens escaped, but more than 200 girls still are missing.

Boko Haram translates as "Western education is a sin" in the Hausa language. The militant group says its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south

C.O.E. Minna joins league of colleges on strike.

Its almost six months since the federal Chapter of the Colleges of Education Academic staff Union (COEASU) had embarked on strike bringing all Federal Colleges of Education to a halt. Meanwhile, the state chapters are considering joining the long while strike with C.O.E. Minna already on a warning strike which might hopefully have a review on 6th of june.

Nigeria is not poor- President Goodluck Jonathan

 

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday faulted the World Bank report which placed Nigeria among the five poorest countries in the world, saying “the nation is not poor’’.

Addressing workers at the May Day rally held at the Eagle Square, Abuja, the President said: “The challenge of the country is not poverty, but redistribution of wealth.’’

He said the realities on ground did not portray the country as a poor nation, but a nation whose abundant wealth needed to be evenly redistributed.

The President added that his administration was working assiduously and putting policies in place to ensure that Nigerians had access to financial resources to create wealth for themselves.

He said: “Nigeria is not a poor country. Nigerians are the most travelled people. There is no country you go that you will not see Nigerians. The GDP of Nigeria is over half a trillion dollars and the economy is growing at close to 7 per cent.

“Aliko Dangote was recently classified among the 25 richest people in the World.

Another Bomb Blast rocks Nyanya, Abuja

The Police has confirmed 12 persons dead and 19 injured in  a  fresh bomb blast  in Nyanya,  Abuja, Thursday evening.
Five vehicles were  also damaged in the incident which occurred near the scene of the previous attack that claimed scores of lives.
Traffic congestion according to the police is hampering  rescue operations.

NICEGA games being suspended due to COEASU strike

The long awaited Nigeria Colleges of Education Games (NICEGA) which was slated for 17th of May, 2014 has being suspended due to the ongoing strike action by the COEASU in Federal Colleges of Education.
The year's edition is to be hosted by the Niger State College of Education, Minna.
This edition was supposed to take-off last year but was shifted to early this year siting excuses relating to delay in completing renovation of the sporting facilities of the college.
Its likely that there is no date for the competition considering the fact that FG has not being in terms with the COEASU Excos, still there is yet any date fixed for a meeting between the COEASU and the FG.

GeoResonance claim to have locate Malaysia airlines flight 370 wreckage

The Malaysian government confirmed Tuesday that officials investigating the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 were looking into an Australian company's claim to have located aircraft wreckage on the sea floor in the northern Bay of Bengal -- thousands of miles from the search area scanned meticulously for weeks to the south.

Australian land and sea survey company GeoResonance said in a statement sent Tuesday to CBS News that it had discovered materials "believe to be the wreckage of a commercial airliner" about 100 miles south of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal using proprietary technology which scans vast areas for specific metals or minerals.


The company's technology is often used to help clients find mineral deposits for mining, but GeoResonance also has participated in the hunt for old warships or aircraft on the ocean floor.

"During the search for MH370, GeoResonance searched for chemical elements that make up a Boeing 777: aluminum, titanium, copper, steel alloys, jet fuel residue, and several other substances. The aim was to find a location where all those elements were present," said the company in the written statement.

Jonathan suspends FEC meeting to mourn Sambo's Brother

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed that the weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation, FEC, scheduled for Wednesday be shelved to enable Council members attend the three-day prayer for the late pilot, Yusuf Sabo Sambo, the younger brother of the Vice President, Namadi Sambo.

Sam Nwaobasi, the Special Assistant (Media) to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation announced the suspension of the meeting.
Sabo sambo died on April 27, in an accident on the Bill Clinton Drive, Airport road, Abuja.
He was born in 1956 and is survived by his wife, three daughters, and 10 brothers and sisters.
He had since been buried at the Apo cemetery, Abuja, according to Islamic rites.
As a pilot, he worked for Nigeria Airways and the Presidential fleet before retiring to start a private business.

#‎BringBackOurGirls‬

 

#‎BringBackOurGirls‬ If It Was Your Daughter In The Bushes With Boko Haram…

…or if it was your father who had his leg blown off in Nyanya

Will you not head to Sambisa ‘guns blazing?’
Will you not advocate for the arming of willing youth, ready to fight and die in this battle, to seek out, rescue her and her friends, and eliminate Boko Haram?
Will you not tell your law makers to immediately approve the arming of Civilian-JTF, who know and are ready to enter Sambisa now; to find her?
Or will you sit behind a computer and type ‘#BringBackOurGirls?’
wait for the government that’s dancing at political rallies?
wait for the SSS who are yet to find a single sponsor of Boko Haram?
Will you protest for the army to act, who are yet to accost Boko Haram in Sambisa?
who lied to you that most of your girls had escaped?
who have not eliminated Boko Haram from Sambisa in 4 years?
who would not defend Giwa barracks, despite prior notice?
who arrested Ciaxon?

Nigeria not certain about number of abducted girls

There’s something quite peculiar and absurd about being a Nigerian. It’s a country of – so to speak – unspecified data and dimensions. Nigeria is not simply plagued by inexactitude; it cultivates numerical and other forms of fuzziness.

The other day, Ikhide Ikheloa, one of Nigeria’s most pugnacious gadflies, was waxing indignant on Facebook and Twitter. His grouse? Nigeria has been in the global news on account of the dreadful abduction, on 14 April, of teenage girls from their secondary school in Chibok, Borno State. Ikheloa was riled that nobody in Nigeria, least of all reporters, seemed to know the exact number of girls who were abducted by suspected Boko Haram terrorists.

The initial figures ranged from 100 to more than 200. Later, Asabe Kwambura, the principal of the Government Girls Secondary School, said 230 girls had been abducted. Some said 234. An official of the Borno State government said 129.

That manner of inexact information is painful to stomach. Yet, Nigerians have grown accustomed to it.

National Assembly members to impeach Jonathan

The battle for political supremacy in the House of Representatives is set to be rekindled with the plan by 37 former members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to present an impeachment motion against President Goodluck Jonathan.

The legislators, who are allegedly acting in concert with their governors who defected with them to All Progressives Congress, APC, are also following up their plans with a high profile sensitisation campaign against alleged misdeeds of the administration.

Aero Contractor given 30 days to compensate passengers.

The Federal government of Nigeria through the office of the Consumers Protection Agency (CPC) on Monday gave the management of Aero contractors 30 days within which to compensate 39 passengers whose flight were cancelled and left to sleep over at the airport on November 8, 2013.

The passengers were booked to leave Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja to Lagos by 6pm on the said date but were left stranded overnight at the airport.
Speaking in Lagos yesterday, director general of CPC, Mrs Dupe Atoki, the affected 39 passengers are to be paid N1.579 million being the cost of reliefs that should have been provided during the period of delay as well as 25 per cent of passengers' ticket value for the cancellation of the flight without notice in line with the Passenger Bill Right (PBR).
Atoki said if the airline failed to pay the compensation within the stipulated period, its managing director would be prosecuted and risk three years jail term.

Report shows abducted girls seen around Gwoza

With some 187 girls still missing two weeks after they were abducted from a school in north-eastern Nigeria, the government is under growing pressure, reports BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross.

The agonising wait goes on. Almost two weeks after they were driven away from their boarding school in the town in the middle of the night, parents are desperate for news of their daughters.

A resident of the small town of Gwoza in the remote north-east said on 25 April she saw a convoy of 11 vehicles painted in military colours carrying many girls.

Polytechnic students to disrupt CONFAB 2014

Polytechnic students have threatened to disrupt ongoing national confab in Abuja next week Wednesday to protest months of closure of their schools.
Hundreds of them “will mobilize” to join lecturers from polytechnics and colleges of education, who have already planned in protest in Abuja next week.
“We are supporting our lecturers because they are fighting for our own rights and those of all polytechnics in the country,” said Abdulmajeed Oyeniyi, spokesman for National Association of Polytechnic Students.
Friday morning, bus loads of polytechnic students blocked traffic at Federal Secretariat junction in central Abuja to protest their months of stay at home.
They demanded the sack of education minister Nyesom Wike, insisting on placards that he was “weak” and “not competent.”
They also called on federal government to meet their demands and targets.
The protesters came from states across the country—Anambra, Adamawa, Kogi, Niger.
Heavy police presence met the protesters at federal secretariat to control their flow and movement, not to stop them.
Only hundreds were mobilized for the protest in Central Abuja, but future planned protests could see larger numbers as protesters continue to reach out to fellow polytechnic students on social media.
“We want to send information to people that are not here today. By next week Wednesday we are stopping the confab in Abuja again,” said Oyeniyi.

Nigerian Military to embark on operation to free abducted girls.

The military has tracked down and surrounded the location, where over 200 schoolgirls who were abducted two weeks ago from Government Secondary School, Chibok, are being held captive, while exploring various options, including intense negotiations by locals and the Borno State Government to secure their release.

Disclosing this yesterday, security sources said the military has already identified the various camps in which the girls are being held, but is being cautious about executing a full onslaught against their captors, in order to avoid collateral damage.

Giving a status report on efforts to rescue the girls, he said: “The operation is being strategically carried in a very covert manner because the terrorists will not hesitate to use any of the girls as human shields or even kill them in the event of an attack.

National CONFAB commitee agrees on states merging

The delegates at the Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government have agreed on a proposal that will enable states that wish to merge to do so. The issue of merger is a situation whereby two or more states can come together as one.

The resolution of the committee on the issue reads:

That without prejudice to states constituting the federating units, States that wish to merge may do so in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, provided that:

1. A majority of two-thirds of all members in each of the Houses of Assembly of each of the states, in which merger is proposed, support by resolutions, the merger and

US and UK to join search for abducted School girls in Nigeria.

The abduction of 234 school girls of Gov't Girls Secondary School, Chibok just a day after the Nyanya Bomb incident has come as a big blow to Nigeria security sector.
If what the Sunday Punch reported on 27th of April is true, we can assume their might be a breakthrough on security issues in the country.
The Nigerian newspaper, SUNDAY PUNCH reported "that Britain and the United States of America have joined the search for the 234 schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno, by the Boko Haram sect.

"The girls were kidnapped in their hostel on April 14 after members of the sect, pretending to be soldiers, lured the pupils away from their hostel before setting it ablaze.

"About 30 of the girls escaped from captivity while about a dozen, who fled into the bush when the sect attacked the school, have since returned to the school.

"The military had initially claimed that it had rescued all but 18 of the girls but the school principal, Asabe Kwabura, debunked the statement.

Parents who tried to rescue their children from the Sambisa Forest where the pupils are reportedly being kept by Boko Haram had to turn back when they learnt that the sect was heavily armed and that they might lose their lives in the process.