otherway:
Let us pray for the president asking GOD to grant him the strength and good health to finish his tenure.

I see a funny twist in Aso Rock that will rock the political terrain.

I rest my case.

GOD bless President Bola Tinubu and GOD bless the federal republic of Nigeria.

StOla:


You are not ashamed that you continue supporting a shameless liar?

“The former Vice President restated that it has become obvious even to the undiscerning that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is being done in a hurry purely because of the business relationship between Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury, the owner of Hitech, the contractor that was awarded the contract for the highway project in contravention of the procurement laws. It is on record that this project is the most expensive single project ever embarked upon by the Nigerian government. The fact that it is happening at a time when Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis ever is a red flag.

“To add insult to injury, this project that is being done more than $13bn was awarded without competitive bidding. From all indications, the so-called Badagry-Sokoto highway would be awarded similarly at an enormous cost to taxpayers purely because Tinubu has put his interest ahead of the Nigerian people.


“The awarding of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway was rushed; the environmental impact assessment report was not even completed; the right of way for the 700km stretch of the highway project was not secured; it was converted from a PPP to a government-funded project within the twinkle of an eye. The N500m that was approved by the National Assembly for the project was ignored, while over N1tn was released by Tinubu’s administration without approval from the National Assembly”, the PDP chieftain said.

StOla:


More like Peter Obi has no integrity in him.

Nostring:
kpele! Goan use Panadol for the emotional trauma 😹

Nostring:
you obviously need d medical attention more cos ordinary words that has absolutely nothing to do with you or your papa is peppering u ,and getting u worked up..kai😹

Nostring:
and e dey pepper u fr body 😹..cos I can't fathom how it's any of your business 🥲

Nostring:
Agulu lying machine threatened lawsuit ,and just one person he never see sue even after he was dared to do so...shame😹

oyebanji:


Are you not aware that Mearsk has confirmed the investment?

Tjra:

Tell me one legacy of PitObi?

Please don't mention Hero beer and drunkenness

HypocriticalObi:
Who is Peter Obi if not for the senseless and mentally deranged people following him, the same people that are killing their fellow igbos for Biafra, can do anything in their delusional state

HypocriticalObi:
No man born out of woman or evil spirit like Peter girigory Obi can stop eze-chukwu Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Igbo land in 2027, let them gather themselves together, they will be scattered like nylons, nonsense, that was how they were saying he would win yet he won and crushed Peter Obi

Black marketers sell a four-litre gallon of fuel at N6,000 or higher, depending on demand and location.

Motorists and irrigation farmers are counting their losses in Kano and neighbouring Jigawa State following weeks of fuel scarcity that led to exorbitant prices being charged by filling stations across the states.

PREMIUM TIMES correspondent monitored the situation in both states between Monday and Friday and saw residents struggling to get fuel to meet their routine needs.

While petrol sells above N1,000 per litre in some stations, motorists in long queues struggle for the product at the few stations that have it, especially the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) outlets.

At the NNPCL outlets selling the product at N620 per litre, some motorists and irrigation farmers lamented that they spent days in the queues.

In Kano, the commercial hub of Northern Nigeria, the scarcity has crippled socio-economic activities as a major route into the state, Zaria road, was on Thursday blocked by vehicles whose owners had queued at the NNPCL outlet along the route.


PREMIUM TIMES observed that some major township roads in the metropolis were deserted as people abandoned their cars due to the fuel scarcity and exorbitant prices charged by filling stations.

Some residents, including students of higher institutions and high schools, opted for trekking due to the dearth of commercial tricycles and other vehicles, with the few on the roads charging higher fares.

Black marketers were selling a four-litre gallon of petrol at N6,000 or higher on Thursday, depending on demand and location.

A motorist, Umar Ibrahim of Fagge quarters, told PREMIUM TIMES that he spent an hour at a filling station at Abdullahi Bayero Road to buy petrol at N700 per litre on Wednesday but didn’t get it.

“A few hours after I left the queue in disappointment, I learnt that the station managers sold the product at above N700 to black marketers at night. The display of N700 as the official price of the station is just a gimmick as the station managers targeted their sales at black marketers only at this time, not routine buyers like myself,” Mr Ibrahim lamented.

Another resident of Fagge quarters, Shehu Umar, told PREMIUM TIMES Friday morning that petrol was selling at N1,070 per litre at ABY filing station at IBB way in the Kano metropolis.

Mr Umar said because of the exorbitant charges, there was no queue at the station as only a few buyers went in to buy.

Another resident, who gave his name only as Scorer, said the government should sanction filing stations charging high prices, describing them as wicked Nigerians.

“The federal government should sanction those wicked Nigerians selling petrol above N1,000 because they are the ones crippling socio-economic activities in the state and making people lose,” Scorer said.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Jigawa State, Auwalu Sani, on Thursday, told PREMIUM TIMES how he spent two days in a queue, accusing the NNPCL station managers in Dutse of giving preferential treatment to some buyers.

“I spent two days here (at the NNPC mega station in Dutse). Some people who came today got fuel but we who have been here for over two days are yet to get fuel. Some of them are government officials, others are black marketers recognised by the station managers who you cannot challenge.

“At Awajil and Kankani, filling stations are selling at above N1,000 per litre because the NNPCL outlets are not many in the town and they are selling it to people they prefer,” Mr Sani said.

The Secretary of Partnership for Inclusion of Local Governance, a non-governmental organisation, Ahmad Illalah, said the scarcity was affecting rice farming in Jigawa

“Jigawa as the largest rice producer in Nigeria is currently facing a historic poor production as a result of higher cost of petrol and its scarcity,” he wrote on Facebook.

He stated that a litre of petrol was selling for between N1,000 and N1,500 on the black market.

“In some local government areas like Guri and Kirkasamma, (in the far east of the state) the price is beyond that,” Mr Illalah said.

“The rice farmers are in dangerous condition now as a result of this crisis, many of them have started counting losses.

“If we can recall there are many complaints of the recent wheat farming, as a result of poor production due to the climate change that troubles the system.

“The worst of it is most of the farmers are farming on credit, and most of the credit is informal.

“These farmers need urgent intervention from the government in this critical situation,” Mr Illalah warned.

A farmer, Ahmadu Rufai, said he had to take his water pumping machine to the filing station before he could get fuel a day after he was supposed to wet his rice farm.

“I am supposed to wet my farm twice a week but with the current scarcity I have to abandon a portion of the farm because I cannot get enough fuel because of the price and scarcity,” Mr Rufai told PREMIUM TIMES.

The water pumps being used by farmers like Mr Rufai need petrol to be powered.


The Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Kano chapter, Gana Girigire, in an interview with radio stations in Kano blamed the NNPCL for the petrol scarcity

He said it is not the fault of IPMAN, saying the organisation sent over 100 trucks to various centres to buy fuel but the commodity was not available.

The NNPCL, currently the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria, has blamed the scarcity on logistic challenges but said it has resolved the problems and the scarcity would be over soon.

Nostring:
oga open another thread this one is for the Agulu lying machine 🥱

Mbanda:
Where is reno the defender of rubbish

Nostring:
oga this thread is about the Agulu lying machine and his numerous lies, open another thread about fuel...stop trying to shift goal post

Nostring:
That's why he's the Agulu lying machine 😹

Emmabyte:
Close to one year after election this fool is yet to get something from the government, is a pity I fill his pains

Godwin4444:
All I see is igbo tears

Petie33:

You must be high on something to think obi can make things work but like I tell people like you tell your fake Savior to tell the world what he would have done to make things easy if he truly love Nigeria

Organised Labour, at the weekend, fires back at state governors, warning them against inflammatory utterances that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire over the new national minimum wage.


It faulted the statement credited to the governors through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, that they were working on what individual states could sustainably pay.


Labour contended that the governors must work within the 37-member committee saddled with the responsibility of fashioning out a new national minimum wage for the country.

According to the Organised Labour, it is being magnanimous with N615,000 new minimum wage’ demand because, based on the socioeconomic indices on the ground, it would have demanded much higher which the governors “are more than able to pay”.

Recall that in a statement, last Thursday, by the NGF Chairman and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the end of NGF’s virtual meeting held Wednesday night, the governors said, among others, “As members of the committee, we are reviewing our individual fiscal space as State Governments and the consequential impact of various recommendations, to arrive at an improved minimum wage we can pay sustainably.

“We remain committed to the process and promise that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations.”

Misquoted

Reacting to the statement, Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, Dr Tommy Okon, told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, that Organised Labour believed the governors were misquoted.

“They can’t say that they are working on what individual states can pay. I think the governors may be talking about what they can add to the minimum wage at the end of the day because what will be agreed upon is the baseline which nobody should pay less than”, Okon said.

“But they can pay higher than that. I think that is what they are saying.


“They cannot be telling us that they are reviewing or setting up a committee to work on what they can pay individually. Two committees cannot be working on the same issue.

“The governors are members of the tripartite committee on the New National Minimum Wage, so they cannot set up another committee or work independently from the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government.

“Maybe the governors are talking about implementation. It is right for the governors to set up an implementation committee. They need to know their staff’s strengths and sources of funds to implement the new wage
“But to say that they are working on what individual states can pay outside the committee that the Federal Government has set up cannot be correct.

“Do not forget that the governors are members of the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government. So, they cannot do anything outside the committee.

“If what is reported is correct or if the governors own up to the statement as reported, it is a recipe for serious industrial unrest.


“And no nation can accept that because any nation that works like will face unprecedented industrial unrest and can never grow. No nation grows amid industrial chaos.

“We think the governors will tread with caution and avoid inflammatory utterances. We still believe the statement was not from them.”



Negotiation table

On its part, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, declined a response, saying it has made a demand before the tripartite committee on the minimum wage and whatever the governors want to say should be brought to the negotiation table since they are members of the committee on the new minimum wage.

However, an official of NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard that the governors are treading on dangerous ground that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire.

“You cannot be talking about reviewing what individual state can pay sustainably outside the committee set up to look out will be the baseline or minimum”, he said. “Whatever opinion you have is what you should bring to the negotiation table. You come to the negotiation table and argue your opinion.


“We do not want to trade words with the governors because they are members.

“(But) they are treading on a dangerous ground that can set the nation’s industrial space on fire.

“We have made our demand which is a very generous one from the breakdown we released on Thursday on the N615,000 demand.
“You can see that we have been very magnanimous. Several expenses, including basic things like recharge cards, entertainment, extended family and others, are missing.

“Don’t forget that this demand was a product of questionnaires we sent out to states and local governments. We did not manufacture it.

“Again, take the issue of electricity which we allocated N20,000 a month. At the time we did it, the electricity tariff had not been adjusted by about 300 per cent. With the adjustment, it has affected nearly every other thing in terms of inflation.


“We know the governors can do much more than what we are demanding. We have passed through this road before.
“The problem with the governors is that they place their aggrandizement far above public good and workers’ welfare.

“That many former governors are facing prosecution by the nation’s anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is a pointer to the fact that governors have the resources to pay much higher than our demand.”

‘How we arrived at N615, 000’
NLC had, on Thursday, given the breakdown on how Organised Labour arrived at its demand of N615,000 as the new minimum wage, and also countered the government on the commencement date for the proposed new minimum wage.

The Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, had, on Wednesday, while addressing workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja, said the new minimum wage would take effect from May 1, 2024.

But the NLC is arguing that it will take effect from April 19, 2024.


In a statement, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said: “It has become imperative at this point that we inform Nigerians who may not have known already the foundations upon which our initial demand for a N615, 000 new National Minimum Wage is based.

“The figure was a product of a painstaking effort through which we captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.

“It was essentially an outcome of independent research conducted by the NLC and TUC on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.

“Our research was based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.

“A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above.


“Below is a summary of our findings and we hope that this will enable Nigerians understand what propels our demand so that better clarity is made to create better engagement around the ongoing National Minimum Wage Negotiation process.

“A cursory look at the table above shows that we have deliberately removed certain elements from the basket used in calculations of this nature.

“However, it should also be noted that we have not included things like expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and Mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and security etc.

“These are therefore just for the bare necessities.

”It should be noted that we arrived at this figure before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares.


“Any figure below this amount becomes a starvation wage and condemns Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.

Commencement date
”We have to remember that the old one has expired on the 18th day of April 2024, and a new one is expected to have come into effect on the 19th day of April 2024. “However, because of the government’s inability to comply with the law that demanded negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun six months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed.

”We are sure that our social partners would see our demonstration of understanding, sacrifice and reasonableness in our demands and thus accept this figure without much delay.

“We also enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to implore the government and employers to meet our demands for the sake of justice, equity and national development.”

Sannisege:
say dem curse Tinubu no mean say dem go follow Obi. The Ibo man wey go rule Nigeria, dem neva born am.