Umar Namadi, governor of Jigawa, says the planned nationwide protest is not the solution to the country’s economic hardship. The governor implored Nigerians to seek divine intervention instead. The protest is reportedly slated for August 1 to 15. Speaking on Monday during a town hall with 27 groups in Dutse, Namadi urged the protesters to have a rethink. Some of the groups who participated in the meeting, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), reportedly distanced themselves from the proposed protest. The governor expressed regret over the economic hardship and urged the public to view their predicament as “a trial from God”. “But, protest is not the solution,” NAN quoted Namadi as saying. “There are many ways people could express their grievances; people are at liberty to display their grievances through protest under democratic dispensation, but that is not the most effective way to address the problems. “The protest alone will not provide the solutions; people should turn to God, repent, seek for forgiveness and divine intervention on the challenges.” Namadi added that federal and sub-national governments have been providing foodstuffs and cash to cushion the hardship. Tijjani Abdullahi, commissioner of police in Jigawa, advised those who are insisting on the protest to have a “second thought”. “The security agencies in the state are combat ready to deal with anyone who wants to breach public peace and order,” Abdullahi warned.

  President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday transmitted a national minimum wage bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage. The President separately wrote the Senate and the House of Representatives requesting expedited consideration of a bill for an Act to amend the National Minimum Wage Act, 2019 to increase the National Minimum Wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000. The President also asked the lawmakers to reduce the time for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years and related matters. The President and the leadership of the Organised Labour had last Thursday agreed on ₦70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers. Information Minister Mohammed Idris had said “the new national minimum that Mr President is expected to submit to the National Assembly is ₦70,000”. The truce between the government and labour sides followed a series of talks between labour leaders and the President in the last few weeks after months of failed talks between labour organs and a tripartite committee on minimum wage constituted by the President in January. The committee, which comprised state and federal governments and the Organised Private Sector, had proposed ₦62,000 while labour insisted on ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage for workers who currently earn ₦30,000 as minimum wage.   Labour had said ₦30,000 was unsustainable for any worker going by the economic vagaries of inflation and high cost of living which followed the removal of petrol subsidy by the President. Despite its initial insistence on ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage, Labour accepted the President’s offer of ₦70,000 last Thursday. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said Labour accepted ₦70,000 and rejected a proposal by President Bola Tinubu to pay ₦250,000 minimum wage on a condition to increase petrol prices. He also said Labour agreed to the ₦70,000 offer because minimum wage won’t be reviewed once in five years anymore but once every three years. The transmission of the wage bill came about six weeks after the President said in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, that an executive bill on the new national minimum wage for workers would be sent to the National Assembly for passage.

  The death toll from a landslide in southern Ethiopia has risen to at least 146, a local official said Tuesday, warning that the number could rise. The landslide occurred around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) on Monday following heavy rains in a mountainous area of South Ethiopia regional state. The last toll given was 55. “The number of dead from the sudden landslide that happened in Geze-Gofa district of Gofa zone has passed 146,” a statement from the Gofa zone Communications Affairs Department said, quoting local official Habtamu Fetena. Habtamu said the bodies of 96 men and 50 women had been found, adding that the search was “continuing vigorously” and warning that the number of dead could increase. THE LOUNGE: Engaged To A Girl I Gang-R?ped In School – Should I Confess My Involvement0.00 / 0.00 Images shared on Facebook by the state-affiliated media outlet Fana Broadcasting Corporate on Monday showed hundreds of people near a devastating scene of tumbled red soil. The photographs showed people using their bare hands to dig through the dirt in search of survivors. Gofa zone is roughly 450 kilometres (270 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa, a drive of about 10 hours, and located north of the Maze National Park. The South Ethiopia regional state has been battered by the short seasonal rains between April and early May that have caused flooding and mass displacement, according to the UN’s humanitarian response agency OCHA. AFP

  Tuesday 23 July 2024 Fuel crisis: Marketers project N700bn monthly subsidy Buy me out, Dangote offers to sell refinery to NNPC My friend who warned against investing in Nigeria now taunting me – Dangote Court declines to bar Fubara from spending state funds Electricity: Why systems collapse won’t end soon — Investigation Ohanaeze Ndigbo tackles Bayo Onanuga over his alleged hatred for Igbo North ranks high in poverty, illiteracy, insecurity — ACF FG moves to resolve crude supply dispute with Dangote refinery Edun, FIRS boss defend move to tax banks’ windfall Again, Reps beg Nigerian youths to shelve proposed nationwide protest How Tinubu can avert August 1 nationwide protest – Ajaero 2024 UTME result slips available for printing — JAMB Trump’s Age, Fitness Arguments Backfire With Biden Exit Saboteurs Threatening To Destabilise Petroleum Sector, Says Akpabio Fake Kidnapping: Court Upholds Conviction Of Dethroned Baale Of Shangisha, Magodo Amaewhule-Led Rivers Lawmakers Seek Arrest Of Caretaker Chairmen Tinubu Appoints John Obafunwa As NIMR DG Peter Obi Calls For Urgent Action Over Economic Crisis Democrats Search For New 2024 Candidate After Biden’s Exit Enugu Security Council Warns Sit-At-Home Promoters Obaseki: If Edo guber poll isn’t free and fair, it would trigger crisis in Nigeria A’court affirms death sentence on Danish man over murder of Nigerian wife Orji Kalu seeks part-time legislature to ‘cut cost of governance’ Prison Escapee Who Masterminded General’s Murder Nabbed Trying To Flee Nigeria Shun protest, ACF, Ohanaeze tell youths Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…

  One year after a coup in Niger, ousted president Mohamed Bazoum is still being held under strict detention in Niamey by the ruling military — and the prospect of a looming trial worries those close to him. Bazoum was overthrown on July 26, 2023 by General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of his presidential guard. Elected in 2021, he has never resigned and still claims to be president of the Sahelian country. – What are his detention conditions? – Since the coup, Mohamed Bazoum and his wife, Hadiza, have been held at the presidential palace in Niamey. His last public appearance was on August 19, 2023 when national television footage showed him on the steps of the residence during a visit by a Nigerian mediator. Conditions have since tightened, with the military accusing him in October of attempting to escape — a claim disputed by his lawyers. Bazoum’s phone has been taken and only his doctor can visit him, twice a week. Despite the harsh conditions, Bazoum remains steadfast. “According to him, they are physically fine. Their spirits are very high. The president is committed to continuing his resistance,” his communications advisor, Hamid N’Gade, told AFP. “He is a man of conviction and a staunch republican. Resigning makes no sense to him.” A source close to him praised Bazoum as a symbol of courage and democracy, adding that Bazoum “could have resigned, gone back to his children, but he didn’t do that”. In January, his son Salem Bazoum, who had been detained with his parents, was provisionally released and left the country for Togo. – What are the military accusing him of? – The Court of Justice of regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ordered Bazoum’s release in mid-December, but the ruling has not been honoured. Niger has since withdrawn from ECOWAS, and last month the Court of State — created by the ruling military — lifted Bazoum’s presidential immunity. Bazoum, who has had no contact with his lawyers, faces charges of “conspiracy to attack the security and authority of the state” and “treason.” He is accused of telephoning French President Emmanuel Macron and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to enlist their support for armed intervention during the coup. “This court has no legitimacy. These people were appointed by a putschist who was never sworn in,” said Mohamed Seydou Diagne, one of Bazoum’s lawyers. – Will he be tried? – The lifting of his immunity opens the door to a trial, although no date has yet been set. And the ensuing sentences could be very severe. “The crime of treason carries the death penalty, death by shooting, which is still in force in Niger even though it has not been carried out for thirty years,” said Moussa Coulibaly, former president of the Niger Bar Association and Bazoum’s lawyer. “And for plotting against the authority of the state, it’s life imprisonment.” A trial could allow Bazoum to speak publicly for the first time since the coup. “This is an exceptional jurisdiction that does not meet any of the fundamental guarantees of the right to a fair trial,” said Diagne. “We do not accept sham trials,” he added. “It will only be a parody of justice, a continuation of what they have started. They are determined to convict him at all costs,” added Oumar Moussa, his deputy chief of staff. – Who are his supporters? – In the first weeks after the coup, many Western leaders called for his immediate release. ECOWAS imposed heavy economic sanctions to pressure the Niamey ruling military and even threatened military intervention to restore Bazoum to power. But the intervention never took place and the sanctions were lifted in February. In recent months there have been few international calls for Bazoum’s release. “He is under unacceptable pressure from the junta, which has taken him hostage. We are worried about the lifting of his immunity and the legal sham that is likely to follow,” said a French diplomatic source contacted by AFP. “We have no comment (on Bazoum’s situation), we do not interfere in the political decisions of our member states,” a spokesman for the International Monetary Fund, whose aid to Niger has resumed, told AFP. Rebel movements in Niger demanding his return to power have recently claimed responsibility for attacks on a major oil pipeline.   AFP