News
Railway workers declare 3-day nationwide warning strike
Leaders of National Union of Railway Workers NUR and its Senior Staff Association, SSA, Railway Branch, have directed the workers of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, to embark a three-day nationwide strike effective Thursday, November 18, 2021, over poor welfare.
The leaders of the two in-house unions, in a circular issued late Friday, November, 12, said the development is a fall-out of a meeting held with the management of NRC on Wednesday, November 10.
In the circular addressed to the unions’ District Chairmen and Secretaries in Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Zaria, Minna, Bauchi, Kafanchan, among others, the National leaders of the two unions directed them to summon a meeting of workers in their districts on Monday, November 15, at 10 am to inform the workers about the impending strike.
According to the circular “The leadership of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR) and Senior Staff Association (SSA) NRC Branch, in a joint meeting held in Lagos on Wednesday, 10th November 2021 where the welfare of the workers of the Corporation as put before the Management was taken through exhaustively critical discourse and review, has finally unanimously resolved:
“That all the district organs (DWCs) of the NUR and SSA should, as a matter of expedience, summon a general meeting of all the workers of their districts on Monday, 15th November 2021 at exactly 10.00 a.m prompt and, in unambiguous terms, notify the entire workers of the commencement of a 3-day warning strike beginning from midnight prior to Thursday, 18th through Saturday, 20th November 2021.
“The DWCs of both the NUR and SSA should fuse up, resume, and function as their Districts’ Strike Action Committee prior to the commencement of the 3-day warning strike and throughout the period of the strike and shall ensure full and total compliance of all the workers with the strike as declared by the joint leadership of the two in-house unions.
“The Chairmen and the Secretaries shall be solely responsible for the sitrep (situation report) of the days of the strike and shall escalate same to the national secretariat of the union for its information and necessary action.
“The strike activities, whichever way each district wants to implement it in form of programmes but must include fervent intercessory prayers for the success of the struggles, should be within the premises of the Corporation and must be essentially orderly, well-organized, and devoid of any destruction or violation of railway assets, our assets.
“All the workers must comply and stay out of their offices but gather together behind their district union leaders to participate actively, peacefully, and consistently in the whole days of the strike without any fear or let.
“This planned strike is just to send a warning signal to the right quarters to heed our demands for improved welfare and standard condition of service and may be followed with a protracted strike plan.
“The district leadership of the unions should always await further directives from Lagos from time to time as may be deemed expedient by the national officers of the unions.
“Every district must comply with this notice as any act prejudicial to this notice will be viewed very seriously and strictly by the leadership of the unions.”
News
Okpebholo orders freezing of ALL Edo government accounts
Monday Okpebholo, governor of Edo, has ordered a freeze of all bank accounts belonging to the state government.
Okpebholo issued the directive on Thursday through Fred Itua, chief press secretary to the governor.
He asked commercial banks, ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to immediately comply with the order or face severe consequences.
“All bank accounts in all the commercial banks have been frozen. Commercial banks must comply with the order and ensure that not a dime is taken out of the coffers of Government until further notice,” the statement reads.
“Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies must comply with this order without further delays.
“After the necessary investigations and reconciliations, the Governor will do the needful and decide on the way forward. For now, this order stands.”
Okpebholo also directed relevant agencies to reverse the naming of the ministry of roads and bridges to the ministry of works — a nomenclature changed during the Godwin Obaseki administration.
“It is funny how you can call a Government institution Ministry of Roads and Bridges,” the statement reads.
“Ironically, no single bridge was built by the same administration. Not even a pedestrian bridge
“In the coming days, we will look at more actions taken by the previous administration and more decisions will be taken that will be done in the best interest of the state.”
The development comes days after Okpebholo took over the reins of power in Edo.
The governor had earlier ordered an indefinite suspension of revenue collection in the state — including at motor parks.
News
NESREA seals two facilities in FCT, Kogi for violating environmental regulations
The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has sealed two facilities in Abuja and Kogi for breaching environmental laws.
The facilities are Geld Construction Limited, located in Abaji, FCT, and Arno Energy, a charcoal production company in Okaba, Kogi.
In a statement on Wednesday, Amaka Ejiofor, NESREA’s spokesperson, said the companies were sealed for failure to conduct their environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Ejiofor noted that the facilities also failed to provide important environmental documents, including an air quality permit, an environmental audit report, and a waste management permit, necessary for maintaining standards in companies.
“The EIA provides guidance on mitigating the negative impact of a facility’s operations on the environment,” the statement reads.
“Their failure to do so led to the closure of the facilities to save human health and the environment.”
The NESREA’s spokesperson added that the facilities were also operating in an environmentally harmful manner, resulting in negative impacts on the host communities and the environment.
She said procedural measures, including the issuance of compliance notices, had been taken to force the facilities to address and rectify their violations.
Innocent Barikor, the director-general of NESREA, urged industry operators to ensure their activities and operations follow the stipulations of the law.
News
Federal high court to commence Christmas vacation December 16
The federal high court says it would go on break from December 16 to mark the Christmas holiday.
In a circular, John Tsoho, the court’s chief judge, said the Abuja, Lagos, and Port-Harcourt judicial divisions would remain open to the litigating public during the break.
Tsoho added that the court would resume proceedings on January 6, 2025.
“The vacation is pursuant to the provisions of order 46, rule 4 (c) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019 (as amended),” the circular reads.
“Only matters relating to the enforcement of fundamental rights, arrest or release of vessels and matters that concern the vacation judges shall entertain dire national interest.”
The notice added that Emeka Nwite and M. S. Liman would be judges at the Abuja division during the vacation, while Akintayo Aluko and Isaac Dipeolu would sit at the Lagos division of the court.
P. M. Ayua and A. T. Mohammed would be the adjudicators at the Port-Harcourt division pending the resumption of complete court activities.
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