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Minimum wage: National Assembly raises panel to avert strike

The Clerk to the National Assembly, Olatunde Ojo, has constituted a nine-member committee to fashion out modalities for the implementation of the national minimum wage and other demands of the parliamentary workers in order to avert the proposed strike by the workers.
The National Assembly chapter of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria had last week issued a two-week strike notice to the management over their demands.
They demanded among others the immediate implementation of the national minimum wage and payment of other allowances.
The Special Adviser to the Clerk on Media and Labour Matters, Austen Adesoro, in a statement on Sunday, said Ojo, while inaugurating the panel, said the management would continue to make workers’ condition of service and welfare a matter of priority.
Ojo explained that the nine-member panel, chaired by the Secretary, Human Resources and Staff Development, Felix Orunwese, was set up in order to attend to issues of welfare raised by the workers.
He stressed the need for dialogue as a panacea for the situation instead of unnecessary agitations.

IGP orders full investigation into attack on Gov Ortom

The Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mr Mohammed Adamu, has ordered full-scale investigations into the circumstances surrounding the attack and reported an attempt on the life of Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue.

The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr Frank Mba, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Orton was reportedly attacked on Saturday in his farm at the outskirts of Makurdi, the State Capital.

Mba said that the I-G condemned the incident and directed the Commissioner of Police (CP) in charge of Benue to strengthen and improve security in the state, particularly around the Governor.

He said that the I-G had also directed the CP to carry out painstaking investigations into the incident and ensure the arrest and prosecution of persons indicted in the course of the investigations.

THE Nigerian public should ensure that the COVID-19 AstraZeneca Vaccine being administered on them has the original label, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control said on Sunday.
NAFDAC in a statement by its Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the advice became necessary to ensure that people were not at risk of being vaccinated with the fake AstraZeneca vaccine.
She said the original Oxford Astrazeneca University vaccine had been contracted to India’s world largest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SIIPL), to produce in large quantity.
According to her, the vaccines manufactured by SIIPL were accredited by the World Health Organisation, and were being used in about 170 countries across the globe in their national immunization programme.

She said both COVISHIELD manufactured by SIIPL and COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca, manufactured by Astrazeneca/Oxford University vaccine are the same vaccine.

The Ekiti state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has vowed to bring the full weight of the law against those fingered in the killings of voters during Saturday’s by-election in the state to serve as a deterrent to other political thugs.

Three persons were on Saturday shot dead in Omuo-Ekiti by suspected party thugs while five others sustained gunshot wounds during the House of Assembly bye-election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) in the state constituency.
The seat became vacant following the death of an All Progressives Congress lawmaker representing the constituency in the state House of Assembly, Juwa Adegbuyi in February.
Fayemi who spoke during his visit to the palace of Olumuo of Omuo-Ekiti, Oba Noah Omonigbehin on Sunday said he would not politicize the killings of innocent citizens during the election in the state.

Electricity generation in the country fell below the 4,000 megawatts mark on Sunday as the output of the hydropower plants tumbled by more than a third.
The latest data obtained from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator showed that the power plants on the national grid generated 3,657MW as of 6am on Sunday, down from 4156.7MW on Saturday.
A total of 2,792.6MW of generation capacity was idle as of 6am on Sunday as a result of gas constraints, low load demand by the distribution companies and water management, compared to 2,195.1MW on Saturday.
The nation generates most of its electricity from gas-fired power plants, while output from hydropower plants makes up about 30 per cent of the total generation.