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Govs Agree To Implement Autonomy For State Legislature, Judiciary In May

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2 weeks ago

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 Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Conference of Speakers of State Leg­islature and other stakeholders have reached an agreement on the implementation of the financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary.

The chairman of the Nigeria Gov­ernors’ Forum, Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State made this known to State House correspondents at the end of a meeting in Abuja on Monday.

The meeting was presided over by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.

He said: “We are here for legislative and judicial auton­omy and governors, speakers of state Assemblies and the judges of the states are on the same page as far as this issue is concerned.

“We just emerged from a meeting with the Solicitor General of the Federation, the representatives of the ju­diciary and those of the Con­ference of Speakers and we are all in force, an agreement has been reached.

“The issue is about imple­mentation. There has been no objection from governors on judicial and legislative au­tonomy.

“As a matter of fact, it would not have passed if governors were not in sup­port in the first instance. So, that issue has been fully and holistically addressed,” he said.

Fayemi maintained that modalities were being fine-tuned and the implementa­tion of the agreement would begin in May.

He said: “We don’t just want to agree to something on paper without working out the modalities for imple­mentation.

“Thankfully, the meeting we just emerged from with the Chief of Staff to the Presi­dent chairing, has worked out the modalities, to the satisfac­tion of all the parties.

“As soon as the final doc­ument that is being cleaned up emerges, it will be imple­mented as soon as possible and that will be definitely not later than the end of May.”

He, therefore, called on striking judiciary workers to call off and resume work in the interest of the nation.

“In the interest of the nation, we believe that the striking workers should re­turn to their offices because as far as this has gone, we have met with all the parties concerned and the president, through his Chief of Staff, has been monitoring what has been happening.

“And I think we are rea­sonably at a position where whether you speak to the Conference of Speakers chairperson, or you speak to me, or you speak to the repre­sentative of the judiciary or the Solicitor General of the Federation, you will hear that we are speaking with one voice on the implementation.

“And no later than May, you will start seeing the im­plementation of the agree­ment that we have reached,” he said.

Those who attended the meeting included Gover­nors Bagudu Atiku of Keb­bi, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto and Simon Lalong of Plateau,

Others were the Solicitor General of the Federation, Dayo Akpata, as well as the leadership of the Conference of Speakers of States Legis­lature and that of states judi­ciary.

Earlier, the Senate on Mon­day said that the indepen­dence of the judiciary was non-negotiable.

Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, said this while reacting to the protest by members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at the National Assembly, Abuja, in solidarity with striking Judi­ciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) protesting financial autonomy.

JUSUN began a nation­wide indefinite strike on Monday, April 6 over the non-implementation of ju­dicial financial autonomy as enshrined in the constitution.

President Muhammadu Buhari had signed an Execu­tive Order granting financial autonomy to the judiciary and State House of Assem­bly in May 2020, after several agitations.

However, the gazetting of the order was suspended after Buhari met with governors, who later expressed concern over its constitutionality.

Reacting to the develop­ment, Bamidele who said that the independence of the judiciary was non-negotiable added that no democracy could survive without rule of law and independence of the judiciary.

“For me as a Nigerian, it is laughable that we still need at this point, to be grappling with the need to grant judicia­ry independence at whatever level be it at the federal, state and local government level.

“Our laws are very clear on this,” he said.

He said that the National Assembly had guaranteed the independence of the judiciary at the federal level calling on state Houses of Assembly to do same.

“For the National Assem­bly, we have done the needful by making necessary laws that can guarantee indepen­dence of the judiciary at the federal level. So for us, it is not an issue because we have done the needful.”

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EndSARS: Insurers Pay N4bn Claims, To Pay More

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17 hours ago

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May 6, 2021

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By Sola Alabadan

The dust generated by the EndSARS protest in October 2020 is yet to settle, as insurance companies in the country have already paid N4 billion as claims to over 2000 policyholders that were affected during the protest and more claims will still be paid.

The chairman of Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA),  Mr. Ganiyu Musa, made this known at an interactive session with journalists on Thursday in Lagos.

He also informed that the insurance operators are still collating claims which arose from the incident, assuring that all genuine claims will be paid as promptly as possible.

Musa said: “the number of insured businesses that were affected at the last count was about 2000 insured losses and the industry have settled over N4 billion claims in respect of the EndSARS protest. Once they are documented and completed, we have the commitment of our members that claims will be paid timely.

The association is on top of developments on the aftermath of the protests and will continue to encourage members to pay all genuine claims in line with the extant policies.”

On the Consolidated Insurance Bill 2020, he said: “NIA welcomes the review as it will align the Act with global best practice and promote the business of insurance in the country.”

According to him, the current insurance legislation is outdated and has made it impossible to do things that need to be done.

On the African Insurance Organisation Conference, AIO 2021, Musa said: “Originally planned for year 2020, COVID-19 was a force majeure due to health protocols and travel restrictions. With availability of vaccines, reduction in infection rate, coupled with relaxation of travel restrictions and other protocols around the coronavirus disease, the AIO Executive Committee and the NIA have agreed to hold it from September 4 – 8, 2021. A hybrid conference has been agreed and we solicit your support in hosting the best conference ever.”

Speaking on the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database /Nigerian Insurance Industry Portal (NIID/NIIP), the NIA boss stated that: “The Nigerian Insurance Industry Database was established to reduce soft market practices and eliminate fake insurance policies. The Association has taken a step further by creating the Nigerian Insurance Industry platform to enable vehicle owners purchase their third-party motor vehicle insurance cover from the comfort of their homes and telephones. So far, we are seeing a lot of traction on the platform across the states of the Federation and we are hopeful that other states will key into the project before the end of the year.”

On the Marine Module, he said: “As you are probably aware, the Central Bank of Nigeria has since integrated the NIA Marine Module into the National Trade portal and all insurance certificates required for import and export are generated from the portal.  This, no doubt, signals the end of fake Marine Insurance Certificates at the Ports.”

Musa further disclosed that he became the Chairman of the Council of Bureaux of the Ecowas Brown Card Scheme at its 37th Ordinary Session in January this year. “A major issue for the Bureau is domestication of Compulsory Brown Card in the country. We are hopeful that when all the fine details have been sorted, it will be implemented in Nigeria,” he said.

On the new NIA House Project, he said; “Construction of a befitting Secretariat for the association has reached an advanced stage and we are hopeful that the building will be completed at the end of the second quarter so that we can take full possession of the property and relocate our secretariat staff before the end of the year. Of course, we have had some delay in meeting delivery timelines due mainly to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the regulatory restrictions on number of workers on site at any point in time.”

On the initiatives on compulsory insurance, he said: “We have commenced discussions with Lagos State Building Control Agency, as part of engagements on the implementation of Lagos State Building law. We are also working closely with the state vehicle Inspection service on enforcement of Third Party Motor Insurance in the state. We are also engaging Kaduna, Kogi and Ogun States, and remain hopeful that other states will see value in the platform and embrace it. Out of the estimated 13 million vehicles in Nigeria only about 2,939,767 Third Party Motor policies are in force as at Apr 26, 2021.”

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‘It’s Suicidal ’, Labour Rejects FG’s Plans To Slash Salaries

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2 days ago

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May 5, 2021

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Agency Report

The Organised Labour has condemned and rejected the plan by the Federal Government to slash the salaries of workers in the country.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, who said this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, noted that the plan was tantamount to a “mass suicide” wish, for Nigerian workers.

Waba said that NLC was shocked at a statement credited to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on the plan to reduce the high cost of governance by cutting down on the workers’ salaries.

”The minister also allegedly directed the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), to immediately review the salaries of civil servants as well as the number of federal agencies in the country.

”It is almost unthinkable that the government would be contemplating to unilaterally slash the salaries of Nigerian workers at this time,” he said.

Wabba added that, “the question to ask is which salary is the government planning to slash? It certainly cannot be the meager national minimum wage of N30, 000, which right now cannot even buy a bag of rice”.

He expressed the belief that the proposed slash in salaries was certainly not targeted at the minimum wage and consequential adjustment in salaries that some state governors were still dragging their feet to pay.

According to him, it is in public knowledge that the multiple devaluations of the Naira in a short time, and the prevailing high inflation rate in Nigeria, have knocked out the salaries earned by Nigerian workers across the board.

”Nigerian workers are only surviving by hair’s breadth. Indeed, Nigerian workers are miracles strutting on two legs.

”It is, therefore, extremely horrendous for a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to pronounce salary slash for Nigerian workers currently.

”This call for salary slash by Mrs Zainab Ahmed is tantamount to a “mass suicide” wish, for Nigerian workers,” he said.

While opposing the move, he demanded an immediate retraction and apology by the Minister of  Finance.

The NLC president, however, said that if there was any salary that needed serious slashing, “it is the humongous remuneration and allowances pocketed by political office holders in Nigeria, who do extraordinarily little but collect so much.

”Workers generate surplus value and revenue for the government.

”We do not constitute any unnecessary cost or burden to governance. It is also important to make the point that salaries are products of contracts governed by laws. They cannot be unilaterally adjusted.”

He said that many countries of the world were increasing the salaries of their workforce and extending social security coverage for their citizens.

According to him, many are providing all forms of palliatives to help their people through the terrible socio-economic dislocations occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waba said that it would be completely strange for the Nigerian government to be thinking of a salary slash.

“This move is not only at great odds with global best responses to the COVID-19 pandemic but also in violation of relevant ILO Conventions and Declarations on Wages and Decent Work.

“We urge the government as a social partner to quickly respond to the demands by Labour for an upward review of salaries of all Nigerian workers.

“Nigerian workers have shown sufficient understanding with the government through the tough patches of the pandemic.

“Now, Nigerian workers demand reciprocity of our understanding. Nigerian workers demand an increase in their remunerations and allowances,” he said.

NAN

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Paying ransomt To Kidnappers Is Foolishness —Obasanjo

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2 days ago

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May 5, 2021

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Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday, has cautioned against the payment of ransom to kidnappers.

He, however, submitted that the government must develop means to deal with kidnappers and bandits heavily in place of ransom payment.

He noted that the governments of both President Goodluck Jonathan and Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) paid ransom to kidnappers but they denied it.

Obasanjo said he does not believe in payment of ransom to kidnappers and bandits, saying it encouraged criminals indulging in the act.

The former president berated any government that pays ransom, describing them as follies.

Obasanjo spoke on Wednesday at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while playing host to members of Tiv professionals Group led by Prof Zacharys Anger Gundu.

Obasanjo insisted that it requires a “carrot and stick” approach to fight insecurity challenges to a standstill.

He said “Some people are still reaching out, and hoping that lives can still be saved. But a situation whereby anybody thinks paying ransom is the way out, that person is folly. He is a folly. This is because when you pay ransom, you encourage. But if you are not going to pay ransom, you must have the means to deal heavily with it. You must have the stick to deal with it.

“Government has always paid ransom. Not only this government, even during Jonathan (administration). They paid ransom, but they denied it.”

Obasanjo expressed fears that those beating drums of division in Nigeria don’t think about the interest of the minority ethnic groups.

He added, “Where do we want those minor groups to stand? Wherever they stand, now they are by virtue of Nigeria’s present situation a little bit protected. But if Nigeria breaks up and they are in a smaller country, they will be oppressed. They will always be exterminated. Are we thinking of that?

“I believe that if we will get it right in Nigeria, any leader must look at Nigeria with the prism of the diversity of Nigeria. For as long as you look at Nigeria with the prism of your ethnic group, then you aren’t going anywhere, either your ethnic group or religious group.

“But is there hope? There is hope.”

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