DRC EBOLA OUTBREAK NOT GLOBAL EMERGENCY YET –WHO

A deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is deeply worrying, but does not yet merit being labelled a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

“Based on the current context… the committee recommended that the current Ebola outbreak in DRC does not constitute a public health emergency of international concern,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“I have accepted the recommendation of the committee,” he told reporters in Geneva following a meeting of the UN agency’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee.

In the WHO’s parlance, “a public health emergency of international concern” is an “extraordinary event” in which a disease may spread across borders and requires a vigorous international response.

Tedros stressed though that the decision not to use the label for the epidemic that has killed at least 139 people in DRC’s violence-torn North Kivu region since August “does not mean that WHO is not taking the outbreak seriously.”

– Over within the year? –

“We will not rest until the outbreak is finished,” he said, voicing hope that the robust response already in place could halt the spread of the virus “within this year”.

Robert Steffen, Chair of the Emergency Committee, also voiced “some optimism” that the outbreak would be brought under control within a “reasonable time”.

He told reporters though that the committee still has great concerns about the outbreak, and stressed that if the situation worsens the WHO could still decide to declare a global emergency.

The latest outbreak — the 10th in DR Congo since Ebola was first detected there in 1976 — emerged in the highly-restive northeastern region of North Kivu, which is home to a clutch of armed groups.

So far, 216 cases have been reported, including 181 that have been laboratory confirmed. A total of 139 people have died, meaning the fatality rate stands at 64 percent, WHO said.

The violence is complicating the response, and making it difficult to track contacts of those infected with the highly contagious virus.

The area, near the Ugandan border, is also densely populated and nine neighbouring countries have been advised that they are at high risk of spread.

Fears and misconceptions about the virus have led to widespread mistrust and resistance to Ebola response workers, including those who come into communities wearing hazmat suits to orchestrate burials.

“The emergency committee had a consensus that this outbreak certainly is not an outbreak of global importance, but they are very concerned for the region,” Steffen said.

The committee determined though that DRC authorities and the international community were already responding robustly to the outbreak, and that Uganda was well-prepared if the virus spreads across the border.

The use of an experimental vaccine is also promising, with more than 18,000 people having received the jab to date, WHO said.

“I think the vaccine is helping,” Tedros said.

(AFP)

RESIGN YOUR SENATE POSITIONS, AKPABIO TELLS SARAKI , OTHERS

Former Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has challenged other senators who have defected from one party to another to quit their leadership positions in the chamber.

Akpabio, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, challenged other defectors to imitate him with his resignation as Minority Leader after leaving the opposition party.

He gave the challenge while answering questions from journalists after the plenary on Wednesday.

The resignation challenge, however, appeared to be in a veiled reference to the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who also defected from the APC to the PDP and is the only one left in the leadership of the Senate to have changed political parties.

Akpabio said, “I moved from PDP to APC, to make sure that this government works before the election. It should not be all about the election, it should be first about Nigeria. Let others also move in the national interest.

“I did not just move like that, I was a (Minority) Leader in the Senate. I resigned my position in order to show that, yes, I meant business. Let others who also have positions in the Senate who wish to also cross carpet from one political party to another also resign their positions and take a cue from what Godswill Akpabio did.”

The APC caucus, which had insisted on remaining the majority despite the defections, had asked Saraki to resign as Senate President or be impeached. The impeachment plot has however been suspended.

Akpabio stated that the sitting arrangement in the Senate chamber must be restructured to reflect the party configuration.

MINIMUM WAGE: ORGANISED LABOUR HOLDS CRUCIAL MEETING

NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba

The Organised Labour says it will meet on Thursday to take a final decision on the new National Minimum Wage for workers, following the delay by the Federal Government to announce its figure.

Mr Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja.

NAN reports that Senator Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, had said there was no agreement yet by the Tripartite Committee on the new National Minimum wage figure in the country.

NAN also reports that organised labour and the Tripartite Committee on the New National Minimum Wage had completed its assignment for onward submission to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Wabba said that the struggle for a new National Minimum Wage for workers was on course, saying that labour was proposing N30, 000 as requested by organised private sector.

“So, we as organised labour will be meeting tomorrow (Thursday) in Lagos after which we will brief newsmen on the outcome of our decision.

(NAN)

DON’T EMBARRASS ME OVER SITTING ARRANGEMENT, AKPABIO TELLS SARAKI

The Senate on Wednesday had a rowdy session as they argued about sitting arrangement.

The argument ensued when the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, refused to allow former Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, to contribute to a Point of Order raised by Senator Bassey Akpan.

Akpan had raised a point of order accusing the All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom of plotting to cause chaos in the 2019 general election.

Saraki refused to acknowledge Akpabio’s contribution, saying he would not be allowed to speak unless he did so from his seat.

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He said, “Former Minority Leader, you know you cannot speak from there. Go to your seat, when you get to your seat, I will recognise you,” he said.

The Leader of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, was, however, not comfortable with Saraki’s position, and stood up to defend Akpabio.

He said, “As it stands today in this chamber, there is no organised sitting arrangement. If he decides to sit there, let him.

“There is no microphone there. Let us not take the Panadol for his headache. Let me advise that even though we have only six, seven months to go, let’s do what is right.”

In the course of his comment, the lawmakers began to talk at random, thereby throwing the chamber into a rowdy session.

The lawmakers refused to calm down in spite of Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu’s intervention.

The situation, however, became relatively calm when Akpabio stood up to explain that the seat was allocated to him by the Clerk of the Senate.

“The seat was allocated to me by the Clerk and I expect that you were notified. The embarrassment I got today was uncalled for.

“I demand an apology, not just written, but verbal too,” Akpabio said.

(NAN)

BREAKING: HENCEFORTH, NO WORK, NO PAY PRINCIPLE TO APPLY DURING STRIKE –FEC

President Buhari presides over the FEC meeting

The Federal Executive Council has approved the implementation of the no work, no pay principle when workers go on strike in the federal public service.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, disclosed this on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while briefing State House Correspondents after FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said the approval was sequel to the adoption of the Draft White Paper on the Report of the Technical Committee on Industrial Relations Matters in the Federal Public Service.

Ngige said that the public service in Nigeria was bedevilled by problems and conflict areas; hence governments over time set up various committees and brought out circulars in a bid to stem the tide of industrial dispute.

The minister said that the technical committee, which was inaugurated on April 27, 2016, did their work and submitted to the FEC in Oct. 2017.

“FEC in turn, empanelled a committee of ten which I chaired to do a government Draft White Paper on those contentious areas that the technical committee had looked at.

“These contentious areas are enforcement of section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act Law of the Federation 2004; this is the section that deals with lockout of workers by their employers without declaring redundancy appropriately.

“Because in some establishments, especially in the private sector, workers are locked out by their employers; so the law there says that if you lock your workers without passing through the normal channel-due process.

“For the period of the lock out, the worker is assumed to be at work and will receive all the remunerations and allowances, benefits accruing to him for the period and that period will also be counted for him as a pensionable period in the computation of his pension.

“But when workers go on strike, the principle of no-work-no-pay will also apply because that principle is enshrined in the same section 43 of the Labour Act.’’

According to Ngige, the section says that for the period a worker withdraws his services, government or his employers are not entitled to pay.

The minister said that under the section, the period for which the worker was absent would not count as part of his pensionable period in the public service.

He said that FEC accepted it as a white paper recommendation that should be gazetted because even the National Industrial Court had made pronouncement on that law and said that it was clear.

Ngige said that another area was the issue of public servants remaining permanently in the executive bodies on trade unions.

“Government realises that some persons in the public service go into trade union executive positions; hold offices; and they do that for life; for as long as they are in the service.

“In doing so, they will refuse postings and deployments under the guise that are doing trade union activities; government says no.

“You have to be a public servant first before you become a trade unionist; therefore, if you are there; the public service rules will also apply to you.

“And in doing so, government says establishments will look at the issues and give it a human face in order not to disrupt trade unionism.

“And in furtherance to this, government has also said that there must tenure stipulations because people stay there without tenure; many organisations give people union positions without tenure; government says there is no office that does not have tenure.’’

Ngige said that trade unions, henceforth, should present constitutions that must have tenures; at least, maximum of two tenures for any elective position.

He said that another aspect of the report discussed by the council was the issue of residence training for medical doctors.

According to him, the residence training for medical doctors has been contentious one as some medical doctors come into this training and become professional unionists and stay there as permanent job.

He said that the Federal Government had fixed tenure for residence training of medical doctors, which was seven years within the trainee was to pass all his exams or quit.

Ngige said that FEC also looked at the Ayere report on inter-professional rivalry in the health sector and directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to present it FEC for deliberation.

On the minimum wage, the minister restated that the Federal Government’s stance was N24, 000 per month.

He said that once minimum wage was fixed, any organisation or state that had the capacity to pay more could do that.

Ngige cited that Edo, Delta and Lagos states paid their workers more than the current N18, 000 national minimum wage.

(NAN).

INFLATION RATE RISES AGAIN, NOW 11.28%

The National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday released the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, with the rate rising from 11.23 per cent in August to 11.28 per cent in September 2018.

This is the second consecutive rise in headline inflation after 18 consecutive months of decline in the rate.

“The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, increased by 11.28 per cent year-on-year in September 2018. This is 0.05 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in August 2018 at 11.23 per cent,” the NBS said in the inflation report.

It stated that on a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.84 per cent in September, down by 0.21 per cent points from the rate recorded in August, which was 1.05 per cent.

The bureau said the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12-month period ending September 2018 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months was 13.16 per cent, a difference of 0.39 per cent from the 13.55 per cent recorded in August.

It said the urban inflation rate increased by 11.7 per cent year-on-year in September, from 11.67 per cent recorded the previous month.

“The rural inflation rate increased by 10.92 per cent in September 2018 from 10.84 per cent in August 2018,”

2019: LAGOS RESIDENTS TIRED OF BEING UNDER ONE MAN, SAYS JIMI AGBAJE

Jimi Agbaje

The Lagos State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Jimi Agbaje, has said that the people of the state are tired of being led by one man.

He, therefore, said that voters in the state “are gearing up for a change,” vowing that the PDP would win the 2019 governorship in the state.

Agbaje spoke in Abuja on Tuesday when he visited the national headquarters of the party.

He said, “We are getting ready seriously for elections and we just came out of the national convention stronger as a party.

“We have to congratulate ourselves that we now have a Presidential candidate and we also have a Vice Presidential candidate.

“This time round, we intend to take over Lagos in 2019. The campaign for Lagos is set for us. It is clear to us in Lagos that what Lagosians are looking for is freedom from the vested interests that have gripped Lagos for nearly 20 years.

“We have a situation where it had been under the grip of one or two persons and we are tired of that.”

Though Agbaje said Lagos “is doing well” when compared to other states, he nevertheless added that the state could do better.

He said his campaign would centre on how to free Lagos State from the grips of those he said had been holding it in captivity.

He said, “We believe Lagos is doing well compared to other states but it can do much better than is doing now but it is being crippled by vested interests.

“Things that could have been done differently are being done in a different manner and that is slowing down the progress and that is what the campaign is set against.

“Free Lagos campaign is a campaign that Lagos can be better and that the alternative can be a lot better than it is today.

“The structure is being put in place and I am sure that at the end of the month, it is going to be a victory for the PDP in Lagos and at the centre and in most of the states that we lost.”

Agbaje said that the PDP performed well in the 2015 governorship election, adding that those who voted for the party then would be ready to vote for it again.

In 2015, Agbaje, who was the governorship candidate of the PDP, was defeated by the incumbent Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, of the All Progressives Congress.

Ambode will,  however, not feature as a candidate in the 2019 election having been defeated by Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu during the APC governorship primary.

Agbaje said, “There is a lot of confidence (in the PDP now) and don’t forget that in 2015 and irrespective of what happened, that votes we had in 2015 still remain intact. Those that voted for us are still there for us.

“The strategy is to expand that base in a way that we have every assurance that we are taking Lagos.”

Speaking on a former chairman of the party that was said to have resigned from the PDP, Agbaje said such an action would not affect the fortune of the party.

He said the defected former chairman had nobody to follow him when he joined the APC.

He said, “He left on his own. If you go alone, I don’t know how that will affect the party in any way. If he was really somebody that has a structure or followers, you will expect the followers to go with him but when you leave as one person, it means you are of no effect on the party.

“We have not felt anything with his departure and it will not affect us. We have not had defections from the PDP in the last few years.”

ROW IN NIGERIAN SENATE OVER $3.8bn SUBSIDY PAYMENT PROBE

The Senate has begun a fresh investigation into the alleged illegal subsidy payment on Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

The probe, however, divided members of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the chamber on Tuesday.

Earlier, the Minority Leader, Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti-South), raised a point of order, urging the Senate to probe the NNPC for paying subsidy on petrol without the approval of the National Assembly.

Olujimi said, “Since 1999, there has always been a budget for subsidy but this has been jettisoned by the current government. What is happening now is that there is a fund named as ‘Subsidy Recovery Fund’, which is being managed only by two individuals at the NNPC. That is the Managing Director and the Executive Director, Finance. This fund is too huge to be managed without recourse to any known law of the land.

“Right now, it is almost certain that the $3.8bn is slush fund, which is being managed by two individuals under a new terminology.

“I want to urge this Senate to cause the Downstream Committee to compel the NNPC to come before the committee and explain why this should be so. The new terminology that is now being used is ‘under-recovery’ rather than subsidy approval.”

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, recalled that when the National Assembly passed the 2018 Appropriation Bill, it requested that the executive should send a supplementary budget that would capture subsidy on petrol and legalise the payment.

Saraki said, “I will want to suggest that in the light of the enormity of the issues before us, where we are talking about subsidy of almost $3.8bn, which, if you remember when we did pass the budget, I said from here that there was the need for the executive to bring before us fuel subsidy item. This has always been the practice. And this money is too huge for it not to be appropriated.

“In the light of the enormity of this, I want to suggest that the Senate Leader, with the Chairman of the Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), should urgently summon those in the NNPC, who are responsible (for the payment), to look into the matter and come back to us with a report that we can all debate.”

The issue, however, became controversial when Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) accused the Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) of being compromised.

Ndume said, “I think the committee – I don’t want to be too hard on them – is not doing its oversight and when all these things happen, the committee is supposed to know. So, I am suggesting that Marafa, being the Chairman of that committee, should be out of this and the committee members too.

“The Senate Leader and other members of the Senate should look at this thing objectively and not be partisan, because by the time you have such amount of money stashed somewhere, it calls for more question. As distinguished Senator Bukar Abba (Ibrahim) said, not I, the committee might be compromised. That is what he said.”

Saraki ruled that an ad hoc committee be set up to conduct the probe, while appointing the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, as its chairman.

Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central), who was irked by Ndume’s comment, raised a point of order to demand a retraction of the statement. He said his committee was ready to be excluded from the probe or dissolved.

Responding, Saraki said, “Senator Marafa, listen to yourself. You decided to choose the same offensive words against your colleague. You have to first withdraw what you have just said.”

Lawan subsequently withdrew from the probe.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, however, urged Lawan not to withdraw from the probe.

“While I associate myself with what the leader said, I think he was so angry to listen to what happened. The Leader needs to calm down as we set up the ad hoc committee. He should say he should be excluded from the committee, not that he wants to withdraw when he has not been given the job,” Ekweremadu said.

Saraki insisted that Lawan would lead the ad hoc committee as the amount involved was too huge to be left with the Marafa-led committee.

‘EFCC I’M HERE’ –FAYOSE SAYS VIA CUSTOMISED T-SHIRT

              Ayo Fayose

The immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has arrived at the Abuja office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Fayose entered into the EFCC office in Wuse 2 in the company of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode.

Fayose, who wore a customised T-shirt emblazoned with “EFCC I’m Here” over a pair of jeans and a face cap, went into the Commission with a bag pack.

Addressing journalists at the Commission, Fayose alleged that the EFCC deployed its men in his home, even when he had shown willingness to honour the Commission’s invitation.

Also speaking, Wike and Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), asked the Commission not to abuse the former governor’s rights.

Fani-Kayode, who also spoke with EFCC detectives, joked that he was a regular customer of the Commission and asked them not to maltreat Fayose.

FRESH TROUBLE FOR MINIMUM WAGE

Dr Chris Ngige.

When the organised labour suspended its strike action over declaration of negotiation of minimum wage on Sunday, 30th September 2018, it was believed that a new minimum wage would soon be announced. 

But another announcement by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige that negotiation was inconclusive and that no agreement had been reached over a definite figure even after the tripartite negotiation committee rounded off its deliberations, has thrown up fresh agitation in the labour circle.

The Guardian gathered that at the October 4th and 5th meeting, both the organised private sector and organised labour agreed on N30, 000 while the Federal Government team led by Ngige pressed for N25, 000.

The conclusion was that since the organised labour and organised private sector are in agreement and in the spirit of tripartism, two against one was a done deal.

The meeting then adjourned to await the date for presentation to the Federal Government.

With these achieved, labour said it was at a loss at what transpired within government circle within one week.

Indeed, Ngige made unveiled his new position after the first the FEC meeting that preceded the conclusion of the committee’s negotiation.

Were new facts presented to Ngige at the FEC meeting that influenced a change of stand? Labour said they think so.  

Indeed, according to the Convention 131 of International Labour Organisation (ILO), which has always been erroneously cited by Dr Ngige on the ability to pay, nothing can be further from the truth. 

The convention, which ILO adopted in 1970 titled ‘Minimum wage fixing convention, 1971 (No 131)’ remains the most adopted convention by the ILO member states, encourages members to establish a machinery to fix and adjust minimum wages from time to time; wages that are based on the principle of full consultation with social partners (tripartism); involves social partners, on an equal footing, as well as independent experts in the design and operation of the system; sets the minimum levels that take into account the needs of workers and their families, as well as economic factors and include appropriate measures to ensure the effective application of minimum wage.

It is therefore a pure mischief by the Minister to declare that the ILO convention 131 speaks to ability to pay by employers.

The centrepiece of the convention is that the tripartite bodies must reach a common figure, which labour said was achieved before the committee was legitimately adjourned.

The agreement on N30, 000 by both labour and the organised private sector indeed signalled that majority (labour and employer body) had their way while minority (government) had its say.

Labour also said the Minister did not oppose the N30, 000 figure at the meeting and that the committee on figure that made the submission was chaired by Ngige himself. 

The argument of labour is that N30, 000 monthly (which is less than 100 dollars) is grossly inadequate to take care of a man, his wife and four children as stated in one of the strands of the ILO convention 131, which states that a minimum wage must take into account the needs of workers and their families.

The present scenario seems to lend credence to insinuations within labour movement that the present government is not committed to implementing a new minimum wage.

Speaking at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, Ngige said the Federal Government proposed N24, 000 as the new minimum wage for civil servants.

Ngige claimed that when the committee reconvened on October 5th, after the NLC had suspended its nationwide strike, “the organised labour came down to N30, 000 the organised private sector came down to N25, 000 while the state governments proposed N20, 000.”

He said the Federal Government is still ‘consulting’ and that the negotiation is on going.

He said in accordance with Convention 131 of the ILO, the most important thing to consider in fixing the new minimum wage is the ability to pay.

In his reaction to the development, President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba said the entire labour movement was dumbfounded by the latest argument of the Minister. 

He added that the organised labour would not hesitate to declare yet another strike action that would be debilitating to the nation’s economy should the Federal Government delays the promulgation of a new minimum wage within the shortest period of time.