SCHOOL GIRLS EXPELLED FOR FAILING PREGNANCY TESTS

It happens twice a year at Arusha Secondary School. Each one of the school’s 800 female students is accompanied into a toilet and told to pee in a jar. Outside the cubicle, a teacher waits to make sure the samples are not swapped.

The girls are taking compulsory pregnancy tests. And if they come back positive, the student is expelled immediately.

The tests have been happening at this school, for students from grades eight and up, for three years.

CNN visited two other schools in the Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions where similar testing took place; three more schools confirmed the tests in phone interviews.

Elifuraha, who CNN is referring to by her first name, finds it difficult to talk about the shame she felt when teachers at the Moshono Secondary School in Arusha, summoned her for a mandatory pregnancy test.

“All the students were called in a room and the female teachers started to inspect us… they were touching our stomachs,” the 19-year-old mother told CNN, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

She knew she was pregnant, but was trying hard to hide her growing stomach. After admitting her pregnancy, she was immediately expelled.

Tanzania uses a morality clause in a 2002 education law to give schools the legal framework needed to expel students — the practice originally dates back to the 1960s. The law has been more widely applied since President John Pombe Magufuli took office in 2015.

OVERLAND AIRWAYS AIRCRAFT GOES UP IN FLAMES AT MMA

An Aircraft belonging to Overland Airways yesterday, went up in flames at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. The aircraft, an ATR, with registration number 5N BPE, was being powered by the Ground Power Unit (GPU) when it caught fire inside their hangar located at the general aviation terminal. Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) fire service officials who arrived quickly at the scene tried to put out the fire before it engulfed the entire aircraft. A larger part of the aircraft was however, completely burnt, especially from the belly of the plane to the head. As at the time of filling this report, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) had not issued any official statement on the remote cause of the incident.

There was no casualty as no passenger was on board when the incidence occurred. Confirming the incidence, general manager, corporate affairs of FAAN, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, said there was fire incidence which burnt an aircraft belonging to Overland Airways at MMA. “The fire has been contained. No casualties. Thank you for your concern. It happened at the Overland hangar.’’

The director of operation, FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu, and NCAA CPD terminal head, Mr Banjo, are said to have met with Overland Airways executive director, Mrs Aduke Atiba.

Atiba, who was alerted while in the hospital, said she was yet to know the cause of the fire outbreak. She however promised to get full details after meeting with the managers on ground.

ICPC DISCOVERS FG’s N9.8bn HIDDEN IN BANK, GRILLS BANK MD

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission says it has discovered N9.8bn belonging to the Federal Government which was hidden in Aso Savings and Loans Plc.

The ICPC said in a statement by its spokesperson, Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, that the money which was realised from the sale of government assets was deposited in Aso Savings and Loans Plc instead of the federal treasury.

The commission said the Managing Director of the bank, Mr Kunle Adedigba, had been invited and interrogated.

The anti-graft agency said the bank claimed that it did not have enough funds and was willing to hand over some of its properties to the Federal Government.

The statement read in part, “In 2005, the Federal Government set up a committee, the Ad Hoc Committee on the Sale of Federal Government Houses, to sell some of its properties in the Federal Capital Territory.

“The ICPC received a petition on the work of the committee and commenced investigation, in the course of which it unearthed the fact that the sum of N9.8bn realised by the committee between 2010 and 2014 from the sale of government properties which was deposited in Aso Savings and Loans Plc., was not remitted to the federal treasury by the financial institution rather, it was used.

“Amongst the several officials invited for investigation, the current Managing Director of Aso Savings and Loans, revealed that the bank is currently experiencing paucity of funds, therefore, it is willing to swap some of its properties located in Abuja and Lagos in exchange for the unremitted funds.”

The anti-graft agency said it was committed to the recovery of the full value of the unremitted N9.8bn by taking the properties offered in lieu for the government, subject to satisfactory valuation by the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.

It said upon the conclusion of the investigation, anyone found in breach of the law would be brought to book accordingly.

In a related development, further investigation of the ad hoc committee’s work also uncovered that some persons who were allocated government properties made only part payments.

“This fact led the ICPC to recover the sum of N20, 662,250 from the affected persons in bank drafts which it handed over to the chairman of the ad hoc committee between December 2017 and May 2018,” the statement added.

PAY OMO-AGEGE HIS ENTITLEMENTS OR APPEAR IN COUR, JUDGE WARNS SarakI

The Federal High Court on Thursday warned the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, over the imprisonment proceedings initiated against him by the Delta-Central Senator, Ovie Omo-Agege.

Omo-Agege had initiated the committal proceedings praying that Saraki be sent to prison as punishment for flouting the May 10 judgment of the court which ordered him (Omo-Agege) to be reinstated from illegal suspension and be paid all his accrued benefits for the period of the voided suspension.

The hearing of the committal proceedings was scheduled for Thursday but the alleged contemnor and his lawyers were absent from court.

Ruling on a request by Omo-Agege’s lawyer, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), to have the committal application heard despite the absence of the defence, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba said he was more inclined to giving the Senate President another chance to “remedy the alleged wrong” or appear in court to defend himself.

Justice Dimgba noted that the application was truly “ripe for hearing” as argued by Izinyon, as the court’s records showed that Saraki had been served with the motion on notice and hearing notice for the Thursday’s proceedings via a newspaper publication of September 25, 2018, as earlier ordered by the court.

The judge, however, said he would give Saraki another chance to remedy the alleged wrong or appear in court to defend himself.

He also directed Izinyon to write the Senate President and the legal department of the Senate informing them of the adjournment of the proceedings till October 18.

The court said in its ruling on Thursday, “Upon this motion on notice dated and filed on August 15, 2018, praying for the committal of the Senate President to prison for contempt of court coming up before this honourable court today (Thursday) for hearing; and after hearing Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN) with Hanatu Abdulkarim, Friday Izinyon, Alex Izinyon II, J.A Gesa, for the judgment/creditor/applicant urging that the court should proceed with the hearing;

“It is hereby ordered as follows:

“That indeed from the records of the court, the Senate President, the alleged contemnor, was served with the motion and hearing notice by advertisement as ordered by the court on pages 35 – 36 of The Nation Newspaper of September 25, 2018; this motion is therefore ripe for hearing.

“That in the interest of justice, and to give the alleged contemnor another opportunity to remedy the alleged wrong or even to appear to defend himself, and as a demonstration of the court’s commitment for justice, the court directs the applicant/judgment/creditor’s counsel to write to the alleged contemnor and the legal department of the Senate informing them of the next adjourned date.”

The judge adjourned till October 18 for “definite hearing” of the committal application.

Omo-Agege had initiated the committal proceedings against Saraki for allegedly flouting a May 10, 2018 judgment of the court.

The May 10 judgment ordered the immediate reinstatement of Omo-Agege from an alleged illegal suspension by the Senate and ordered that the senator should be paid his accrued entitlements for the period he was shut out of his legislative duties

2019: BUHARI REACTS TO OBASANJO’S ENDORSEMENT OF AtikU

President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar.

Obasanjo had in a meeting held with Atiku and some PDP leaders endorsed his presidential ambition.

He declared that Atiku will defeat the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.

According to him, he believes that Atiku has ‘re-discovered and re-positioned himself’ and is now good enough to enjoy his support in the next election.

Obasanjo said, “Let me start by congratulating President-to-be, Atiku Abubakar, for his success at the recent PDP Primary and I took note of his gracious remarks in his acceptance speech that it all started here.”

However, Buhari in a statement by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, on Thursday described the meeting as a ‘well rehearsed theatre’, adding that both leaders will fail in 2019.

Read the statement below: “The Presidency has received the news of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s predictable U-turn and somersault on the endorsement of the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, at a meeting Thursday, and to say that we are the least surprised by the well-rehearsed theatre.

“They will lose together. Listening to the prepared statement of the former President after the meeting showed the usual ego trip and “I know it all” character of Chief Obasanjo.

“In the first place, we dare to say that a pompous statement from the former President advising Nigerians on a vote against President Buhari is the best recommendation that can come at this time.

“It also betrayed a lack of understanding of today’s politics which is about good governance.The country voted for change in 2015 and a leader that ensures good governance which only President Buhari and the APC can provide.Bent on these laudable goals, we will not allow ourselves to be distracted.

“We are busy on various national issues including the restructuring and the diversification of the economy, fighting corruption, terrorism and other threats to national security; increasing the availability of electric power, improving education, health, and providing long-delayed infrastructure – roads, rail, airports and so forth.

“Many governments have come and gone, but they did not care about some of these projects.
We were talking about these things for sixteen years under the PDP and nothing was done.
President Buhari is proud of his record because his achievements are verifiable, while that of the PDP is manifested by the devastating social and economic impact of large scale corruption during their governance.

“The President will not relent in the war against corruption because the ordinary people are the ultimate victims if we surrender to corruption and let its perpetrators go unpunished.

“Abandoning the war against corruption is not an option. President Buhari is in this battle against graft because he cannot allow a few, rapacious, and selfish class of the elite to divert the resources meant for the well-being of the ordinary people to their private pockets.
Nigerians trust President Buhari in this effort because they are convinced he is not in government for personal financial benefits, or for an ego trip.

“It is just eleven years ago that the former President and Vice President in their ugly fight for power accused each other of corruption. Nigerians are yet to forget all that.”

WHAT PMB SHOULD DO ON MINIMUM WAGE – Ka’oje

Former minister of Youth and Sport, Engr Bala Bawa Ka’oje has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to approve N25,000 as minimum wage and reduce the number of workers.

According to Ka’oje, workers that will be laid off should be given departure cheques immediately while some funds should be deposited in four banks to be given as soft loans to people who will want to go into business.

“It is important to note that the present pay for workers is not enough to sustain somebody. If you are earning N18,000, I wonder how you can pay your rent, feed your children and pay their school fees. I think it is almost impossible to do all these things with a paltry sum.

“So, to me, it is the right of the workers to have salaries increment from the monthly pay that they get. However, if I were the president, I will bring in some reform into the system in such a way that all these problems of failure of government especially state governments to pay salaries will be brought to an end,” Ka’oje said adding that half of the money government pays to workers especially in states, goes to ghost workers which is very difficult to get rid off because the leadership is involved.

According to Ka’oje, once the report is presented to the president, then, they should disengage those whose services are not required and should be paid off.

“Those people will be send off with their cheques, paying them all their entitlements so that they can go and start a new life in other sectors of the economy. We have the agriculture which is opening up and many people are making millions of naira while some are sitting idle in government offices and receiving salaries.

“So, the government should send them out in order to improve the productive system in the country and government will also provide additional safety net by putting certain amount in some banks so that the same people who have been disengaged from the government service can equally borrow from such funds if they have a viable business idea. This will enable them to start their businesses and contribute to the growth of the economy,” he added.

NIGERIAN GOVT PROPOSES N24,000 MINIMUM WAGE; STATES N20,000; NLC WANTS N30,000 – NGIGE

Dr Chris Ngige

The Federal Government of Nigeria has said after consultations it proposed N24,000 as the new minimum wage for civil servants.

The Minister of Labour and employment, Chris Ngige, stated this Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

Mr. Ngige was responding to media reports quoting the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, saying that the tri-partite committee discussing the demand for new minimum wage has agreed to increase it from the current N19,200 to N30,000.

“Such information is not true,” Mr Ngige said.

The minister said when the committee reconvened on October 5, after the NLC had called off its nationwide strike, “ the organised labour came down to N30,000, the organised private sector came down to N25,000.”

He also said the federal government had to consult with the 36 state governors. After the consultations, he said, the federal government proposed N24,000 while governors proposed N20,000.

Mr Ngige said the government is therefore still consulting and negotiations is ongoing.

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

The NLC had initially proposed a N50,000 minimum wage for workers, a move opposed by many state governors, many of whom are unable to regularly pay the current N18,000 minimum wage.