JOIN NOW, EARN 50% OF OUR TOTAL REVENUE MONTHLY

An 18-year-old Grade pupil at Vorentoe High School, committed suicide at her home in Klipspruit, South Africa after allegedly being bullied by her teacher.
Nicole Mnguni took her own life on Tuesday, January 8, after returning from the school to fetch her report, which they allegedly refused to give to her. She left a note which details the alleged abuse by the teacher. She also stated she wanted peace and to be with her father.

Mnguni is said to have been a victim of harassment and bullying by her teacher, and the school is aware of the case, but had allegedly not taken any action to address the case.

Her mother, Jessica Mnguni is demanding justice. She old Soweto Urban she could see that her child’s self-esteem was dead.

“Nicole is so bubbly but that woman killed her self-esteem, so she couldn’t take it. There was a time I went to the school, this teacher asked, are you Nicole’s mother?


“I said yes… She said your child, I was even shouting at her, she’s not doing well in class. I don’t know why she doesn’t drop it, and she’s not going to be anybody in life. I am not hurt, I am finished.”
Her friend, Mmathabo Makibelo, described her as an amazing soul who had a vision.

See Mnguni's suicide note below.

Source:
www.tori.ng/news/114323/teenage-student-commits-suicide-after-allegedly-be.html

As the National Assembly members prepare to resume from their Yuletide break on Wednesday, there are indications that only 33 senators will be available to work on the federal budget of N8.83tn for the 2019 fiscal year presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 19, 2018.

It was learnt on Saturday that while 74 senators, who secured their parties’ tickets to contest this year’s general elections would relocate to their various constituencies to prepare for the polls, 33 senators, who lost their bid to return to the red chamber, would stay back to treat the budget.

The National Assembly members cannot resume on Tuesday, January 15, because of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebrations in which the two presiding officers of the National Assembly, Bukola Saraki (Senate president) and Yakubu Dogara (Speaker of the House of Representatives), are expected to be actively involved.

The federal parliamentarians are expected to adjourn plenary after five sittings. Our correspondent gathered that they would hold a plenary on Wednesday, January 16, and Thursday, January 17, before adjourning till Tuesday, January 22.

Upon resumption on January 22, the lawmakers would sit on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before proceeding on a three-week adjournment to enable most of them to participate actively in their re-election campaigns.

No fewer than 66 senators actually secured return tickets to contest the National Assembly polls in February.

While some are contesting the governorship election in their various states, only the 33 members, who lost their return bid, according to sources close to the Senate leadership, will stay back to work on the budget.

A principal officer of the Senate on condition of anonymity that his colleagues, who would not be vying for re-election, would take charge of the budget defence sessions with the ministries, departments and agencies of government.

The Senate official stated, “We would sit for five days on resumption and adjourn plenary for three weeks. Since we are not closing down other legislative activities, our colleagues, who are not contesting elections, will carry on with the budget.

“On the legislative activities on resumption next week, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, will read a comprehensive speech on Wednesday and he will speak on the general elections and the insecurity in the country.

“There will be a point of order on the clampdown on opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly and there will possibly be a resolution whereby a strong message would be passed to the President and the security agencies.

“Discussions on the general principles on the budget may start on the first day of resumption or on the second day. We will spend the five plenary sessions to discuss the general principles on the budget and the Minimum Wage (amendments) Bill that we are expecting from the President on January 23.

“We will definitely deliberate on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper and approve it because it is the benchmark for the budget proposals. We will, no doubt, start work on the 2019 national budget because our colleagues, who are not contesting elections, would stay back to do justice to it.”

Attempts to speak with the spokesperson for the Senate, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, for the official agenda of the chamber on resumption failed on Friday.

Calls made to the senator’s mobile did not connect while he had yet to respond to the text message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.

However, a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, said a serious consideration would be given to the budget upon resumption after elections in March.

He said, “We would come back immediately after the elections and give it (budget) a serious consideration. Members of the Appropriation may have to do a rigorous work to achieve speedy passage of the bill.

“What I can guarantee is that we would be able to conclude discussions on the general principles between the period of our resumption and the elections.”

The Chairman Senate committee on local and foreign debts, Senator Shehu Sani, also said, “We would discuss the general principles of the budget before we adjourn for the elections.”
source:thebiggestgists.blogspot.com/2019/01/33-senators-to-work-on-2019-budget.html

By Samuel Oyadongha

YENAGOA: GOVERNOR Seriake d**kson of Bayelsa State has re-emphasised the need to acknowledge the sacrifices made by members of the Nigerian Armed Forces to unite the country.

d**kson

Governor d**kson
Minimum wage’ll determine electoral preference of voters – Labour

d**kson also called on well meaning individuals, charities and corporate organisations to lend support to the Nigerian legions and their members to enhance their welfare and wellbeing.

Represented by his deputy, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (rtd), the governor stated this during this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Interdenominational Service at the King of Glory Chapel, Government House, Yenagoa.

According to him, members of the Nigerian military were facing enormous challenges today, given the fact that they were fighting at undefined fronts because of insurgency in various parts of the country.

He also congratulated members of the Armed Forces and the legionnaires for this year’s Remembrance Day Service, adding that the attendance was quite impressive.

The deputy governor also read the Second Lesson of the Service which was taken from Psalm 91: 1 – 7 while Air Vice Marshall M. B. Bali, Air Officer Commanding, Mobility Command, Nigerian Air Force , Yenagoa took the First Lesson from 1 Timothy 2: 1 – 5.

Earlier in his sermon titled “Live for Others”, Apostle Abraham Monty, stated the need for those alive to also live for others just the way our fallen heroes died for them.

He noted that those that died in active service did so for the love of their country, stressing that those living should equally extend love to the families of the fallen heroes.

Apostle Monty further encouraged those occupying public offices to utilize their positions to better society, pointing out that by so doing, they will also be honouring the fallen heroes as their sacrifices for the country would not be in vain.

Other dignitaries that attended the Interdenominational Service include; Air Vice Marshall H. E. Eze , Chief Staff Officer, Mobility Command, Nigerian Air Force , Yenagoa, Brig. Gen. Kevin Aligbe, Commander, 16 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Yenagoa, Commodore J. D. Akpan, Chief Staff Officer, Central Naval Command, Nigerian Navy, Yenagoa, Commodore F. O. Isikhele, Commander, NNS Soroh, Nigerian Navy, Yenagoa and Mrs Christiana Abiakam, Commandant, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Bayelsa State Command.

Others were; King Alfred Diete-Spiff, Chairman, Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, King Bubaraye Dakolo, Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiamo Kingdom, Chief Walter Feghabo-Amain, former Military Administrator of Ebonyi and Delta States, amongst others.

Source:
www.vanguardngr.com/2019/01/insurgencyd**kson-urges-support-for-nigerian-military/

The Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Amaechi, has told Nigerians complaining about hunger in the land that he himself is hungry.

He said the opposition Peoples Democratic Party caused the hunger in the land by stealing money from the nation’s purse while in power.

Amaechi said this at the APC presidential campaign rally which was held in Bauchi on Saturday.

He urged Nigerians to demand that the PDP return the nation’s stolen money.

The former Rivers State governor also claimed that the opposition was broke and hungry.

He said that was why the party wanted to return to power by all means.

Amaechi said, “I was speaking to my friend from the other divide and he said you are hungry, I said ‘yes, if they did not steal the money they stole, you would have had enough food.’

“The money they stole is what is making me hungry. Tell them, to bring the money.

“The PDP stole $2bn to prosecute 2015 elections but we still defeated them. They are broke, they are hungry and they want to come back to steal.

“The PDP members know that they are broke and because of that, they are looking for cheap source of funds.

“When they say there is no food, they want to steal money and they cannot do that because the President has said that public money is not for any individual.”

The minister of transportation wondered what the PDP did with the money it got for 16 years when oil was $114 per barrel.

He claimed that when the PDP was in power, he could not sleep with his two eyes closed even in the Rivers State Government House allegedly because of security challenges.

He said the situation had changed under Buhari.

The National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, said President Muhammadu Buhari knew how to catch thieves “and that is why the thieves have all gone to the PDP but even if they go to the PDP, they must be arrested.”

The moves by the Federal Government and the organised labour to finalise the new minimum wage issue this month face yet another crisis.

Sources at the National Assembly told The PUNCH on Sunday that the legislature plans to go on another recess ahead of the presentation of an executive bill on a new minimum wage by the presidency, which is one of the agreements reached between the government and the worker unions.

The National Assembly is on Christmas and New Year recess and will resume on Tuesday.

While the Presidency plans to transmit National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Bill to the National Assembly on January 23, sources in the leadership of the National Assembly told a correspondent that the lawmakers might go on another recess by January 24.

He said, “The lawmakers will close on that day to allow members to participate in electioneering, ahead of general elections which will begin in February.”

The Federal Government and the organised labour had on Tuesday reached an agreement that the Presidency would send the minimum wage bill to the National Assembly after their meetings.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who presided over the meeting, had assured the labour leaders that the Federal Government would send the bill to the National Assembly on January 23, after the lawmakers’ resumption from their Yuletide recess.

Barring any change of plan, both chambers of the National Assembly are expected to adjourn plenary after five sittings. The PUNCH gathered that they would hold plenary on Wednesday, January 16, and Thursday, January 17, before adjourning till Tuesday, January 22.

Upon resumption on January 22, the lawmakers plan to sit on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before proceeding on a three-week break to enable most of them to participate in their re-election campaigns.

Speaking with a correspondent, a National Assembly source said, “That (January) 23 they said they would transmit the bill to the National Assembly, the National Assembly might have embarked on recess again for the elections. And they know that the lawmakers will not resume until after the elections. They know what they are doing.

“We will go (on recess) between this week and next week. We will go by Thursday (January 24). Our (presidential, Senate and House of Representatives) election is on the 16th (of February), so we have less than one month (to campaign). Why can’t they transmit the bill on Tuesday when we will resume?”

When contacted for his comment, Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Abdulrazak Namdas, said work would continue on legislative activities except when the lawmakers were on recess.

Speaking on the readiness of the lawmakers to expedite work on the bill, Namdas said, “It is a priority; once it is brought (to the legislature) by the executive, we will consider it as a matter of priority.”

Asked if the lawmakers would have enough time to work on the bill scheduled for presentation on January 23 and pass it before the elections, Namdas said, “The entire House can never close. Once the House is in session, whether there is election or anything, some people will remain. There will always be people in the House, and once they form a quorum, they can continue to work.
“I can assure you we will always have that quorum to consider legislative matters like the minimum wage, (2019) budget and other issues.”

When reminded that the National Assembly was scheduled to go on recess latest by January 24, the lawmaker said, “A bill cannot be passed in one day, it can never be passed. Let them bring the bill first. I think we have to get to the river before we cross it.”

Also speaking, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Mr Chukwuka Onyema, said, “When we resume on Tuesday, it will be thrown to the open. If it is about time, we will thrash it out.”

When reminded that the National Assembly might go on recess on January 24, he said, “They said they are bringing it on the 23rd and we are resuming this week. When we resume work, we will know what to do.”

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, had said the National Assembly could pass the wage bill within one week, only if it was transmitted by the Presidency to the legislature by Tuesday.

Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Yusuph Olaniyonu, who spoke to The PUNCH on his behalf, had said the bill could be passed before the lawmakers go on another recess.

“The Federal Government should not wait until 23rd January before bringing it. They should bring it on the first day of resumption. If they do so, by the 17th or 18th, work will be concluded on it – within the week,” he had said.

Following the agreements reached with the Federal Government, the President of Trade Union Congress, Kaigama Bobboi, had warned that if the Federal Government reneged on the date it promised to transmit the bill to the National Assembly, labour would take action without any warning.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, who observed that workers had been patient with government for more than two years, had said, “The National Assembly will be back on January 16 from their recess; so on or before January 23, the bill must have been transmitted.

“We will shift our lobby to the National Assembly because once the bill is enacted; the money will be in the pocket of workers. We are tired of stories and that is why we insisted on a timeline.”

Source:
www.tori.ng/news/114340/fresh-cisis-looms-over-new-minimum-wage.html

A second African bloc has called for a recount of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s contested presidential election.

The demand is raising pressure on Kinshasa to fix a dispute that could fan unrest.



Congo
The Dec. 30 vote was supposed to herald Congo’s first democratic transfer of power in six decades of independence and a new era after President Joseph Kabila’s chaotic 18-year rule.

READ ALSO: Six killed in plane crash in DR Congo election flight

But monitoring groups noted widespread irregularities, including faulty voting machines and poorly run polling stations, overshadowing talk of democratic progress in the vast country of 80 million people.

Second-place finisher, former Exxon Mobil executive Martin Fayulu, says he in fact won by a landslide with over 60 per cent of votes.

He also said that the official winner, opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi, struck a deal with Kabila to be declared the victor.

Tshisekedi and Kabila deny this.

The International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (CIRGL), a 12-member body, including Kinshasa allies Angola and Republic of Congo, expressed “great concern” at the controversy.

“We suggest that the competent structures consider counting the votes in order to guarantee the transparency of the results,” it added in a statement.

International pressure on Kabila has built since the vote, in part because Congo’s influential Catholic Church said tallies by its 40,000-strong monitoring team show a different winner to that announced by the electoral commission.

France, Belgium, the United States and Britain have all expressed concern about the vote. But perceived criticism from inside Africa could hold greater sway in Congo.

The CIRGL statement late on Sunday echoed a statement from the Southern African Development Community, which contains allies of Kinshasa like South Africa and Angola.

Approval of the election results from regional partners are critical for the legitimacy of president-elect Tshisekedi.

Spokespeople for Kabila and Tshisekedi were not reachable for comment on the statements from African bodies.

Fayulu has welcomed calls for a recount.

Isolated post-election violence in Congo has many fearing a return to the kind of conflict and upheaval that killed millions since the 1990s and destabilized the region.

Congo is the world’s leading miner of cobalt, a mineral used in electric car batteries and mobile phones, and Africa’s biggest copper producer. It also mines gold and diamonds. (Reuters/NAN)

Source:
www.vanguardngr.com/2019/01/another-african-bloc-wants-congo-election-recount/

Prof. Itse Sag*y

The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sag*y (SAN), says the prosecution of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, shows that no one is above the law.

Sag*y told a Punch correspondent during an interview that although the prosecution of the CJN was saddening, it showed that Nigeria was slowly becoming a nation of laws.

The Senior Advocate also referred to the arraignment of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), which took place last year.

The PACAC chairman said, “It shows that in Nigeria, nobody is above the law.

“I do not rejoice, neither am I pleased that such high officials are being probed or investigated; but it shows that in Nigeria, the law is working and that the rule of law operates and that no one is higher than the law.

“That is the good aspect of it. Otherwise, I am not happy about it.

“But if the reason arises why they should be investigated or invited and they are invited, it shows that the Nigerian legal system is working and that the rule of law operates. But if it is you or I, you know that automatically, we will be indicted; but when the bigger guns in the country who have all the power are also being indicted, it means it is a good sign for the rule of law in Nigeria.”

When reminded of the fact that the CJN will be arraigned before Danladi Umar of the Code of Conduct Tribunal who has also been accused of corruption, Sag*y said the Federal Government had no other option.

He said, “I see a point. It is a sad reflection on the state of corruption in Nigeria; but I think at the end of the day, everybody will come to justice and we will have a clean slate. This is the best we can do now.

“He (Umar) is the one on the seat, he has not been removed. So, there is no other choice as long as he is there.

“It is not perfect, but we must not miss the essential principle of this matter and that is that in Nigeria, the rule of law operates.”

Source:

www.tori.ng/news/114367/prof-itse-sag*y-speaks-on-the-plight-of-cjn-onnogh.html