Happenings

The Founder and Spiritual Head of Shafaudeen In Islam Worldwide, Wakajaiye, Ibadan, Nigeria, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke has charged religious leaders in Nigeria to make use of religion as a weapon of integration, unification and reformation during and after the Ramadan fast.

Prof. Olagoke gave this charge in a chat with Federationews2day.

''An area of challenge for clerics, we must use religion as a weapon to integrate, not disintegrate, to unify and to reform, in the atmosphere where the people who have must support the cause of clerics, because to reach out to millions of people, the media is essential.''

''Ramadan  fast is to reform, restrengthen and do things the right way. Our elites must come in, everywhere, we see people who have and those who do not have. We must be our brother's keeper,'' Prof. Olagoke advised

Govt. Has Failed in Its Responsibilities-AWC

Health workers in Nigeria have clarified that the ongoing   indefinite industrial action was embarked upon to compel the Federal Government to meet their demands, just as they insisted that they have no dispute with any Non Governmental Organization.

This clarification was made in a chat with Federationews2day by the spokesperson of the Oyo state council of the Joint Health Sector Union(JOHESU), Comrade Olabode Akinfenwa.

''We are not in dispute with any Non Governmental Organization(NGO), we are in dispute with the Federal Government. Also, we are not aware of the National Industrial Court Judgement. We have local issues that  are yet to be addressed by the Oyo state Government. There is preferential treatment in the health sector'', Comrade Akinfenwa noted.

In the same vein, the All Workers Convergence(AWC) has attributed the indefinite strike action embarked upon by health workers in the country to the fact that government at all levels have abandoned their responsibilities. It only shows how irresponsible government is. Is it a Non Governmental Organization(NGO) that will intervene in such a sensitive issue that has to do with  the health of Nigerians. Even the NGO cannot be trusted. It might likely have an ulterior motive. Government in Nigeria has lost its sense of Justice and equal rights''.

This position was made known by AWC's National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

''Painfully, it is the traveling out of President Muhammadu Buhari, for medical consultation to London, when the health sector has been grounded by a nation wide strike, that is making its suspension difficult, even though the President traveled out to save his life. For us, in AWC, this act is not only irresponsible, but callous'', Comrade Emelieze noted.

Members of the Ugandan Parliament have proposed the setting up of a special committee to look into the allegations of slave labour involving several girls from the country, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates(UAE).

According to    the member representing Butambala in the Parliament, Mr Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi a visit Dubai by the lawmakers of Budget Committee, exposed a labour recruitment centre, "which for all intent and purpose resembles a well-organised slave market".

Kiyumbi disclosed that when the committee visited Jaira state, it discovered girls from various countries, accommodated in several small buildings, patiently waiting to be sold to buyers with the ''highest bid''.

He also stated that the girls were being maltreated, while lamenting that 16 of them  had committed suicide between February and August 2017.

A systematic dismembering of the  manpower structure in Nigerian universities has began in earnest.

The plot engineered by some politically exposed Academics, according to investigations is designed to ease out all senior and junior staff in the universities, for the benefit of the academic staff.

If the plot sails through, the affected staff will then become the financial responsibilities of the Federal Ministry of Education.

Carefully contrived by a number of academic staff presently enjoying political patronage from high ranking political office holders, the plot will ensure that only lecturers are on the payroll of the universities.

Well informed sources, insist that senior and junior staff are to be redeployed  to the Federal Ministry of Education, while a few of them would be seconded   to the universities.

This according to the sources would pave the way for a special salary scale for the  academic staff, while salaries of the others would be determined by the government.

However, educationists warn that such a plot could destabilize the university system, just as they insisted that those behind the plot were only promoting their selfish interests.

They berated the President for engaging the services of professionals, who had already led government astray.

The Rwandan Government has  introduced Information and Communication Technology(ICT) education in schools in the country.

The policy ''smart class rooms" seeks  to incorporate ICT into various aspects of the country's education system and reform teaching and learning systems.

According to the Director General of Rwandan Education Board(REB),  Dr Irénée Ndayambaje, who made this known , recently, in  a training session for teachers on the use of ICT in schools in Kigali, the policy is also intended to  integrate technology in all education processes such as preparation, delivery of lessons, assessments, research among others.

He stressed that the  target is to have  1,500 schools equipped with smart classrooms. Presently, only 645 schools are equipped in the country.

Families in East Africa will for sometime contend with high food prices as a result of flooding, pests and diseases.

This is contained in the  monthly update by the Food Security Working Group on the Greater Horn.  

The update disclosed that families  in Rwanda, Karamoja of Uganda, Burundi, Somalia and Sudan which  depend on markets for food, will have to put up with the soaring prices of foodstuffs.

"Above average staple food prices will continue eroding the purchasing power of poor market-dependent households in Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan, which are heading into a lean season," the report stated.

The past week maize traded at $402.14 per tonne in Kisumu, Kenya, $319 in Ruhuha, Rwanda and $ 271.02 in Kabale town, Uganda.

However, in the last six months  a tonne of maize traded at $540.28 in Ruhuha, $279.38 in Uganda and $443.04 in Nairobi. In Burundi, only 60 per cent of households have food.