Dora on Diaspora Nigerians!

"It... Read More’s not just the name they brought on the country. Nigerians in the Diaspora are the worst when it comes to bad mouthing Nigeria. When you hear Nigerians overseas talk about Nigeria, you will weep for this country. I have asked a few of them if they have another country they can call their own. They don’t know that each time they talk down the country, they are diminishing themselves and running down the ordinary Nigerian. They also forget that every Nigerian in Diaspora is an ambassador. We have over 17 million Nigerians in the Diaspora. In fact, in this re-branding committee, we have one representative of the Diaspora and are prepared to have a second person. We need them to be represented. Imagine 17 million people out of our population in Nigeria! It is a significant percentage. Some Nigerians in Diaspora have brought us bad names but some of them have done very well......"

Youth Group Calls For Dangote, Odetola Reconciliation

The adage that says, 'when two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers' has led a youth group, Nigerian Youths for Peace and Progress (NYPP), to call the presidency and all notable Nigerians intervene the on-going 'cold war' between Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mr. Femi Otedola and Alhaji Sayyu Dantata.

Both the Secretary General,of the group Yusuf Olakunle and Co-Secretary, General Ibrahim Hassan, has warned that the deepening crisis is a dangerous signal for the Nigerian economy and youths who see both business tycoons as their business role models. The statement further noted that friendship, between the duo, before it went sour was a reference point and a model for youths across the country.

It noted that since the two former friends fell apart, the media exchange between them had been very sad. “These two people provide enormous employment opportunities to thousands of Nigerians across all ethnic barriers. They are the only two Nigerians to be rated in Forbes Magazine as rich and influential. They are amongst Nigeria’s best of the best and should be encouraged to pool resources together to advance the country’s common good."

The group called on Dangote and Otedola to look at the larger stake that they hold in the economy as it affects the ordinary people and come together in the interest of peace, saying “We implore them to rise above whatever divisive tendencies that may have given rise to this animosity and reconcile.”

For the youths of this country, we plead 'let peace reign' for us to achieve 'Vision 2020' and a New Nigeria.

Fashola tasks Nigerians over care of the elderly

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fasola (SAN), has urged Nigerians to take adequate care of the elderlyin the society.

The governor stated this in Lagos on Friday during the inauguration of “Feeding the elders”, a programme initiated by the Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area Chairman, Mr. Adeyemi Alli.

The governor, who was represented by the Deputy Speaker of Lagos House of Assembly, Mrs. Adefunmilayo Tejuoso, extolled the virtues of hard work and perseverance exhibited by parents in raising their children.

According to him, “Our parents go the extra mile for us. Without parents we will not be here today. We should also be there for them now that they are older and need us.”

He added that those elderly who were dependent and needed support should not be made to suffer, and that they needed to reap the fruits of their labour.

PHCN rules out workers’ strike

The Management of Power Holding Company of Nigeria on Saturday assured members of the public that its workers would not be embarking on strike on Wednesday as has been speculated in some quarters.

Speaking during a media parley with journalists in Abuja, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. H.S Labo, explained that it had scheduled a meeting with the leadership of its workers‘ unions for Wednesday where it would continue negotiations on their welfare package.

On Friday, PHCN workers, under the aegis of Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies and the National Union of Electricity Employees, organised prayer sessions across their stations nationwide, but the action degenerated into the blockade of the entrance to their offices.

The workers are demanding for between 150 and 250 per cent increase in their salaries, claiming that the last salary increase was effected in year 2000.

It was learnt that the management proposed a five per cent increase, which the workers rejected outrightly.

A fresh negotiation was called for Wednesday, but some media reported that the workers could declare a strike on that day if their requests were not agreed to by the management of PHCN.

But in an interview with our correspondent, Labo ruled out the possibility of the workers embarking on strike, stressing that they were responsible and willing to continue with the ongoing negotiations.

According to him, the PHCN management is willing to engage the workers in meaningful negotiations on an improved welfare package.

He admitted that the last negotiated salary increase between the management and workers was in 2000, but added that PHCN management implemented the general 15 per cent salary increase for public servants which the former President Olusegun Obasanjo approved some years ago.

Labo explained that the revenue stream of the utility company was open to the workers as they carried out all the functions including generation, transmission, distribution and revenue collection.

He said, ”We cannot hide any facts from them because it is the same workers that collect the money. They know how much they collect. They are the ones who run the power stations, they run the transmission stations as well as the distribution stations.

All we do at corporate headquarters is to collate the facts and say this is how far we can go.”

Although Labo was not forthcoming, he, however, said any increase in salary would have to be sustainable, bearing in mind the production costs.

He said, ”What we are going to agree on must be sustainable.”

Nigerian police freed a Lebanese worker kidnapped

LAGOS, March 29 (Reuters) - Nigerian police freed a Lebanese worker kidnapped from a building site on the edge of a lagoon in the commercial hub of Lagos, killing six of the abductors in the process, a police spokesman and security sources said on Sunday.

Officers also recovered the $230,000 ransom paid to the kidnappers who, dressed as policemen, had last Monday tried to abduct two foreigners from a bank construction site at the water's edge on Victoria Island, one of the most exclusive and expensive districts of Lagos, but one managed to escape.

The kidnappers had arrived the construction site in a speedboat, sources said.

"Our men tactically engaged the kidnappers in a gun-battle after they collected a ransom of 30 million naira. They rescued the captive unharmed and also recovered the 30 million naira ransom," Lagos police spokesman Frank Mba said.

"Unfortunately, six of the kidnappers were killed in the gun-battle."

Such kidnappings by gunmen in speedboats are common in the creeks of the oil-producing Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa's oil and gas industry, but are rare in Lagos, Nigeria's most populous city of around 14 million people, spread over a series of lagoons on the tip of the Atlantic.

Many international oil multinationals and other companies have moved expatriate staff from the restive southern delta to Lagos in recent years because of the worsening security situation in the region.

Nigeria's main oil unions have also repeatedly threatened to launch potentially crippling strikes to protest against the insecurity in the volatile region that accounts for nearly all of Nigeria's oil output. (Reporting by Tume Ahemba; Editing by Louise Ireland)

PHCN (NEPA) Workers To Go On Nationwide Strike On Wednesday

Employees of Power Holding Company (PHCN) yesterday threatened to shut down power supply to the country next Wednesday if the management fails to respond to their demand for a 300 per cent wage increase, as well as to prove a point to those who say PHCN is an illegal entity.

Besides, the workers called for the immediate release and implementation of the House of Representatives Commi-ttee on Power probe report on the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), which they alleged was about to be swept under the carpet, and promised to resist such move.

They have also resorted to a prayer session over the matters.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, the National Organizing Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Temple Iworima, said they took the decisions because “we are treated like slaves in this country.”

He said they were also the least paid workers in this sector, for which reason they were demanding for the 300 per cent increment in their wages.
But a statement by the management of PHCN expressed concern with the workers’ demands, saying the union and management had since agreed to reconvene and get the negotiation back on track.

“PHCN management reaffirms its commitment to the actualisation and sustenance of the presidential mandate of 6,000MW by December 2009, and fully understands that staff welfare must be given priority to achieve the set mandate,” the statement said.

One Law Two Nation! Police break Lagos Law!

The knowledge of Fashola is the beginning of wisdom? No not for men of the Nigerian Police Force.
In Lagos it is against the Law to have a "3some" on an "OKADA". It is also against the law to "RIDE" an OKADA without "PROTECTION" But the shameless Policemen in the Pics bellow seem to be saying." TO HELL WITH THE LAW!"