Wednesday, May 21, 2014
LASU Lecturers Begin Strike begins
Lecturers of the Lagos State University, Ojo on Tuesday commenced an industrial action, which they said was “total, comprehensive and indefinite.”
Addressing journalists in Lagos, the Academic Staff Union of Universities LASU Chairman, Dr. Adekunle Idris, said the failure of the university authorities to meet their demands prompted the strike.
According to him, members of the union took the unanimous decision at their congress in Ojo.
Idris said, “The congress, after exhaustive deliberation, concluded that core issues that are germane to survival of the university and career of our members have been neglected by the authorities.”
The union’s National Executive Council, he added, authorised the chapter to embark on the strike at a meeting held at the University of Ibadan from May 14 to May 15.
He added, “We declare that as from Tuesday, May 20, we, the academic staff of LASU, are withdrawing our services to embark on a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike.
“It is a sad decision we are compelled to take and have taken it with every sense of responsibility.”
He said the three core demands of the union yet to be met by the university authorities include the reversal of the high tuition and the repeal of the “No Vacancy, No Promotion’’ policy in the university.
According to him, the implementation of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions Amendment) Act 2012, already operational in other universities, is also still pending at LASU.
The union, he noted, had explored all avenues to dialogue with the authorities and the opinion leaders in the state in a bid to avert the strike but they did not yield results.
“ASUU-LASU had used every opportunity to persuade the appropriate authorities to consider all our concerns in good time.
“Regrettably, the union had no choice but to declare a trade dispute and at several times met the management, governing council and chancellor, but the issues remained unresolved.
“We are at loss as to why the authorities have refused to frontally address these issues for over one year.
“Our goals are noble and so we intend to pursue them to a logical conclusion,” Idris said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that ASUU-LASU on March 24 had issued the management a 21-day ultimatum to meet its demands.
The union also gave a 14-day ultimatum effective April 15, and another seven-day ultimatum on May 1.
The union finally gave a three-day ultimatum on May 12, which expired May 14.
But reacting to the development, the LASU Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kayode Sutton, told NAN that the authorities had not received an official letter from the union on the action.
Sutton said, “Officially, the management has not been communicated about the strike declaration by ASUU; we await a letter to that effect.”
He added that of the initial 21 demands by the union, there were only three demands that the authorities had yet to meet.
Jos Bomb Blasts Death Toll At Least 118 – NEMA
LAGOS (AFP) – At least 118 people were killed in a car bomb attack in the central Nigerian city of Jos, the country’s relief agency said on Tuesday, warning that the death toll could rise further.
“The exact figure of the dead bodies recovered as of now is 118,” Mohammed Abdulsalam, coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the city, told AFP.
He added that “more bodies may be in the debris” of buildings which collapsed due to the intensity of the blasts.
Fifty-six people were injured in the twin blasts, said Abdulsalam. The military said that improvised explosive devices were hidden inside a truck and a minibus and went off within 20 minutes of each other.
Chris Olakpe, the police commissioner of Plateau state of which Jos is the capital, told reporters earlier that 46 people were killed and 45 others were injured.
He maintained later: “We are saying 46. That’s the number we have in the morgues. But we are not ruling out more bodies.”
Plateau state lies in the so-called Middle Belt of Nigeria, where the largely Christian south meets the mainly Muslim north, and has been the scene of long-standing ethnic and sectarian conflict for years.
It has also been hit by Boko Haram militants, who have been waging an insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast since 2009. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/jos-bomb-blasts-death-toll-least-118-nema/
Friday, April 25, 2014
Boko haram Threatens again to cause more disaster
Boko
Haram men have threatened to kill the school girls they abducted in the
early hours of April 15th if the search for them continues. This is
after some Borno women under the auspices of BAOBAB Women’s Right said
they are planning to storm the Sambisa forest where the abducted girls
are believed to be held.
The women said since efforts by the military to rescue the girls haven’t worked so far, it was time for them to take matters into their hands as concerned mothers.
The Spokesperson for the group, Professor Hauwa Biu, told newsmen:-
The women said since efforts by the military to rescue the girls haven’t worked so far, it was time for them to take matters into their hands as concerned mothers.
The Spokesperson for the group, Professor Hauwa Biu, told newsmen:-
“We are ready to go into the forest and search for the girls. In fact, we are prepared to risk our lives and get up to Boko Haram camp and appeal to them to release the children to us so that they can re unite with their parents. There is nothing extraordinary in our quest to enter the dangerous forest. We learnt that some men in Chibok had earlier embarked on such mission, which later turned out to be fruitless. We felt that as mothers, we are in a better position to have the sympathy and concern over the fate of the missing girls. Our target is not to fight the abductors, but we want to beg them to release the girls in the name of the God that we all worship.”- See more at: http://www.naijaloaded.com.ng/2014/04/25/boko-haram-threatens-kill-abducted-girls-search-stopped/#sthash.DGVJCsVm.dpuf
Boko
Haram men have threatened to kill the school girls they abducted in the
early hours of April 15th if the search for them continues. This is
after some Borno women under the auspices of BAOBAB Women’s Right said
they are planning to storm the Sambisa forest where the abducted girls
are believed to be held.
The women said since efforts by the military to rescue the girls haven’t worked so far, it was time for them to take matters into their hands as concerned mothers.
The Spokesperson for the group, Professor Hauwa Biu, told newsmen:-
Boko
Haram men have threatened to kill the school girls they abducted in the
early hours of April 15th if the search for them continues. This is
after some Borno women under the auspices of BAOBAB Women’s Right said
they are planning to storm the Sambisa forest where the abducted girls
are believed to be held.The women said since efforts by the military to rescue the girls haven’t worked so far, it was time for them to take matters into their hands as concerned mothers.
The Spokesperson for the group, Professor Hauwa Biu, told newsmen:-
“We are ready to go into the forest and search for the girls. In fact, we are prepared to risk our lives and get up to Boko Haram camp and appeal to them to release the children to us so that they can re unite with their parents. There is nothing extraordinary in our quest to enter the dangerous forest. We learnt that some men in Chibok had earlier embarked on such mission, which later turned out to be fruitless. We felt that as mothers, we are in a better position to have the sympathy and concern over the fate of the missing girls. Our target is not to fight the abductors, but we want to beg them to release the girls in the name of the God that we all worship.”- See more at: http://www.naijaloaded.com.ng/2014/04/25/boko-haram-threatens-kill-abducted-girls-search-stopped/#sthash.DGVJCsVm.dpuf
The women said since efforts by the military to rescue the girls haven’t worked so far, it was time for them to take matters into their hands as concerned mothers.
The Spokesperson for the group, Professor Hauwa Biu, told newsmen:-
“We are ready to go into the forest and search for the girls. In fact, we are prepared to risk our lives and get up to Boko Haram camp and appeal to them to release the children to us so that they can re unite with their parents. There is nothing extraordinary in our quest to enter the dangerous forest. We learnt that some men in Chibok had earlier embarked on such mission, which later turned out to be fruitless. We felt that as mothers, we are in a better position to have the sympathy and concern over the fate of the missing girls. Our target is not to fight the abductors, but we want to beg them to release the girls in the name of the God that we all worship.”- See more at: http://www.naijaloaded.com.ng/2014/04/25/boko-haram-threatens-kill-abducted-girls-search-stopped/#sthash.DGVJCsVm.dpuf
Boko
Haram men have threatened to kill the school girls they abducted in the
early hours of April 15th if the search for them continues. This is
after some Borno women under the auspices of BAOBAB Women’s Right said
they are planning to storm the Sambisa forest where the abducted girls
are believed to be held.
The women said since efforts by the military to rescue the girls haven’t worked so far, it was time for them to take matters into their hands as concerned mothers.
The Spokesperson for the group, Professor Hauwa Biu, told newsmen:-
The women said since efforts by the military to rescue the girls haven’t worked so far, it was time for them to take matters into their hands as concerned mothers.
The Spokesperson for the group, Professor Hauwa Biu, told newsmen:-
“We are ready to go into the forest and search for the girls. In fact, we are prepared to risk our lives and get up to Boko Haram camp and appeal to them to release the children to us so that they can re unite with their parents. There is nothing extraordinary in our quest to enter the dangerous forest. We learnt that some men in Chibok had earlier embarked on such mission, which later turned out to be fruitless. We felt that as mothers, we are in a better position to have the sympathy and concern over the fate of the missing girls. Our target is not to fight the abductors, but we want to beg them to release the girls in the name of the God that we all worship.”- See more at: http://www.naijaloaded.com.ng/2014/04/25/boko-haram-threatens-kill-abducted-girls-search-stopped/#sthash.DGVJCsVm.dpuf
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
‘Why Applicants Are Refused US Visas’
Vice-Consul, United States Consulate, Lagos, Mr. Christopher Richardson, says many applicants are refused American visas because they have not visited other countries.
Richardson spoke at a seminar on the ‘American Visa Regime: the role of lawyers’ organised by the Immigration Lawyers Forum in Lagos on Tuesday.
He said, “The majority of the visa applicants prefer the US as their first outing. This creates doubt, especially when the applicant has not visited any other countries before.”
Richardson also said applicants were also rejected visas because of the kind of answers they give to test questions during interviews.
He said, “When a question, such as ‘do you have a relation in the US?’ Most often, they are quick to say ‘yes’, which of course, is in order.
“Such an answer creates doubt that since the person has a relation, there is every tendency that the person may not want to come back. So visas can be rejected on that ground.”
He said Nigerians were among the countries with highest number of visa rejections.
The Chairman, ILAF, Titus Ajijola, said the seminar was designed to enhance the protection of migrant rights.
He said, “Key strategies of the project are awareness raising, knowledge and skills improvement on the rules, as well as rights and obligations of migrants to encourage respect for the rights of migrants.”
He said ILAF was designed to educate the general public on immigration matters.
BREAKING NEWS: Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki Is Dead
It was learnt Saraki died in his Lagos home on Wednesday morning.
Saraki, the Senate Majority Leader in the Second Republic, has been in and out of hospitals in the last few years owing to symptoms associated with old age.
He was 79 years old and has had very active political life.
His son, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, was a governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
The younger Saraki is now in the Senate.
Details to follow soon...
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