P-GLOBAL

NEWS UPDATE
With
Utenghe Emmanuel
Date: 25th January, 2021
N40 billion earned allowances released to ASUU - Ngige,
promises to invite the leaders of SSANU, NASU and technologists for dialogue to arrest their strike.
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President Muhammadu Buhari waived the ‘no work, no pay’ Trade Act for striking university lecturers to allow peace to reign, Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige, said at the weekend.

The government has released N40billion for the payment of earned academic allowances for varsity lecturers and earned allowances for non-academic staff.

Also, the government may release N30 billion revitalisation funds to varsities by the end of this month.

Of the N40 billion, about N10 billion was voted for the payment of earned allowances of members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and technologists.

Although the non-academic staff have threatened strike over the sharing formula by the National Universities Commission (NUC), the government said when a similar payment was made in 2019, they got N8 billion.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who gave the update in an exclusive chat with our correspondent, said the Federal Government has so far kept faith with the agreement between it and ASUU.
Ngige said the Federal Government has started paying the outstanding salaries of the lecturers in a “staggered system” because every 31st December of each year, all outstanding recurrent budget (including personnel salaries) is mopped up into the Treasury.

“We paid ASUU members from January to June 2020. The salary arrears outstanding were from July to December and because of mop up into the Treasury, we decided to stagger the payment.

“So far, we have paid July and August salary arrears in December, we will pay September and October with their January salaries as one tranche in January; and November/ December in February alongside their monthly salaries since they have resumed in their offices and research centres.”

The Minister also confirmed that about “N40billion has been paid as earned allowances to academic and non-academic staff in the universities.

“The non-academic staff said they disagreed with the way the National Universities Commission (NUC) shared and transmitted the earned allowances by giving 75% to academic staff (lecturers) and 25% to them.

“The NUC came up with that sharing formula based on the past threshold. This administration has even improved the benchmark for the non-academic staff because the last time we had a similar challenge, it was based on 80% for academic staff and 20% for non-academic staff.

“In 2019, the non-academic staff got N8billion as earned allowances but this time around, the government released N10billion for their allowances.”
Regarding the N30billion revitalisation funds demanded by ASUU, Ngige said: “by the end of January, the government will pay.”
Okorocha: I’ve no plans to dump APC
Alleged $85.8m debt: Access Bank asks Supreme Court to re-freeze petroleum firm’s assets, accounts
Igangan/Fulani crisis: Town presents evidence, alleges herders collected N50m ransoms, r***d 15 women
Ondo eviction begins today as S’West govs, Miyetti Allah meet
Akeredolu: Presidency reaction widens ethnic division, says Falana
Vacation order: Akeredolu, South-West govs meet Miyetti Allah Monday
DPR begins probe as Rivers gas explosion kills one
Residents lament armed robberies’ upsurge in Warri
Mob set two motorbike thieves ablaze in Makurdi
Buhari has not done anything for us other than creating enemies for herdsmen — Miyetti Allah
Cows shouldn't be roaming about in 21st century - Adamu Garba, APC chieftain
Abia: Ikpeazu recalls suspended Chief of Staff (caught spraying money on Pastor Odumeje), dissolves State Executive Council
Woman strikes husband to death with shoe heel in Delta
Ondo varsity shuts down indefinitely over students’ death caused by Dangote truck........................
FOREIGN NEWS..........................
JOE BIDEN TO MEXICO: WE’LL CUT MIGRATION BY RAISING MIGRATION
EXPERT: BIDEN ENERGY CRACKDOWN COULD Put A MILLION Out of Work
TRUMP: Growing Number of GOP Senators Oppose Impeachment Trial
Arizona GOP Censures Leaders at Odds with Trump
New Mexico Regrets Oil, Gas Suspension After Voting Biden

And It’s Only Week 1!
Biden Suspends Trump Executive Order to Lower Insulin, Epinephrine Prices
France: Third Lockdown If 6 PM Curfew Fails
Russia Accuses US Of Meddling After Arrest Of 3,500 Protesters
US COVID-19 Cases Exceed 25 Million
Alleged Drug Lord Dubbed ‘Asia’s El Chapo’ Arrested In Amsterdam
New Zealand Detects First Community COVID-19 Case In Two Months......................
SPORTS.......................
Bayern’s Neuer Sets New Bundesliga Record For Most Clean Sheets
FA Cup: Kepa under attack after Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Luton Town
Moses Simon recovers from thigh injury, returns to training
Barca secure fifth straight win; Bayern seven clear
'I'm a Gunner for life' - Ozil completes Fenerbahce move
FAC Man Utd 3 - 2 Liverpool
FAC Everton 3 - 0 Sheff Wed
FAC Brentford 1 - 3 Leicester ...............................
964 new cases of ;
Lagos-360
FCT-88
Ogun-73
Imo-72
Kaduna-67
Plateau-57
Abia-41
Osun-41
Rivers-32
Kano-26
Niger-24
Benue-23
Edo-20
Cross River-20
Akwa Ibom-8
Nasarawa-6
Zamfara-6
Ekiti-6
Jigawa-4
121,566 confirmed
97,228 discharged
1,504 deaths
discharges today includes 774 community recoveries in Lagos State managed in line with guidelines.........................
January 25:
National Irish Coffee Day
National Opposite Day
National Bubble Wrap Day..........................
What a rush!!!

NEWS UPDATE!!!
January 22, 2021
Again, child sexual abuse rocks another Akwa Ibom school
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While the public outcry over the alleged sexual abuse of an 11-year-old boy at Deeper Life High School, Uyo , is yet to fizzle out, another Akwa Ibom school is enmeshed in a child sexual abuse case.
The latest case involves a three-year-old girl whose mum discovered, last week, her underwear was soaked with blood when she returned from school – Awin International Schools – in Ikono, about 32 kilometre from Uyo, the state capital.
The victim is in the nursery section of the school which also has sections for primary and secondary schools.
“My daughter went to school on Wednesday, 13 January, in the morning, nothing happened to her. When my daughter came back from school, I put water (in a bucket) and wanted to bathe her immediately they dropped her at my shop. I removed her knicker, I saw blood. I removed the pant, I saw blood. The pant was torn. I shouted and asked her, ‘mummy, what happened to you?’ She said it was aunty that chucked her,” the victim’s mother, Dorathy Alphonsus, told PREMIUM TIMES, Thursday afternoon, at her lawyer’s office in Uyo.
“I checked her private part, a big wound is there,” she said.
Mrs Alphonsus and her husband, Iniobong, were at the lawyer’s office to seek legal aid over their daughter’s case. They looked frightened and helpless, when a PREMIUM TIMES’ reporter met with them.
Their daughter appeared restless. She cried intermittently.
A police medical form filled by a doctor at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital confirmed the girl has been sexually abused.
From the doctor’s report, the girl told her mum that a pen was forcefully inserted into her va**na by her class teacher.
The police in Uyo arrested some of the school officials and a man, said to be the landlord to the Alphonsus, who drove the victim from school and handed her over to the mum, before it was discovered that she was sexually abused, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.
Some of the arrested persons were, however, said to have been released by the police.
The Alphonsus said they are under pressure to withdraw the case from the police.
Chris Ekpo, a civil rights lawyer Uyo, is offering free legal services to the victim and her parents.
Mr Ekpo said there was a threat to evict the family from the community where they are living in Ikono, for reporting the case to the police.
The principal of Awin International Schools declined to comment on the case when PREMIUM TIMES contacted him on phone.
“Please I am not in the position to speak (on the case), you can get to the police station and find out (what happened),” he said.
The principal later called back our reporter to say, “The head teacher is a better person for you to speak with because it happened in the nursery section, not in the secondary section.”
The police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, Odiko MacDon, said he was not aware of the case.
It’s North-Central’s turn to produce President – Niger Assembly
2023: Kogi lawmakers solicit support for Gov Bello’s presidential ambition from Niger lawmakers
Nigeria’s telephone subscribers now 208 million – NCC
Buhari increases NPA Board tenure to 5yrs
Wike under fire over donation of N500 million for rebuilding of Sokoto mosque
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Pensioners in Rivers State are gnashing their teeth over Governor Nyesom Wike’s N500million largesse to the Sokoto State Government to douse the pain on the state and traders affected by the inferno at Sokoto Central Market.
The pensioners, who lampooned the governor, said N500million would have to a high extent met some of the demands of retired civil servants in the State.
Some retirees who spoke to newsmen at the Rivers State Secretariat Complex lamented that since the Governor assumed office in 2015, Pensioners are yet to receive their gratuities and pension arrears.
One of the retirees, Bariza Kpaen said, “How can our governor give out such an amount of money when there are so many unresolved financial issues? We want the governor to immediately settle the issues surrounding the gratuity and Pension arrears now that it is obvious that he has so much to spend.”
Afe Babalola University records scientific breakthrough on COVID-19
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The Chemo-Genomics Research Institute of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, CRIA, in collaboration with the ABUAD Multi-system Hospital, AMSH, have gained new understanding about the reasons humans are more vulnerable to infections by the new variant of COVID-19, popularly known as N501Y SARS-CoV-2 mutant.
One of the reasons provided by the bio-medical scientists and researchers, led by Dr. Olaposi Omotuyi, is that the new variant is 80 times more effective at binding to human cells and is characterized by faster human-to-human transmission, more rapid progression of symptoms and death.
Since the country is not on total lockdown, the scientists and researchers advised that people should adhere to the laid down non-pharmacologic preventive procedures.
Oil rises to $56 on US stimulus prospects...........................
FOREIGN NEWS.......................................
Biden Kills Off an Estimated 52,100 Jobs in First Day as President — During a Pandemic!
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It starts with the ending of the Keystone Pipeline.
The pipeline provides 11,000 direct construction jobs that will now be laid off, not to mention a total of 42,100 jobs throughout the US pertaining to the project.
These 11,000 construction jobs are high paying positions.
Biden also ordered the halt of the border wall construction and the 10,000 jobs associated with it. That makes 52,100 jobs in less than eight hours. And with his pledge to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, you can expect many many more.
They have to realize that there are just some jobs that aren’t worth that much money, and companies will replace them with machines when it makes more fiscal sense.
Republican congresswoman files articles of impeachment on President Joe Biden,
says "we'll see how it goes".
Twitter Being Sued for Telling Child Po*******hy Victim That Images of Him at 13 Years Old Didn’t Violate Their Terms of Service
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A 17-year-old boy asked Twitter to remove images of him when he was 13 and being exploited by predators who blackmailed him. The predator pretended to be a girl in his class and got him to send pictures of himself. Then those pictures were used to blackmail him.
He notified Twitter who refuses to remove them.
The boy is now suing Twitter, which will have to defend their right to post child po*******hy or settle out of court. If they settle, it could set off a whole slew of similar lawsuits.
RAPPER LIL WAYNE THANKS TRUMP FOR PARDON AND ‘RECOGNIZING THAT I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO GIVE’
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Rapper Lil Wayne on Thursday thanked former President Trump for including him on the list of 100-plus pardons issued in the final hours of Trump’s presidency, thanking him for “recognizing that I have so much more to give to my family, my art, and my community.”
“I want to thank President Trump for recognizing that I have so much more to give to my family, my art, and my community. I also want to thank
for working so diligently to secure another chance for me. Love!” the five-time Grammy Award winner said in a message to his nearly 35 million Twitter followers, signing the message with his full name, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.
NETANYAHU CONGRATULATES BIDEN BUT ASKS HIM TO CONTINUE TRUMP POLICIES
U.S. Chamber to Joe: You Can Help Americans by Importing Foreign Workers
Tiffany Trump announces engagement to Nigerian-bred fiancé Michael Boulo
E.U. WILL ‘RECOGNIZE’ VACCINE PASSPORTS
DR. FAUCI: U.S. WILL REMAIN IN WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION UNDER BIDEN......................
SPORTS.....................
Ligue 1: Villas-Boas under pressure after Marseille defeat
Follow Cavani’s example, Solskjaer urges Man Utd strikers
Portugal’s Paulo Sousa named new Poland coach
Aguero contracts COVID-19, goes into self-isolation
Nigeria’s Akpejiori volunteers to help Tyson Fury beat Anthony Joshua
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Nigerian heavyweight contender, Raphael Akpejiori, has told Tyson Fury to use him as his sparring partner in his (Fury) preparation for the world title fight against Anthony Joshua.
Akpejiori said his “devastating” power would make him an ideal sparring partner for Fury.
The Nigerian Akpejiori, who is set to fight Joshua Tuani in Miami on Saturday, has before now knocked out all eight of his opponents.
Fury is currently in Florida resort, where he is preparing for the fight against Anthony Joshua and Akpejiori who also trains at the resort believes he and gym-mate Christian Thun can help Fury prepare for Joshua’s concussive punches.
Josef Bican scored 821 goals not 759 – Czech football federation rejects Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal record
PREM Liverpool 0 - 1 Burnley
LIGA Eibar 1 - 2 A. Madrid...............................
1964 new cases of # COVID19Nigeria ;
Lagos-824
FCT-246
Plateau-166
Kaduna-128
Ogun-76
Nasarawa-74
Anambra-69
Edo-50
Rivers-45
Ondo-44
Niger-40
Oyo-38
Adamawa-35
Kano-31
AKWA IBOM-27
Gombe-19
Kwara-13
Ekiti-12
Delta-6
Kebbi-6
Bauchi-5
Ebonyi-4
Osun-3
Zamfara-1
116,655 confirmed
93,646 discharged
1,485 deaths
discharges today include 798 community recoveries in Lagos State and 191 community recoveries in Ondo State managed in line with guidelines................................
January 22.
National Blonde Brownie Day
Celebration of Life Day
National Sanctity of Life Day