U-Report: Imo Assembly Speaker Intervenes In Minimum Wage Strike Action

Speaker Benjamin Uwajimogu

 Reported By: Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha(Special Adviser on Media to Speaker)
 
The on-going strike action in Imo State embarked upon by the Nigerian labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), Imo State branches for one week may now be a thing of the past.

The Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly,  Rt. Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu stepped in to resolve the crisis which has crippled  civil service activities in the past one week.

In a meeting held at the Assembly Conference Hall on the 23^rd September 2011,Speaker Uwajumogu  thanked the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress Imo State branches for the mature manner they conducted themselves throughout the negotiation process.  Rt.Hon. Uwajumogu who was represented at the meeting by Hon Brother Stan Dara(member representing Orsu constituency ),declared that Gov. Rochas Okorocha was the first Governor to accept the payment of N18,000 minimum wage because He (Gov. Rochas  Okorocha) knew that civil servants deserve better treatment. Uwajumogu therefore pleaded with the labour unions to allow government to work out modalities on how to handle the minimum wage issue by calling off the strike action, saying that the Government and the  people are the losers of the indefinite strike action .

‘’We have had an executive  session on how to tackle this problem and by the grace of God , Imo State will wriggle out of this  N18,000 wage bill problem. This is a listening Government. The Governor means well for this state. The Imo State House of Assembly will assist to solve this problem and we have the capacity to do so. Please I plead with you to call off the strike’’,  the Speaker pleaded.

News Report: Nigerian Army Arrest Man With Alleged Harmful Materials

Authorities at the headquarters of the Amphibious Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt yesterday arrested a man they said was suspected to be in possession of harmful materials.

The unnamed man was reported to be attempting to drive into the barrack, famously known as Bori Camp. The barrack also serves as the headquarters of the Joint Security Task force (JTF), an adhoc security outfit comprising the Army, Navy, Air force, Police and the State Security Service (SSS).

Brigade spokesperson, Major Aminu Iliyasu told the media that "The man is in our custody and we are still investigating."

"Disclosure of the identity of the suspect, items found and where he comes from will surely jeopardise investigations for now." Major Iliyasu opined further.

chidi opara reports have however gathered that the suspect is a middle aged man from one of the states in northern Nigeria.

There have been fears of attack on Port Harcourt and other major cities in the oil rich Niger Delta region by the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

Bori Camp has a high percentage of civilian residents, especially in its two mammy markets. Most civilian residents are petty traders, artisans and technicians, who could not afford to pay the exobitant rents charged in the Rivers State capital city.

Civilian residents were expelled in 2006 when the Movement For The Emancipation Of Niger Delta(MEND) exploded a bomb in the barrack. The civilians, chidi opara reports learned, returned when the barrack authorities pressured the Army authorities to rescind the expulsion order “because of the money they collect from civilians as pass”.

Military personnel in Port Harcourt have been known to indulge in indiscriminate arrests of civilians on flimsy reasons, whom they always refuse to hand over to the Police and some of whom they put through series of torture to extract confessions for serious offences not committed.