Courts in Kogi on Monday resumed work after four months of
strike embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria
(JUSUN) .
The strike was over non-payment of salaries and non-release of
subvention to the Judiciary.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja, the
State Chairman of JUSUN, Emmanuel Waniko said the reopening was
sequel to the suspension of the strike on the orders of the
National Judicial Commission (NJC).
“As you must have heard, the NJC in its quest to resolve the
impasse, sent a sub-committee to the state and, among other things,
to wade into the matter with the view for amicable resolution.
“Various mediators, including the Kogi State Elders Forum,
Traditional Rulers, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
Jama’atu Nasir Islam and other Government Representative agents,
waded into it, but could not resolve it as the union and the
government could not reach consensus,” he said.
He said that the NJC sub-committee among others, directed that
the strike embarked upon on the 1Dec. 11, 2018 by JUSUN members, be
suspended to give room for further deliberation.
Mr Williams Aliwo, a legal practitioner and former chairman of
the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Lokoja branch, described the
suspension as a big relief for inmates, police, judiciary, lawyers
and the society.
“There are many people in prison that are not supposed to be
there till now.
“Many are being kept in police custody because the offences for
which they were arrested are not ordinarily bailable.
“They are supposed to arraign them in court. Keeping custody of
such people is certainly costly for the police and the prisons.
“The re-opening of the courts is a big relief for us all,” he
said.
Mohammed Abaji, also a legal practitioner, expressed delight
that the courts had finally reopened, adding that staff were all in
their various offices on Monday morning preparing the courts for
normal sittings.
Abaji expressed the hope that necessary committees for data
capturing would be put in place for commencement of payment of
salary arrears to the Judiciary staff within the week.
Mr Saeed Saqeeb, Information Officer for the state Judiciary,
told NAN that the entire Judiciary in the state had reopened.
“We are now waiting for them (Executive) to decide the modality
for resolution of the impasse.
“We have taken the first step in line with the directive of the
NJC,” he said. (NAN)
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ICT: FG Engages Academia, Stakeholders for Innovation
In its quest to foster rapid revolution, innovation, industrial
growth, and sustainable development in the Nigerian ICT sector, the
Federal Government says it is facilitating greater linkages between
the Academia, stakeholders in the ICT sector and the international
telecommunication union (ITU) for cordial collaboration to attain
the nation’s (ICT) set goals and objectives.
Minister of communications, Dr. Adebayo Shittu, who was
represented by Technical Assistant to the Permanent Secretary, Dr.
Patricks Oghuma disclosed this while addressing participants at the
international conference on Information Technology in Education and
Development (ITED-2019) with the theme “Advancing the Capacities of
Information Technology professionals for Rapid National
Development”, held at Baze University, Abuja.
He said, “We count on the continued engagements of the private
sector and interest groups of ICT professionals to support the
economic policies of this administration. Our destiny with regards
to national development are in our own hands as ICT
professionals”.
Dr. Shittu maintains that the Ministry of Communications will
ensure Nigeria continues its good work within the ITU and also
ensure her interests in relation to the national ICT policy is
protected and enhanced which explains why it has identified the
need to collaborate with academia in the area of research and
national development.
He charged the Academia to undertake focused research, targeted
at solving specific problems, leveraging on its huge students
/talents capacity, adding that they should let the outcome of their
research findings are relevant and useful for the market and
national development in the long run.
The Minister Regretted that these days, universities are being
evaluated based on the number of papers they write and publish
rather than on practical knowledge and result oriented techniques
that companies need.
He described the “mathematics-based science” as a mismatch,
stating that the trend must be changed in tandem with the creative
economic paradigm of the 21st century.
He assures that his Ministry would not rest on its oars to
rejuvenate its mandate by ensuring ICT professionals are always
consulted and engaged, as well as liaise with research think tanks,
relevant scholarly communities for national development.
Highlighting the significance of the conference, the President,
Academic Information Technology Professionals (AITP), Prof. A..A
Obiniyi said the aim of AITP is to enhance quality education and
ensure high impact research in computer science, information
technology and related disciplines, with interest in use of
information technology to enhance national development
He pointed out that the time has come for Nigeria to set a pace
for the establishment of professionalism in the IT, teaching and
related discipline and must therefore brainstorm on how to put
Nigeria on the global map by looking into what we have to get what
we need.
According to him, “we need to explore a new, innovative and
emerging form of research emanating from our laboratories which can
bring to bearing local contents”.