Okada Riders Sue Edo Govt Over Ban

Commercial motorcycle operations, commonly called Okada in Edo State, have dragged the state government before a Federal High Court sitting in Benin City, challenging the recent ban on their operations by the state government.
It will be recalled that the Okada operators were recently banned from operating in three local government areas in Benin
metropolis.
They are contending in the suit that the ban constituted a violation of their rights to fair hearing and freedom of movement as guaranteed by the Constitution of Nigeria as amended and Articles 7 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Act,
Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
The Okada operators in the suit by their counsel, Mr Dele Igbinedion, described the ban on their operations by the state government as unconstitutional and illegal.
Plaintiff, Mr. Charles James on behalf of himself and others is contending that the governor does not have powers to verbally ban Nigerians from using their validly
licensed motorcycles; neither can he make laws nor abrogate existing Road Traffic Laws.
In a 24-paragraph affidavit, he averred that Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s verbal ban impliedly cancels his licences, all duly obtained and still valid, adding that the duty of the governor, “is to execute laws validly made by the state House of Assembly,” insisting that the threat to confiscate and
destroy his Okada with valid registration number QC 093 GBZ, was ultra vires.
The applicant is therefore, praying the court to perpetually restrain the respondents by themselves, agents, servants or privies, howsoever, from carrying out the orders of the governor in the affected local government areas.
He also want the court to set aside
Oshiomhole’s verbal ban on the use of motorcycles from plying all roads in the three affected councils, which took effect from
Sunday, June 16, 2013 and N50million as damages against the respondents as general and or exemplary damages/compensation for the breach of his fundamental rights.

Source: www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/okada-riders-sue-edo-govt-over-ban/

Govt Merges EFCC, ICPC; Scraps BPE, NAPEP, Six Other Agencies

The Nigerian government appears set to scrap
at least eight federal agencies, commissions,
and parastatals out of about 220 recommended
for abolition in the report of the Stephen
Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on the
Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal
Government Parastatals, Commissions and
Agencies, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
As part of the rationalisation, the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission and the
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Commission are to be merged into a
single entity.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that a White Paper on
the Orosanye-committee report was
extensively discussed in at least three
meetings of the Executive Council of the
Federation, otherwise known as FEC.
As part of the deliberations on the report, a
review committee on the draft White Paper,
chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan,
approved that some agencies be either scrapped
completely or merged with those performing
similar functions.
PREMIUM TIMES findings reveal eight of those
agencies.
The agencies to be scrapped completely include
the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE); Fiscal
Responsibility Commission (FRC); Nigeria Export
Promotion Council (NEPC); National Salaries,
Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC);
National Poverty Eradication programme
(NAPEP); Utilities Charges Commission (UCC);
the National Economic Intelligence Committee
(NEIC) and the Public Complaints Commission
(PCC).
Affected Agencies
Bureau of Public Enterprises
The BPE was established with the mandate of
implementing the Nigerian government policy on
privatization and commercialization and
preparing public enterprises for privatization
and commercialization.
The government has already “directed that a
“Sunset Clause” should be introduced to the
BPE to conclude its assignment and wound
down,” according to the review committee’s
conclusion.
This implies that the BPE would wind up once it
concludes its assignment of privatization of
public enterprises.
Fiscal Responsibility Commission
Another agency that has been recommended to
be scrapped is the Fiscal Responsibility
Commission, FRC, which was established to help
monitor government financial activities and
enthrone a regime of prudent, ethical and
effective management of public monies and
resources by the tiers of government.
Already, the Jonathan-headed review
committee has directed the Attorney General
and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, to
initiate the necessary actions to give effect to
the decision to abolish the FRC.
A third agency that could be scrapped is the
Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC)
established in 1977 to help minimize the
bureaucratic bottlenecks and increase
autonomy in dealing with members of the
organised private sector to promote the export
of Nigerian goods and commodities.
The fourth agency that may be scrapped is the
National Salaries, Incomes and Wages
Commission (NSIWC), which was established by
Act 99 of 1993 charged with the responsibility
of managing all issues pertaining to
compensation and renumeration in the the
public service.
National Poverty Eradication Programme
(NAPEP), which the committee said might be
scrapped, was conceived in 2001 by the Federal
Government to help address poverty in the
country and related issues, while the Utilities
Charges Commission (UCC) was established to
help evaluate trends in tariff charged to
provide the government with information
relating to the scheduled utilities and their
tariff charges.
The other agencies that might be affected
include National Economic Intelligence
Committee (NEIC), which was established to
serve as a vehicle for effective monitoring of
the implementation of government’s national
economic policies and programmes for the
overall development of the country, while the
Public Complaints Commission (PCC) was
established to help bridge the gap between the
elite and the down-trodden in the society.
Under the new arrangement, the NEPC will
merge with the Nigerian Investment Promotions
Commission (NIPC), which is currently domiciled
in the Presidency, while the new organization
will relocate to the Federal Ministry of Trade
and Investment for effective synergy and
utilization of resources.
Similarly, the PCC is to merge with the National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC, which is
currently performing the PCC functions, while
the enabling Act establishing the PCC is to be
removed from the Constitution of the Federal
Republic through the amendment of sections
153 and 315.
The law establishing the NSIWC is to be
repealed to give effect to the transfer of the
agency to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation
and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), while the
functions of NAPEP are to be merged with the
National directorate of Employment (NDE).
Civil servants on the staff of the UCC, which is
to be scrapped, have been directed to be
redeployed to the Office of the Head of Civil
Service of the Federation.
On the other hand, parastatals, commissions
and agencies the presidential review committee
accepted should be retained include the Code of
Conduct Bureau (CCB); Council of States (COS);
Federal Character Commission FCC); Federal
Civil Service Commission (FCSC); Federal
Judicial Service Commission (FJSC);
Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC); National Defence Council (NDC);
National Economic Council (NEC); National
Judicial Council (NJC), National Population
Commission (NPC); National Security Council
(NSC); Nigeria Police Council (NPC) and the
Police Service Commission PSC), whose law is to
be amended to make the Minister of Police
Affairs its head.
Other agencies and parastatals to be retained
include Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP);
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Code of
Conduct Tribunal (CCT); Infrastructure
Concessionary & Regulatory Commission (ICRC);
National Pension Commission (PENCOM);
Ministry of Special Duties; National Sports
Commission (NSC); National Institute for
Sports (NIS); Nigeria Football Federation /
Nigeria Football Association (NFA), whose
enabling law is to be amended to reflect the
directive by the Federation of International
Football Association (FIFA) that the
organization should be named a federation.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is to
be retained, but with a new structure to
reflect a framework to cover critical areas of
national socio-economic development that corps
members should be deployed for their primary
assignments, while the Citizenship and
Leadership Training Centre would focus on the
promotion of moral values and ethical re-
orientation among Nigerians.
The Council for Registered Engineers (COREN)
and the Surveyors Registration Council (SRC)
are to be retained, although they would
henceforth not receive budgetary allocations
from government from the 2015 fiscal year,
while the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency
(FERMA) and the Federal Highway department
of the Federal Ministry of Works are to be
transformed into an inter-ministerial
department after the amendment of their
enabling laws.
The Committee also approved the retention of
the Office of the Surveyor General of the
Federation (OSGOF); National Boundaries
Commission (NBC); Border Communities
Development Agency (BCDA) which is to be
relocated to the Presidency; National Institute
of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS);
National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA); National Commission for refugees
(NCR); Debt Management Office (DMO); Niger
Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), National
Planning Commission (NPC); National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS); Centre for Management
Development (CMD); National Institute of Social
and Economic Research (NISER) and the National Identity Management Commission
(NIMC).
The committee also resolved to retain the
Nigeria National Merit Award (NNMA); the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD);
the National Agency for the Control of HIV/
AIDS (NACA); Nigerian Christian Pilgrims
Commission (NCPC); National Lottery
Regulatory Commission (NLRC); National
Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF); Service Compact
with all Nigerians (SERVICOM), Nigeria
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
(NEITI); National Centre for Women
Development (NCWD), and Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC).
The government had earlier announced that
some unproductive research institutes would be
scrapped while some others would be merged
with relevant research units in universities.

Source:  http://premiumtimesng.com/news/140067-govt-merges-efcc-icpc-scraps-bpe-napep-six-other-agencies.html

Public universities lecturers begin strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has resumed the strike it suspended in January 2011
following alleged failure by the Federal Government to implement the agreement it reached with the public universities lecturers.
ASUU National President, Dr. Nasir Isa, said the action though painful would be total, comprehensive and last for as long as the Federal Government implement the details of
the Memorandum of Understanding both parties
signed in 2011.

Samsung Galaxy Note III rumored for September 4th debut

Phablet fans wondering when the next flagship phone from the company that started it all might debut now have a possible answer. According to a report from Android Geeks that cites an unnamed source, Samsung is planning to hold one of its customary “Unpacked” press conferences on September 4th in Berlin, Germany to unveil the
Galaxy Note III. If the report is accurate, Samsung’s event would come just two days before the start of the annual IFA trade show in Berlin, where Samsung unveiled the first two generations of its Galaxy Note smartphone. Numerous earlier reports have suggested that Samsung’s Galaxy Note III will launch in September this year, and the
phone is said to feature a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, a full HD Super AMOLED display measuring between 5.7 and 6 inches diagonally, a 13-megapixel camera, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and improved S Pen support.

Top 4 Time Management Android Apps to Help Your Daily Life

With all discuss about how technology creates daily life less difficult and easier, many people ignore that technology also gives many disruptions also. With much social activity and conversation on the Web and so lots of time-consuming disruptions accessible on mobile devices nowadays, it’s simple to get drop concentrate of your targets and projects. Fortunately, there are digital methods and assists that work to avoid you from dropping observe of your responsibilities. Here are four outstanding and free apps that Android based mobile users can try in get to manage their time extra effectively and improve common efficiency.

PlanMyDay
This activity manager is extremely engage for being a free of charge application. It not only permits you to handle your projects based to when you really need to do them, but it also permits you to observe which projects are most essential and immediate. Thus, this application actually lets you evaluate your obligations and handle them, specifically in case you have various critical tasks to take care around the same time. Another great thing about PlanMyDay is that it is simply included with other expert services like Google Projects and your mobile device’s calendar, in order that you can simply transfer your activities and monitor your ideas.

Astrid Tasks
Listed here is a time managing application that serves as you've your own individual associate within your smart phone. The producers of Astrid Tasks recognize that the most significant part of time control is being arrang. That is the applications major reason; it enables you to manage yourself in the easiest way achievable to put yourself in the place of being as efficient as achievable. Using Astrid you can make reminders for significant dates, create concern details and even make subtasks in case you prefer to actually get into information. The application instantly synchs to a cloud server offered for free by Astrid.com so that you'll often have accessibility to your time control assists.

Any.DO
As soon as you get to examine out Any.DO in its whole, you will most likely be thinking how it is capable to be a free application. This task manager is very extensive and the quantity of functions it has for a free app is genuinely amazing.

Cloud Syn
Cloud syn is of course involved in the services, and it even functions factors like speech popularity and auto finish choices for reoccurring projects. The most effective factor about it is that it is very simple regardless of being so bundled full of functions.

Chronos
This application is a tiny difficult and in some cases it doesn’t perform completely, but the
concept is very great. Chronos utilizes your mobile device’s accelerometer, GPS and other place
services to observe what you've been doing. As an example, in case you need to invest 9 hours at work every day rather of 8, the application can let you realize. Alternatively, in case you have been taking actually long lunch breaks at your preferred food shop and need to reduce them, you can utilization this application for that also. It’s a different excellent application for seeking to get much more rest than regular, and it begins testing your sleep cycle once your phone turns into non-active for a more time.