The picketing of the Office of the Head of Service in Cross River State by the organized labour over alleged insistence that directors must pay N25,000 examination fee before they are promoted to permanent secretaries is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Vanguard reports that the Organised Labour in Cross River State has picketed the office of the Head of Service over her alleged insistence that Directors must pay 25,000 naira examination fee before they are promoted to permanent Secretaries.
Members of the various Unions comprising NLC,TUC and Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, NJC carried placards with inscriptions like “The HoS must go”, “HoS must refund 25,000 naira collected from Directors illegally ” “HoS don’t run down Cross River Civil Servants ” amongst others
Vanguard gathered that the directors numbering about 275 were mandated to pay the fees or they would not be promoted and about 150 of them have already paid the N25,000,
Speaking with Vanguard during the picketing exercise, Raymond Akan Chairman, Nigeria Civil Service Union said they have written series of letters to the Head of Service but she was bent on carrying out her directives.
According to him, about 150 have already paid the money and at the moment there are only 10 openings for permanent Secretaries as at today (Monday).
The Trade Union Congress Chairman in the state, Monday Ogbodum said the situation was an unfortunate one, adding that even many of the directors who were promoted as far back as 2016 was merely on paper as the promotion has not been implemented till date.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has described the recent compromise of the security at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Afaka, Kaduna State, by gunmen as a worrisome dimension to insecurity in the country.
It called on the government at all levels to be more proactive and creative in tackling insecurity, and also in carrying out their constitutional duty of securing life and property in the country.
The NGE has also announced that its 17th All Nigerian Editors Conference (ANEC) will hold on October 21 and 22, 2021 in Abuja, focusing on the current security challenges in the nation, with a theme “Media In Times of Crisis: Resolving Conflict, Achieving Consensus.”
In a communique announcing the decisions reached by the Standing Committee in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital signed by the President, Mustapha Isah and the General Secretary, Iyobosa Uwugiaren, the Guild acknowledged efforts by the government to achieve better results in tackling the nation’s security challenges but said much more need to be done.
According to the Guild: “We acknowledge efforts by the federal government to achieve better results in tackling the nation’s security challenges, but the August 24 compromise of the security of the Nigerian Defence Academy in Afaka, Kaduna State, by gunmen is a worrisome dimension to insecurity.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government has implemented a 7.5 percent tax on imported Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly called cooking gas, as the cost of the commodity leap by over 100 percent within a period of eight months.
It was gathered on Sunday that the government implemented the VAT on LPG imports about three weeks ago and some dealers were also mandated to pay the tax for commodities imported several months ago.
Operators told our correspondent that Nigeria imports about 70 per cent of the commodity, while the rest was mainly supplied by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company.
It was also gathered that the cost of a 12.5kg of cooking gas that sold for about N3,500 in December 2020 had jumped to as high as N6,800 in parts of Abuja. A resident along the Lagos-Ibadan road said she bought the commodity on Sunday at N7,200 in Lagos, as dealers projected that the cost might hit N10,000 in December this year.
The newspaper says that the Dangote Industries Limited has said its $2bn petrochemical plant in Lagos is designed to produce 77 different high-performance grades of polypropylene in the country.
The company said in a statement on Sunday that with a turnover of $1.2bn, the plant, situated alongside the Dangote Refinery, had been strategically positioned to cater to the demands of the growing plastic processing downstream industries in Africa and other parts of the world.
The Group Executive Director, Strategy, Capital Projects and Portfolio Development Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, said the plant would drive investment in the downstream industry, generate huge value addition, create jobs, increase tax revenues, reduce foreign exchange outflow and increase the Gross Domestic Product of the country.
Edwin, while giving an update on the plant in Lagos, was quoted as saying the petrochemical plant would reduce the demand for foreign exchange from the nation’s treasury to import petrochemical by-products.
He said, “We are thinking of adding polyethylene products at a later stage. We have 77 types of polypropylene, which can go for different uses that we can produce from our petrochemical plant.”
The Sun reports that the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mele Kyari, has said that Nigeria’s oil and gas industry recorded $3 billion investment in five years.
Kyari stated this when he featured on a live television programme Good Morning Nigeria on Nigerian Television Authority(NTA) in Abuja, yesterday.
Kyari said of the $50 billion global oil and investment, Nigerian was only able to attract $3 billion, assuring that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) will further aid the country’s investment climate as more investors will now have confidence in the sector.
Kyari argued that the negative trend witnessed over the past years whereby Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) continues to elude the country will now become a thing of the past as the PIA will return investors confidence.
He said the PIA will eventually attract investments into the country because it has a regulatory framework that will ensure that gas development is focused on so that it is able to create prosperity for Nigerians.
ThisDay says that the federal government has stated that the strategic objectives of Nigeria’s participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is to capture 10 percent of Africa’s imports as well as to double the country’s export revenue by 2035.
In addition, the government said it aims to become “the preferred supplier of value-added products and services to Africa.”
These were disclosed by the Secretary of the National Action Committee on AfCFTA, Mr. Francis Anatogu, during a seminar organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) with the theme: “AfCFTA:
The Roadmap for Exporters Successful Participation.” He said the strategic objective would be achieved by growing export capacity of every state in the country to $1.2 billion as well as by focusing on specific product/service chains.
Nigeria would also, “grow local demand for new Made-in Nigeria automobiles to 200,000 units and local content to 40 per cent over five years,” he said.
GIK/APA