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Senate advocates stiffer penalties for employers involved in ill treatment of employees, child labour, others
The Senate on Tuesday, passed for second reading, a Bill which seeks to review the Labour Act to provide stiffer penalties for various offences ranging from ill treatment of workers by employers, modern slavery, child labour to discrimination against women in the work place. The legislation titled ‘A Bill for an Act to amend the labour Act Cap L1, LFN, 2004 to review labour fine and other related matters, 2021,’ is sponsored by Senator Francis Onyewuchi (Imo East). According to the draft Bill, Section 21 proposed a fine of N500,000 and N1,000,000 from the present fine of N800 and N500 for first and second offences relating to “Breach of terms and conditions of employment”, as it relates to the wage hour, nature of employment, leave and contracts of employment, among others. Section 46 also...
Senate president receives first dose of coronavirus vaccine, calls for more sensitisation
The President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, took the lead at the National Assembly on Tuesday when he received the first jab of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine was administered on him in his fourth floor office by his personal physician, Dr Muhammad Usman, while the vaccination card was presented to him by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary), Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe. Speaking shortly after receiving the jab, Lawan called for more advocacy and sensitization on the vaccine, appealing to Nigerians to make themselves available for the vaccination. He congratulated the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 for working so hard to ensure that the vaccine is available for Nigerians. While urging the PTF to get more of the vaccine and variety of it in ...
Official: NASRDA to launch another satellite in June
IBTimes The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) says it is putting modalities in place to launch a Cubesat ‘Edusat-2’ within the first half of the year. The Acting Director-General of NASRDA, Dr Francis Chizea, said this at the ongoing Science and Technology Expo on Tuesday in Abuja, where the agency showcased its research works and achievements. The science expo is with the theme “Science, Technology and Innovation for Economic Recovery and Sustainability Amidst the COVID-19 Challenges” and is a platform to showcase innovation within agencies of government, private research institutions, the academia, among other participants. Chizea explained that EduSat-2 was a build-up on EduSat-1 which the agency built in collaboration with Federal University of Technology, Akure a...
Grammy: Young Nigerians redefining global music space – APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated Nigerian Afrobeat star, Damini Ogulu popularly known as Burna Boy, and hip hop artist, Ayodeji Balogun musically known as Wizkid, for winning awards at the 63rd 2021 Grammys held in Los Angeles, United States of America. The National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, in a statement issued yesterday, said the awards crowned the efforts of Nigerian superstars such as Fela Anikulakpo Kuti and others, who were the main progenitors of Afrobeat/Afropop that has become the mainstream music all over the world. According to Akpanudoedehe, “As a party, we are immensely proud that the country’s musical stars are leading the pack of young Africans who are redefining the global music ...
CDD: Monitoring and evaluation vital in tracking fight against corruption
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) says monitoring and evaluation is vital in tracking the fight against corruption in Nigeria. Speaking at a three-day monitoring and evaluation capacity-building workshop for Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) on Monday in Calabar, Idayat Hassan, CDD director, said monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a process that helps track the progress in the fight against corruption in the country. The workshop was organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in partnership with the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-corruption Reform (TUGAR). It also had support from the MacArthur Foundation. Represented by Emmanuel Akomaye, the centre’s project consultant on anti-corruption, Hassan said the CDD believes that it is important to bring all...
COAS reiterates troops commitment to annihilate Boko Haram
Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, has reiterated Nigerian troops commitment to ensure that Boko Haram terrorists are completely eliminated from Borno, Yobe , Northeast and the country in general . Attahiru stated this on Monday in Maiduguri while inspecting the second phase of large cache of weapons recovered from the Boko Haram terrorists by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole in various encounters with the insurgents in northern part of Borno state and fringes of Lakechad. The Army Boss who is on one week operational visit to the Theatre of Operation Lafiya Dole , had yesterday inspected another sets of heavy weapons recovered by the troops from the terrorists, which were displayed at the headquarters of 7 Division Nigerian Army, before later display of another sets of recovered...
Minister: Asari Dokubo’s Biafra declaration is a joke by an attention-seeker
The Federal Government has dismissed the reported formation of a Biafra Customary Government by an ex-Niger Delta militant, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, as a “theatre of the absurd by a joker seeking attention’’. Speaking with newsmen on the development in Lagos on Monday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime would allow itself to be distracted by the absurdity. The Minister said: “I am sure you have heard of the theatre of the absurd, that is the best way I can describe it. “If Asari Dokubo wants to form and run a phantom government, I think he is free to do so. This administration will not be distracted because we still have a lot to do. “We are not ready to give any attention or time to a joker like Dokubo who is just looking f...
FRSC intensifies enforcement of use of helmet – spokesman
File Photo The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is deploying all its operational energies in enforcing the use of helmets by motorcyclists across the country, its spokesman Mr Bisi Kazeem has said. Kazeem, the Corps Public Education Officer (CPEO) of the FRSC, said this on Monday in Abuja in an interview with newsmen. He stressed that the enforcement had reduced fatalities in the event of crash, adding that motorcyclists were vulnerable road users as most of the crashes involving them were fatal. According to him, the use of helmets reduce damage to sensitive parts of their bodies, including eyes, skull, brain and nose. “As such, the use of helmets does not only make them responsible, but saves their lives in most cases. “Currently, our records show that there is significant improvement in...
Morgan Wallen’s ‘Dangerous’ Spends Ninth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200, Most Since 2016
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 20, 2021-dated chart (where Dangerous is No. 1 for a ninth week) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 16. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram. Of Dangerous’ 78,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending March 11, SEA units compri...
Reps deputy speaker: Nigerians living abroad can’t submit petitions
The deputy speaker of the house of representatives, Idris Wase, has questioned the eligibility of Nigerians living abroad to submit petitions. Wase, who presided over plenary on Thursday, rejected a petition from “Mutual Union of the Tiv in America,” saying Nigerians in the diaspora do not “really know” the situation in Nigeria and thus are not eligible to file petitions. The petition, presented by Mark Terseer Gbillah, lawmaker representing Benue Gwer east/Gwer west federal constituency, accused the federal government of not resettling the Tiv people displaced from their ancestral land through various attacks. Thousands of Nigerians were reportedly displaced in the north-central region as a result of the farmer-herders crises. “I have a petition from the mutual union of the Tiv in America...
Former Nigerian ambassador urges government to negotiate with bandits
A former Nigerian ambassador to the Philippines and Algeria, Orefo Onochie, has told the federal government to consider the option of negotiating with the insurgents, currently terrorising Nigeria, if that would make the bandits to embrace lasting peace. Onochie who spoke newsmen in Abuja on Sunday said that negotiating with the bandits would prove a wiser option in the long run. According to him, there is nothing wrong in negotiating with bandits if that can end banditry, insurgency and kidnappings in parts of the country. The diplomat argued that Nigeria should not continue to be held hostage by terrorists, especially in the north. He also expressed worry over what he described as the persistent cases of kidnappings and killing of farmers by herdsmen in farming communities in parts of th...
Chad president kicks off campaign for sixth term
President Idriss Deby of Chad kicked off his campaign for a sixth term on Saturday, calling for unity after rival protests were banned. The first rally since the start of the official election period on Thursday was held by Deby’s Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) at a packed stadium in the capital, N’Djamena. Deby, who has ruled for 30 years and is widely deemed a shoo-in for another term, said he had fought for national unity, while also drawing a line in the sand for his opponents. “People must know that democracy is not synonymous with disorder,” the incumbent warned. “Those who believe that should go elsewhere.” On Thursday, three opposition candidates quit the race ahead of the April 11 ballot with one of them — Mahamat Yosko Brahim — saying the climate was “not favourable for fair ...
