Today's Headlines: Niger NLC vows to pressure gov to pay N200,000 minimum wage if it is passed into law; Rodri strikes late as Man City extend perfect start
Niger NLC vows to pressure gov to pay N200,000 minimum wage if
Photo credit: Punch paper
The Chairman of the Niger State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Idris Lafene, has said that Labour will compel Niger State Government to pay N200,000 if it is passed into law.
The Labour leader made this known in a telephone interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, in which he said the state will have to obey the law.
He pointed out that it is not a question of whether they can afford it or not stressing that if passed into law, the government will be compelled to obey the law.
“There are laws, if the bill is passed into law, that is when we’ll pressurise. But you know, I cannot speak for the government. And we know that if it is a law, the law has to be obeyed because laws are compulsory.
“I said there are laws whether they can afford it or not is not the issue, if it is passed into it is binding,” he said.
Rodri strikes late as Man City extend perfect start
Photo credit: Punch paper
Manchester City extended their perfect start to the Premier League season as Rodri sealed a dramatic 2-1 win against Sheffield United after Erling Haaland scored once and missed a penalty for the champions on Sunday.
Haaland drove a first-half spot-kick against the post before his header put City in front after the break at Bramall Lane.
City were in danger of squandering the points when Jayden Bogle equalised against the run of play with just five minutes left.
But Rodri saved City with a blistering strike three minutes later as Pep Guardiola’s side moved to the top of the table after a third successive victory.
City’s latest success was achieved without Guardiola, who was watching on television while he recuperates after back surgery in Barcelona.
The City boss was in constant contact with his assistant Juanma Lillo, who took the reins at Bramall Lane and will also be in charge for the champions’ clash with Fulham on Saturday.
Guardiola’s rehabilitation will have been aided by the knowledge that City can thrive in his absence.
Although he achieved it from afar, it was a landmark victory for Guardiola, who now has 200 league wins with City in just 269 games, beating the previous Premier League record of 326 matches to reach that milestone set by Jose Mourinho in 2020.
For the first time since 2016, City have opened a season with three consecutive league wins in an ominous statement to their title rivals that last season’s treble triumph has not sated their appetite for success.
City should have gone ahead in the 36th minute when Julian Alvarez’s cross was blocked by John Egan’s out-stretched arm.
But Haaland hammered his penalty against the post. The Norwegian stood with a look of disbelief etched on his face as the ball rebounded to safety.
It was Haaland’s first penalty miss in the Premier League after scoring his previous seven.
When Haaland steered another good chance wide from Kyle Walker’s cross, it looked like a day to forget for the striker.
Security hasn’t improved since you took over – Group tells Tinubu
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The Ijaw National Congress has decried the state of insecurity in Nigeria, saying the situation had remained largely precarious since the change of the baton of leadership from former President Muhammadu Buhari to his successor, Bola Tinubu.
The group urged the president to give adequate attention to the nation’s internal security problems of banditry, insurgency, and kidnap-for-ransom rather than devoting so much energy, time, and resources to the political crisis in neighbouring Niger Republic following the coup staged by soldiers in that country.
President of the INC, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, stated these in a statement titled, ‘No paradigm shift yet in security architecture’, issued in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Sunday.
He said, “Curiously, there has not been significant improvement in the security architecture of the country. The security policy of the Federal Government under the current political dispensation is not yet clear to the citizens, who have continued to live and go about their daily activities in subdued fear and anxiety.
“The Ijaw National Congress (INC) recalls that President Tinubu, since his inauguration, has held at least two security meetings between June and July with the Service Chiefs, including the acting Inspector General of Police, that he appointed after sacking their predecessors which he inherited from Buhari. Sadly, this has not brought about a fundamental paradigm shift in the war against insurgency, banditry, and kidnap-for-ransom in all parts of the country.
FG discovers illegal crude oil connection in Abia
Photo credit: Punch paper
An oil theft situation assessment delegation deployed in the Niger Delta by President Bola Tinubu discovered an illegal oil connection on Saturday.
From the illegal connection discovered at Owaza in Abia State, Nigeria loses an average of 7.2 million dollars monthly, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. stated on Sunday.
It added that clandestine refineries, illegal bunkering operations and environmental devastation the team saw collectively translated into severe economic losses for the nation.
The delegation, led by the Minister of Defence, Malam Muhammed Badaru, has service chiefs, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, as members.
Other members are the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Mr Ekperipe Ekpo, the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd., Malam Mele Kyari.
Also in the team are the Commander of “tion Delta Safe’’, Rear Admiral Olusegun Ferreira, operatives of security agencies and chief executive officers of regulatory agencies in the oil and gas sector.
The team visited the Trans-Niger Pipeline Right of Way in Owaza, Abia where an array of dismantled illegal connections were observed.
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