News

Femi Falana’s ASCAB Backs NLC’s Protest Against Naira Scarcity

Published

2 years ago

March 26, 2023

Editor

National Chairman, Alliance on Surviving Coving and Beyond (ASCAB) and human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana has thrown his weight behind the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over planned industrial action against the naira scarcity caused by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign policy.

In a recent letter titled, ‘Solidarity with the NLC For Planned Action Over to the Cash Crisis’, addressed to Joe Ajaero, NLC President, Falana lamented that two million Point of Sales jobs (PoS) have crumbled because of the naira scarcity.

He, then, said ASCAB would give all its support to NLC to call for members nationwide to sit at home from Wednesday, as a protest to challenge CBN over the hardship it has brought on millions of Nigerians.

The statement read, “I am pleased to be able to send solidarity greetings from ASCAB to the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). These are for the decision to call for action by your members over the lingering cash crisis. We hope that this action will be implemented, as planned, and as soon as possible, as we cannot overemphasise the trauma that the cash restriction policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is causing, especially to poor families.

“We understand that many of the members of your member bodies have faced severe dally difficulties in finding cash to travel to work over the last two months. So calling for members of the public sector trade unions of NLC to stay at home is nothing less than necessary and practical advice.

“For people working in the informal economy the cash restrictions have been nothing less than catastrophic. The whole POS business sector, for example, that employed approaching two million people, has now been put out of business. Markets and other areas of the informal sector have also been extremely affected by the lack of cash. Millions of poor people are now Suffering a further significant cut in their merger incomes.

“This means that millions of people now go hungry on a daily basis, whilst 60% of the population were merely multi-dimensionally poor before the cash crisis started. Like the lock-down and the closure of the boarders in 2020, this is another devastation forced on the mass of poor people by the Government.

“Millions of members of the NLC member trade unions are now suffering a further reduction in their living standards that they can afford. Over the last four years, since the minimum wage should have been last increased, prices generally have a least doubled- or putting another way, workers can now only buy half of what they could in early 2019.

“This shows how important it is that the minimum wage is increased again, as soon as possible. In fact the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says that such minimum wages should be increased every year and this does in fact happen in most countries in this situation, it is catastrophic for most working familles that they have to struggle to find cash every day to travel to work, to buy food and to try and cope with the situation when any of their family falls ill, it is vitally important that the NLC has now called action over this issue and we hope that the promised action is carried through as soon as possible.

“The immediate prospects for working people do not look good. The president elect has promised that he will end the fuel subsidy in June. The National Bureau of Statistics recently said that the price of petrol has increased by over 50% in the last year. The price of diesel, now at well over N800 per litre, gives some indication of the likely impact of the end of the fuel subsidy. We hope that the NLC will take appropriate action to address this threat.

“ASCAB provides its full solidarity for the action promised by the NLC which if anything is over due. We look forward to being able to assist with the pickets of the CBN offices in every state and providing any support that we can for the planned stay at home action from next Wednesday, 29th March.

“We look forward to future co-operation between ASCAB and the NLC.”

News

FG Shuts 22 Illegal Tertiary Institutions

Published

4 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The National Commission for Colleges of Education has uncovered and shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education.

The discovery was made during a crackdown on illegal colleges of education in the country.

The development was revealed in the commission’s achievements, seen by our correspondent.

“The NCCE identified and shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education operating across the country.

“The NCCE conducted personnel audit, financial monitoring in all the 21 federal colleges of education,” the commission said.

President Bola Tinubu had recently urged the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education to weed out illegal higher institutions of learning in the country.

Speaking at the 14th convocation of the National Open University of Nigeria in Abuja, the President ordered the NUC, the NBTE, and other agencies to take decisive action against what he described as “certificate millers” undermining the credibility of the education sector.

Tinubu, who was represented by the Director of University Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Rakiya Ilyasu, warned that the integrity of the academic system must not be compromised.

“At this juncture, it has become imperative to reiterate that this administration remains committed to strengthening the integration of all agencies involved in the administration of education to enhance efficiency and quality,” the President said.

He added, “The National Youth Service Corps, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education are working in alignment to improve the quality of education and ensure that cases of forgery and unrecognised institutions both within and outside the country have no place in our education ecosystem.”

News

EFCC Orders Arrest Of Dismissed Officer On Lege Miami’s Show

Published

6 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has condemned the actions of one of its former staff, Olakunle Alex Folarin, who was recently spotted participating in a matchmaking programme on social media platforms hosted by popular entertainer Lege Miami.

The agency has ordered his immediate arrest for retaining official EFCC property, including an identity card, following his dismissal for certificate forgery.

The anti-graft agency, in a statement on its official X handle on Monday, said Folarin served as a driver at the EFCC’s Ibadan Zonal Directorate.

He was, however, dismissed after investigations confirmed he had forged his academic credentials.

It said, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, condemned in the strongest terms, the involvement of one of its former staff, Olakunle Alex Folarin, in a matchmaking programme running on Lege Miami social media platforms.”

“Folarin was recently dismissed from the Commission for certificate forgery. He was a driver at the Ibadan Zonal Directorate of the EFCC.”

The statement said EFCC Executive Chairma,n Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered Folarin to be arrested and emphasised that Folarin’s actions should not be associated with the commission.

“The Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered his arrest for being in possession of some Commission’s properties, including an identity card, which he should have handed over upon being dismissed from the EFCC.

“The public is advised against associating Folarin’s post-dismissal conduct with the EFCC,” the statement concluded.

News

NERC Transfers Regulation Of Electricity Market To Bayelsa

Published

6 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has transferred regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State to the Bayelsa Electricity Regulatory Agency.

In a notice on its social media handles on Monday, the commission said this was in compliance with the amended 1999 Constitution and the Electricity Act 2023.

“In compliance with the amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electricity Act 2023 (Amended), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued an order to transfer regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State from the Commission to the Bayelsa State Electricity Regulatory Agency,” the commission said.

Recall that with the Electricity Act 2023, the commission retains the role as a central regulator with regulatory oversight on the interstate/international generation, transmission, supply, trading, and system operations.

The Act also mandates any state that intends to establish and regulate intrastate electricity markets to deliver a formal notification of its processes and requests NERC to transfer regulatory authority over electricity operations in the state to the state regulator.

The transfer order by NERC directed Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc to incorporate a subsidiary distribution company to assume responsibilities for intrastate supply and distribution of electricity in Bayelsa State from PHED.

PHED was also directed to complete the incorporation of PHED SubCo within 60 days from August 21, 2025.

“The subcompany shall apply for and obtain a licence for the intrastate supply and distribution of electricity from BYERA, among other directives,” the commission said.

It concluded that all transfers envisaged by the order shall be completed by February 20, 2026.

With this order, Bayelsa has joined states like Lagos, Imo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Enugu, Niger, Edo, Oyo and Plateau, which have got the power to regulate electricity markets.

The state can now generate, transmit, and distribute electricity while issuing licences to investors within the value chain.