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El-Rufai Fires Nurses For Joining Strike
Strong Head Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai yesterday raised the number of retrenched workers with the sack of all nurses below Grade Level 14.
El-Rufai, who is embroiled in a disagreement with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the earlier sack of over 45,000 workers, also threatened to dismiss the state university lecturers for being sympathetic to the ongoing five-day warning strike by Labour.
He also declared NLC President Ayuba Wabba and other union leaders wanted for what he called economic sabotage and attacks on public infrastructure.
But, Wabba dared the governor, saying:”We are here and waiting for them. The protest is not about him(El-Rufai) but about the welfare of the generality of workers.”
The Federal Government has, however, intervened to avoid further escalation of the crisis.
Labour and Employment Minister, Chris Ngige made this known in Abuja.
Labour on Sunday night commenced the warning strike to get the El-Rufai government to reverse the mass retrenchment and prevent its planned further dismissal of 11, 000 more civil servants.
But the governor, who insisted in a statement that he would not make a U-turn on the sacked workers, said he had ordered an advertisement for applicants that will replace the nurses.
The statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, did not indicate the number of the affected nurses.
He was, however, explicit that three nurses at the Barau Teaching Hospital, who allegedly disconnected oxygen supply to a two-day-old in an incubator on Monday would be prosecuted.
El-Rufai, who described Wabba and the other union leaders as bandits, said it was heart-wrenching that the nurses could engage in sabotaging some of the state’s health facilities.
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CELEBRATING A CENTURY-OLD CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR TRAJECTORY IN NIGERIA
This week, millions of Nigerians and others across the globe will join the Ministry of Aviation and Space Development under the irrepressible leadership of the Honourable Minister, Festus Keyamo(SAN),and all the notable Aviation sector stakeholders in and outside the country,in celebrating a century of Nigeria’s civil aviation history.
There is no doubt that under the present leadership of the Honourable Minister and within the short spell of time in his stewardship,he has consciously and intentionally embarked on a “silent revolution” for the industry with very veritable and laudable landmarks that have consistently grown the industry.
Some of these spirited efforts for instance have consequently led to trust restoration amongst international lessors, financier,any global partners.Of note also is assidiously working for the full domestication and implementation of the “Cape Town Convention Agreement” ,which gives Airlines access to modern fleets of competitive rates as well as enforcement of IDERA(Irrevocable Deregulation and Export Request Authorization).
Having well applauded these vital contemporary initiatives,it will also be germane to cast our minds in retrospect by taking a peep into our history over several decades to recognise some of the notable forebears in the industry whose impressionabl efforts cannot be overlooked,as they took the impetuous initiatives of breaking the ice at the nascent stage.
It will aptly corroborate the truism which says that… ” a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”.
The above is vividly captured from a tribute by the First Republic Minister of Aviation Chief Mbazulike Amaechi at the funeral of late Igwe of Oba,HRH Peter Ezenwa(MFR) in 2018.
It states inter alia…”One significant thing I will say many people didn’t know is that the first indigenous airline that was to run in Nigeria was known as “STANDARD AIRLINE”.It was founded in 1966 by a company formed by Igwe Peter Ezenwa from Oba,and had on board,John Nwankwu from Abagana,Edward Ebo from Ezinifitte,(all from Anambra state),John Anyaehie from Nkwerre in Imo state,and lastly my very self Mbazulike Amaechi.
The five of us later acquired two brand new aircrafts,and had four pilots,namely;Unachievable,John Emma Ngwu and Felix Offor,who was to be the General Manager of the airline.
But just about the time for the take-off the crisis of the military takeover erupted in the North as the planes were on their way for delivery to us.In fact the bank handling the transaction was to allow the planes to be flown from the USA,but the news of the war broke out in 1967,the insurance company cabled for the cancellation of the deal as they will not be able to cover the risk cost of aircrafts being flown into war zone.
So,we asked the manufacturers to take the two aircrafts back to their country and hold on for six months with the hope of that the war will end within the requested time frame,but the war didn’t end as thought.We consequently asked for refund and they deducted some money and refunded the balance which was deposited at the London branch of African Continental Bank(ACB).
When the government took over the operations of ACB,we still hoped for the refund but unfortunately were disappointed that the Federal government took over the whole money and we lost everything.”
Further in line with our historical perspective,it will also be pertinent some of the later years reformists in the likes of Engr Onyereri and Harold Demuren who advertently sponsored some far reaching regulations that eventually steered the industry towards greater autonomy with the passage of the 2005 Civil Aviation Act,which I was also a prime participant of in my capacity as an Aviation sub chair in then House of Representatives.
As we mark this great century milestone,and with the clear evidential pathway set out by the current managers of the industry under the indomitable leadership of Honourable Minister, I do not see the sky posing any limitations as they say,but rather availing new vistas of limitless growth opportunities.
CONGRATULATIONS.
Hon Chidi Nwogu
Former member House of Representatives & presently Governing Council member
,African Aviation and Aerospace University,Abuja.
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