National Judicial Council (NJC) has disowned reports credited to it by the social media that it received nomination list for Supreme Court vacancies from the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC). Director of Information of NJC, Soji Oye, who made the clarification, yesterday, in Abuja, said he never had any discussion with anybody regarding the list of justices’ nominees from the FJSC. He described the social media reports on the matter as deliberate handiwork of mischief-makers. Oye insisted that reports on such matters are always by official statement from the council through his office. The NJC spokesperson cautioned against unverified reports circulating on social media regarding the apex court nominations and the process being followed to fill vacancies on the bench. It was gathered there were reports stating that the FJSC released 22 names for NJC’s consideration to fill vacancies at the apex court bench. The nomination reportedly includes regional distribution of candidates across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones. According to the report, the nomination of justices for the bench followed complaints in September that the Supreme Court was operating with only 10 out of its constitutional strength of 21 justices. Based on the depletion in number of justices due to retirement and deaths, it was reported that the FJSC subsequently submitted a shortlist to address the vacant positions. Oye warned the media, especially, social media operators, should always get their information from the rightful source so as not to mis-inform the public.

  No fewer than 600 teachers in the federal civil service, precisely under the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Defence, who benefited from the Federal Government service elongation package for teachers, are currently being owed 23 months salaries, investigations by The PUNCH revealed on Sunday. The PUNCH reports that service elongation for teachers was introduced by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The beneficiary teachers are in some of the nation’s unity schools, schools owned by the military and paramilitary. On January 20, 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved a Bill that sought to increase the retirement age and the service years of teachers. Then Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, explained that the essence of the Bill was to give legal backing for the approval of the new retirement age of 65 from 60 years for teachers and extend their period of service from 35 to 40 years. The Bill, according to him, also sought to introduce bursary awards, special rural posting allowances, and other items that would encourage brilliant Nigerians to take up teaching In April 2022, Buhari signed the harmonised Bill into law backdating the implementation to January 2022. However, investigations revealed that the Federal Ministry of Education in a memo dated January 26, 2021, told teachers in its unity schools not to retire but to continue in service ahead of the presidential assent by Buhari. The memo was tagged “FME/HRM/S234/1” and it read, “This is to inform you that the Federal Executive Council at its meeting of Wednesday, 20 January 2021 approved 65 years and 40 years as retirement age and years of service, respectively, for the teaching profession. Implementation of this new scheme is with effect from 1st January 2021. “It should be noted that the new retirement, years of service is not automatic, as officers will be required to demonstrate fitness after medical examination and those found to be unfit will be advised to retire.” Similarly, the Federal Ministry of Defence also directed teachers, who retired from its schools but have applied for the elongation of their service, to remain in office pending the determination of their applications. The directive was contained in a circular marked MOD/HRM/AP/S.I/1 and signed by the ministry’s Human Resource Manager, K. M. Ojirobe, and dated January 17, 2022, also ahead of the presidential assent by Buhari. Some of the affected teachers, who spoke to our correspondent, noted that despite remaining in service since January 2021, they were not paid salaries until November 2022 with their arrears still being withheld despite the reflection on their payslips. One of the affected teachers, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said, “We are over 400 Education Officers who are beneficiaries of the elongation policy which extended the retirement period of teachers to 65 years or 40 years in service, effective January 2021. We were asked to continue with our jobs but weren’t paid a dime till November 2022 with arrears of over 23 months outstanding. “Our salaries were reinstated in December 2022 but when we got our payslips, we discovered they included the total arrears owed but our accounts weren’t credited. We asked questions but up till now no acceptable answer from IPPIS. We mobilised ourselves all over Nigeria, collated our information with a copy of some payslips and submitted.” Similarly, a representative of the concerned teachers under the Federal Ministry of Defence who works in one of the military schools in Oyo state said, “Our salaries were reinstated in April 2023. Our arrears were not paid despite the fact that we have been working since we retired. The government should do something. We are hungry. They should please pay us our arrears.” Our correspondent obtained a letter written to the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, on October 13, 2023, by some of the affected teachers. The letter which was titled, “An appeal for intervention on payment of salary arrears of pioneer education officers of the harmonised retirement age for teachers,” read: “Sequel to the non-payment of our various accumulated salary arrears, we wish to state that we complied with the directive in the Circular FME/HRM/S234/1 dated 26th January 2021, and continued to discharge our duties loyally and efficiently. Notwithstanding, our salaries were stopped on attainment of 60 years or 35 years in service. “The salaries were reinstated for most of us in December with payments of the month’s salaries but without the accumulated arrears. We later discovered that the payments of the arrears were reflected in our pay slips, whereas they were not paid into our various bank accounts. “In our quest to know the cause of the staggering discrepancies between the amount of money on the pay slips and the actual amount paid into our accounts, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Education, in April, 2022 requested us to submit the said payslips and the respective bank account statements to the IPPIS unit of the ministry in order to facilitate the payments of the arrears. “The arrears were not paid despite the submission of the documents requested.” Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Dr. Mike Ene, in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, said the union was working on the matter. “We are aware of the development. We are already interfacing with the ministries involved. This initiative was brought forth by the NUT. We started it before the Ministry of Education came along and keyed into the idea. The reason we came up with the initiative was because we noticed that since the government was not employing new hands, it would not be wise to let go of old hands. “Remember that President Muhammadu Buhari made it a law in April 2022. The whole situation is unfortunate but we are working towards it to ensure that everything is resolved and the teachers are paid.” The spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong, did not respond to inquiries

  Mohammed Chris Alli, a former chief of army staff, during the regime of the late Sani Abacha, is dead. TheCable understands that Alli died on Sunday morning at a military hospital in Lagos after a brief illness. He was 78. He served as the chief of army staff from November 1993 to August 1994. He was the military governor of Plateau state between August 1985 to 1986 and was also the director of military intelligence (DMI). The late Alli hailed from Koton Karfe, Kogi state. He was among the army chiefs, like Alison-Madueke, the chief of naval staff at the time, who supported the June 12 presidential election won by the late MKO Abiola. The election was annulled by the former military President Ibrahim Babangida. In May 2004, former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as the interim administrator of Plateau after a declaration of a state of emergency amid an ethno-religious crisis in the state. He transferred power to the civilian government in November 2004. NIGERIAN ARMY MOURNS In a statement on Sunday, Taoreed Lagbaja, the chief of army staff, condoled with the family members of the late Alli. The army chief said the late former military officer showed “commitment and zeal” during service. “He served diligently in various capacities, cutting across staff, instructional and command,” Onyema Nwachukwu, the army’s director of public relations, quoted Lagbaja as saying in the statement. “The COAS Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja on receiving the disheartening news of his demise, has profoundly expressed his condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the Late former COAS, praying for the repose of his soul and the strength and solace for the family in this difficult time.”

  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Taraba State has won all the chairmanship positions at the just-concluded local government (LG) council election held in the state on Saturday. A total of six political parties contested for both chairmanship and councillorship positions in the 168 electoral wards across the 16 local government areas of the state. The Chairman of the Taraba State Independent Electoral Commission, Philip duwe, declared that the PDP won all the chairmanship positions. He, however, urged those aggrieved to approach the election petition tribunal to seek redress. While the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for total cancellation of the election over alleged irregularities, the PDP asked the APC to resolve its internal wrangling before complaining about the outcome of the poll. Our correspondent who visited some polling units in Jalingo, the state capital, showed the late arrival of election materials and low turnout of voters with some saying the process was fair and peaceful. The election followed the dissolution of the former chairmen following the expiration of their tenure and the reduction of their years of service from three to two years by the state government. Meanwhile, the state government is set to swear in the newly elected chairmen of the 16 local government areas on Monday with a view to granting fully the local government autonomy.

  An investigative panel set up by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on Sunday revealed why some health workers at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State, have been unpaid. The investigative panel, led by Dr Aderemi Azeez, found that the former Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Olumuyiwa Owojuyigbe, was involved in over-employment and job racketeering in the hospital, without provision in the personnel budget. The panel disclosed that Owojuyigbe employed over 1,973 staff in the hospital as against the 450 vacancies waiver granted in the 2022 employment by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. The PUNCH had reported that some health workers tackled the management of OAUTH for allegedly subjecting them to penury over 10 months of unpaid salaries. They lamented that they resorted to begging to feed their families due to the hardship the non-payment of salaries had subjected them to. The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, on his verified X handle @muhammadpate on October 13, however, stated that an investigation had been completed on the matter. “We are addressing the OAUTH situation. The investigation has just been completed on this unfortunate situation. We understand the difficulties being faced by numerous innocent health workers and will do our best to resolve it equitably,” the minister wrote. In a statement signed by the Director of Press at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Patricia Deworitshe, the ministry said that it waded into the matter to set the record straight. The statement titled, ‘OAUTH Ife and the unrest,’ noted that the unrest was attributed to the alleged job racketeering, and over-employment saga under Owojuyigbe, which the ministry termed “flagrant abuse of extant rules and regulations.” The statement partly read, “The hospital conducted the exercise in two phases (230 and 220) after securing the approval of the Federal Character Commission not to advertise the posts. “During the first phase, the hospital recruited 600 instead of 230, and a total of 1,823 staff members were recruited in the second phase instead of 220. “At the end of the two phases, the hospital recruited 2,423 staff instead of 450. As such, 1,973 staff members were recruited in excess of the approved waiver.” The report by the investigative panel further showed that the 450 workers waiver granted to OAUTH was for the recruitment of clinical staff, but only 55 clinical staff were employed, while others were non-clinical staff. “The outcome of the recruitment exercise also revealed that OAUTH has a staff strength of 7,279 (out of which 3,034 were clinical staff and 4,245 were non-clinical staff, this translates to a non-clinical staff ratio of approximately 1:1 instead of the recommended 3:1, that is three clinical to one non-clinical). “It further stated that many recruited staff were without requisite academic and professional certificates as well as evidence of National Youth Service Corps certificates. “Currently, Dr Owojuyigbe, who was appointed in acting capacity in March 2023, has absconded from his duty post since July 2023, while his co-culprit, Mr Balogun Tajudeen, who was the acting Director, Administration, has been suspended for their involvement in the job racketeering saga,” it added. When our correspondent asked about the fate of the workers and if they would be paid, the ministry replied, “The office of the Head of the Civil Service is investigating, as that is the only Office that grants waivers to all public institutions.”

Monday 20 November 2023 Fed Govt, IFC launch $500m renewable energy fund Shaibu dares Obaseki, joins race for governor State govts open security vote accounts with CBN Appeal Court sacks another governor Service extension: FG owes 600 teachers 23-month arrears Israel-Hamas: UN, US condemn school attack, deaths hit 14,000 Panel indicts OAUTH ex-CMD of massive job racketeering NAF bombs B’Haram commander’s hideout in Kaduna Protesting tanker drivers threaten breakaway from NUPENG Kwara police arrest suspect over poly student murder Why Judgements Sacking Govs Should Be Reviewed – Falana PDP Clears Taraba LG Poll Tinubu Arrives In Berlin For G20 ‘Compact With Africa’ Conference CJN Ariwoola To Inaugurate 58 New SANs On Nov 27 Resident Doctors Give Enugu Govt 14 Days To Employ More Personnel RECs Appointment: SERAP, BudgIT, Others Sue Tinubu Adeleke Makes U-Turn On Appointment Of Osun Chief Judge Hamas Govt Says Gaza War Death Toll Reaches 13,000 Emirates Will Soon Resume Flight Operation In Nigeria – Keyamo Job Racketeering: Ripples At Character Commission Over Reps’ Delayed Report FCT Council Vice Chair’s Dad, 6 Others Kidnapped Inflation: Declining demand triggers 20% fall in food, beverage production Valuables destroyed as fire razes parts of Shehu Shagari’s home in Sokoto NDLEA rearrests convicted drug kingpin — seven years after escape I don’t miss being president, says Buhari Concerns over Tinubu’s flurry of appointments, reversals Magu breaks silence after four years, x-rays corruption war Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…